Top 5 Internships to Prepare YOU to be an Internet Marketer

I know that summer internships are coming to an end.  But, hey, there’s still Fall and Spring.  Internships are an incredible opportunity to actually practice skills in the real world.  Let’s face it… you don’t learn that much in college or even grad school.  By trade, I am a lawyer.  But, I can tell you that I learned nothing about the law until I went to work for a very good firm.

But, if you want a career in marketing on the Internet, what kinds of internships do you do?  I mean… if you want to build huge lists … or do lead generation… what should you be doing to build your skill set?  Here’s a short list:

• Work with a CPA Network. Five years ago, the number of CPA networks was pretty small.  Really small.  Commission Junction, ShareaSale and a few others of any value.  But, along came the rampant, ridiculous and vast number of CPA networks.  Now, they are everywhere.  Why not offer to work with one of them?  If you live near a major city, odds are you have a good one near you.
• Work with your Congressman or Politician. Networking is a key trait as an internet marketing.  Where else are you going to see first-class schmoozing more so than working with a politician?
• Work with a Conference Group. How about applying to work with the folks that do SES, SMX, and even the minor, less well-known conferences.
• Google. Yeah, right, not a bad internship to get.  It makes you interesting – even if you don’t do anything worthwhile.  And, it will give you plenty of fodder to talk about on your internet marketing blog.
• Ad Networks or a Large search firm. For most people, banner and ad networks in general are a black box.  They don’t understand who is good and who is bad.  They don’t understand who to talk to or how to even approach these companies.  So, working with them will remove the mystique.  It will also get you plugged into the industry.  There are many opportunities from the big dogs like Media Whiz to even small shops in your town.

Frankly, the best internships will be the ones that just get you plugged in, however possible.   Look, face it… internships are not about money.  They are about experience and connections.  You have to get that somewhere.  So, you might have to work for free.  We have all done it.  So, take the job in the day and wait tables at night.  Don’t worry… that won’t last forever.