Internet Marketing

The first thing you need to know about internet marketing, is that there are more “experts” than there are stars in the sky . . . so don’t be fooled by every “expert” and “guru” out there, especially the ones who have made millions of dollars and show themselves sitting on luxury yachts or in an LA Mansion with a Ferrari parked in the driveway.

Internet Marketing

Internet marketing has many names and can also be referred to as online marketing, web marketing or e-marketing. It’s basically the marketing of services or products over the internet. Long gone are the days when all you needed was a website and a “buy it now” button for people to flock to your online store and do the business. These days there are so many millions of websites all competing for the same “top slot” in the search engines, that it can take a lot of time, skill and experience to even get your website noticed at all. That’s where internet marketing comes in.

Internet marketing also refers to marketing methods such as email and wireless media, and ties up many different facets of the internet in order to be really successful:

• development
• design
• advertising
• sales

Different Business Models of Internet Marketing

E-Commerce – refers to selling goods either directly to the consumer (B2C – Business to Consumer), businesses selling to businesses (B2B) or consumers selling to consumers (C2C).

Lead-based website sales – this strategy involves an organization generating sales via acquiring leads from various websites

Affiliate marketing- This is whereby active sellers are involved in selling the services or goods supplied by a third party, for a share of the profits. Many internet based businesses run affiliate marketing programs offering links, trackbacks for goods sold by a particular seller, and providing marketing materials etc. Affiliate marketing really is booming, but do beware, whereas many “experts” (remember them?) claim to making millions of dollars from affiliate marketing, the truth is that around 95% of affiliate marketers don’t make any money at all. Anyway, affiliate marketing is a great concept and can be very profitable when done correctly.

Local Internet Marketing- the internet is very much world wide, but there’s nothing to stop you using it for local marketing too. Small companies can utilize the internet via internet marketing tools like local directory listings, social networking sites and targeting particular online sales promotions.

Advantages of Internet Marketing

Whatever types of internet marketing you choose to use, it does have advantages of other methods of advertising. For a start, the cost is relatively inexpensive compared to other large marketing campaigns, and the potential market place is huge. Consumers have the luxury of searching for, researching and buy products entirely at their own convenience, at any time of the night or day, so very often the results of internet marketing are immediate – they don’t have to wait until your store is open, they could have easily changed their minds by then! It’s also pretty easy to measure the impact of any internet marketing campaigns. It is a relatively easy procedure to measure and track the statistics and deduce the commercial value of any internet marketing activity. You can see how many visitors you’ve had, where they came from, what they looked at, how much time they spent doing it as well as what they ultimately purchased (if anything), all at your fingertips. That’s easier than counting people through a store doorway isn’t it?

Internet Marketing Companies

Some reputable and experienced internet marketing companies really can help to get your online business on track, but do watch out for the experts, and certainly don’t believe every screen shot you see with a bank account pocketing thousands of dollars every day – kerching!