Internet Marketing . It is a phrase we hear a lot now days. Well as of 2009 over 1.7 Billion people across the planet were using the Internet, so it's no wonder that anyone and everyone is thinking of ways to find success through it. The methods of marketing online are becoming more familiar; social networks like Facebook and Twitter, blogs, podcasts, Goggle Adsense, and webpage banners, just to name a few, have all become a part of the huge Internet landscape.
Because you are most likely reading this article online, it can be assumed you already know what the Internet is, but what do you know of marketing? David Guth, Charles Marsh, and Bonnie Short, authors of the book Strategic Writing: Multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising and More, define marketing as "the process of researching, creating, refining and promoting a product and distributing that product to consumers"
What I like to focus on is the use of the Internet for promoting a product or service. Later we will discuss ways to use this information to successfully market online.
Now there are many forms of marketing that companies have used for many years; print ads, direct mailing campaigns, telemarketing, radio & television commercials, even highway billboards. All of these have different success rates that depend on the target audience and creativity of the advertisements. Regardless of how well put together any of these are, they all have one fatal flaw. They are limited in the amount of people they can reach. For example physical documents such as flyers and brochures reach only those who have them in their hand to read, while commercials are fleeting, meaning they are only effective if heard or viewed when shown. (Even though it's obvious a billboard only works if you are driving on that road, I still feel the need to mention it). Like the town crier of old, if you are not around for the message you just won't get the message.
The Internet allows people to cross promote in the most cost effective ways imaginable. For a business to be successful at marketing online, they must realize the power of using all the tools available. It begins with a well put together website. Contact information, FAQ's, and general information about products/services provided are essential on any website. The cross promotion begins with placing links to other methods of marketing. For example, on your company website there should be a link to your Facebook and Twitter pages. If the company is keeping a blog going, there should be a link to that as well.
A great trick is to work with other businesses and place banners linking to their website, and them doing the same for you. This works well in finding the appropriate target audience.
It must be remembered that being online has the advantage of not being "for the moment" like on TV & radio. Once we place information on a site, it is there for all to see. This is great for promoting our products, but we still have to get people to find our website. That is where SEO comes in. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it is basically the practice of increasing visibility for a website on search engines. When a person goes to Google or Yahoo and types in skateboards for sale and you sell skateboards, you want your website to appear first. There are many different methods for good SEO results. The most popular (because it's free) is typing information on your site using keywords that will get picked up by search engines.
Other ways to increase visitors to a website include, free eBooks, free seminars/consultations, free newsletters, free software; do we see a pattern? Providing potential clients with a reason to visit your site can help them become lifelong customers. Using email correctly as well as social network pages, can get this information out to your target audience. Just remember once people begin arriving at your website the real work begins.
The means of promoting on the Internet are outstanding. Next time we will discuss how to use this information to create some real online marketing strategies.