Internet Marketing

"Internet Marketing: Global Positioning In a Global Economy"

With an exponential multiplication of websites on the information super highway, all competing for quality traffic, it becomes evident that positioning is everything. After all, the last thing that businesses want is to be last in line and just a face in the crowd on the world wide web. To maximize their online visibility, an increasing number of companies are investing in internet marketing services. In fact, a considerable number of online enterprises rely exclusively on internet marketing for their advertising. One of the reasons for online marketing's rising popularity is its low threshold of entry. Also known as eMarketing, online marketing is a cost-friendly method of communicating information to a limitless audience or at the very least, to as many internet users as possible. In our cyber-dependent world, every company should incorporate internet marketing into its promotional strategy and business plan. Even single-location commerces with local clientele, such as athletic stores or jewelry shops, stand to benefit substantially from web marketing. Similarly, businesses seeking to attract out-of-area customers can take advantage of the low-cost and international scope of an online presence.

Online marketing is the process of informing, promoting and advertising, researching, and/or selling products and services through the electronic medium known as the internet. Consumers are informed about merchandise and services via email and websites and are provided the opportunity to ask questions and place orders online. To drive and increase traffic to their websites, convert prospects into sales, and boost sales, businesses may avail themselves of numerous methods including 1) lead generation techniques such as search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO), 2) pay-per-click, 3) sponsored links, 4) email lists, 5) banner ads, 6) affiliate marketing, 7) link exchanges, 8) articles, 9) ezines, 10) newsletters, and 11) participation in forum discussions. Online marketing involves the use of the internet to achieve at least one of the following objectives:

• Perform research about the needs, preferences, and demographics of current and prospective customers;
• Inform the public about the company and the benefits and features of its products or services; and
• Sell advertising space, goods, or services online.

Businesses seeking to capitalize on the priceless advertising potential of the internet may choose from a wide array of online marketing tools including the following:

1) Website Creation

In today's competitive business world, a web site is almost indispensable, and consumers expect reputable enterprises to have one.Websites help businesses establish their identity in the same way as a mail order catalog or brochure but with a wider audience.Contrary to preconceived notions, the cost of launching and maintaining an internet presence is very affordable and low. Websites communicate a company's message via words, images, video and/or audio. They also provide businesses the opportunity to directly sell their products or services online and gather leads on prospective customers. 

2) Search Engine Marketing

To successfully promote their business, entrepreneurs must ensure that their website is easy to locate and conspicuous in the sea of online information. Search engine marketing enables businesses to generate traffic to their website and consequently increase their revenues by advertising their website through search engines such as Google. This form of internet marketing is very cost-effective and typically involves at least one of the following components:

1. Search Engine Optimization - This technique consists of increasing a business' ranking in the natural or organic search results of various search engines. These results constitute web page rankings tabulated by search engines when an internet user types a keyword or a specific phrase. 
    
2. Pay-per-click (PPC) Marketing - This is considered one of the simplest and least expensive methods of increasing the number of visitors to a company's web site due to the fact that businesses can choose how much to pay per click and per day. It involves the purchase of ads on search engines, and businesses pay only when a visitor clicks on their ad and enters their website. They may either purchase an ad on websites associated with the selected keywords or on search engine results pages (SERP). The more a business bids for the targeted keywords, the more it pays per click but the more likely it is to obtain the ad's placement at the top of a page's ads. The most commonly-utilized form of pay per click advertising by small businesses is Google AdWords. This system ranks a business' ads according to the importance or pertinence that the search engine attributes to the business' website. Companies can acquire optimal page ranking by increasing their bid on a keyword or phrase.    
    
3. Pay for Inclusion (PFI) - This internet marketing service allows businesses to pay a fee to have their website listed in the search index of leading internet directories and search engines. The benefits of PFI are that the links can significantly increase a company's rankings and direct targeted traffic to its website.  While the majority of online directories charge a small amount (i.e. $30/year) for a listing, some such as DMOZ offer free listings. 

3) Email Marketing

Another effective internet marketing strategy involves utilizing email to obtain feedback from customers about merchandise or services and disseminate information about the latter. Businesses may purchase or collect the email addresses of prospects and customers. Some email marketing approaches include bulk mailing of offers and the periodic distribution of newsletters concerning the business' products or services.

4) Online Promotion

Businesses can promote their website, company, as well as products and/or services by publishing press releases about the latter on an online blog or wire service. They can either post URLS and comments relating to their products or services on a third-party blog or host their own blog. 

5) Banner advertising

Many companies greatly benefit from paying a fee for ad placement on a website. The only problem is that people are quickly becoming “banner blind”, so this is not a preferred marketing strategy, unless you are trying to build a recognizable brand.