Online Business Intern Programs - Should You Join?

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by: DerrickMarkotter
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A number of Internet marketers have introduced online business intern programs. How do they work, and what's the benefit for you?

There are many ways to learn something new, and people tend to prefer one style of learning over others. For some, reading is the most effective way to learn. For others, watching as someone else performs a task is better. However, perhaps the best way to learn is by actually performing the task - by doing.

It's not hard to understand the purpose of intern programs. They are a way to gain experience by performing practical, real-world tasks. If you've watched any of the 'medical dramas' on TV, you'll have seen interns being expected to work long hours and perform menial tasks.

The intern programs we're discussing, for online business interns, are similar. Students are given the opportunity to perform practical business procedures on behalf of the Intern marketer. Interns would usually be allocated one task a day. They would receive training, usually in the form of a written explanation of the task, and perhaps video training as well. Once they have completed a task, they would email the results to the marketer.

The procedures carried out by interns usually promote the Internet marketer's business. An intern will later be able to use the same tasks to promote their own business.

Both the marketer and the intern gain from the relationship. The marketer has a group of interns working on promoting his business, usually at no cost. The intern learns by putting his knowledge into practice, and also has the benefit of structured daily tasks.

However, intern programs are not all plain sailing. The marketer needs to be extremely careful when choosing tasks to be performed. As an example, many marketers ask their interns to post comments to other people's blogs. This can be highly effective as a means of generating traffic. It is also risky when poorly executed. At least one marketer gained a reputation as a spammer when some of his interns posted 'junk' blog comments with blatant links to his websites.

It's unfortunately true that very few interns - between 1% and 5% - will actually complete an intern program.

Intern programs need to be carefully designed to bring interns along at a pace they can handle. Some intern programs throw interns in at the deep end, and make excessive demands on their time and effort. This ends up being a frustrating experience for the intern, and doesn't help the Internet marketer at all.

It's useful to design an intern program which will have long-term benefits for the interns. My intern program, for example, ensures that interns set up a network of blogs, Web 2.0 assets and backlinks which will help them to build their own business.

If you decide to sign up for an online business intern program, remember that taking action and doing the work is the only way for it to be of any value.

About the Author

Learn how to create an successful Internet business by helping me build mine. Read more about Derrick Markotter's free online business intern program at www.OnlineBusinessIntern.com Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

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