Effective internet marketing can achieve better results than traditional forms of advertising. An internet marketing business can take a fraction of your advertising budget and make you lots of money. Beyond that your business can take advantage of these benefits:Tracking statistics – Marketing campaigns create quick results on the internet and the effects can be tracked. Adjustments can then be made to indicate areas to improve the campaign while it proceeds.
Search engine marketing – Advertisements that are displayed according to the keywords used for the search. Very accurately targets ads.
Social media marketing – As much an art as a science, this type of marketing can be effective in boosting a wide range of your marketing approaches.No successful marketer uses only one facet of internet marketing. There are a number of tried and true web based marketing techniques that have been utilized for the profit of almost every arena of business.The same imaginative genius that has often been a hallmark of great advertising is being brought to internet marketing today.Target Your AdsTraditional media does it’s best to target a general demographic but internet marketing makes it possible to refine your target audience:Age
Gender
InterestThese same audience specifics have always been taken into consideration in advertising. However, now it’s possible to be more specific about location of the audience. Content can be offered to each visitor according to their:Country
State
Region
City
Zip codeEven an IP address can trigger specific content and ads that are likely to target people in very specific locations.Crumbling BarriersMost objections to internet marketing are based on outdated misconceptions. The largest single hurdle of low speed internet connection has essentially been eliminated by rapid advances in technology. As of 2008, about 90% of residential internet connections in the USA were high speed broadband technology.Over thirty years ago, Franklin M. Fisher sounded like he was keyword stuffing in this quote from his book, Diagnosing Monopoly: “A barrier to entry is anything that prevents entry when entry is socially beneficial.” A recent survey of marketing executives discovered the three most common reasons for the ‘barrier to entry’ of large companies into internet marketing:1) Inability to measure response – The reverse is actually true. Web analytics can give an extremely detailed assessment of your company’s marketing effort.
2) No internal structure – Since there is no one in the company that has the experience to handle internet marketing then the subject will be avoided.
3) Senior management – This has been the bane of progress throughout history. The same breed that said television advertising would never make it, print ads would not flourish and that ‘wheel’ thingy was probably dangerous.Internet marketing is already well established and developing traditions of its own. If your company is still hesitating to make use of the array of potential approaches to internet marketing strategy, you are giving the edge to your competitor.Internet Marketing ServicesThere are many internet marketing services that apply in any arena of business. Many monetization models allow you to combine strategies best suited to your business into a reliable income stream.Ads
Affiliates
Articles
In-text ads
Leads & referrals
Services
Social mediaThere is a long list of useful monetization models that have successful track records, they are becoming standard in the industry. Internet marketing is a rewarding endeavor with many allowing a business to create a profitable marketing campaign.
Beyond the Newbie Internet Marketer – Sometimes You Need More Than a Plan
Having a strong, effective well thought out internet marketing business plan is mandatory if you as a new internet marketer will move to the advanced stages of this business. It is also essential for your online business growth as well as it’s long term success. The important thing for you to understand is that sometimes you will need more than a plan to accomplish the move beyond the newbie internet marketer. Why is this true?Just having your plan will not really be of any assistance to you or your business if you do not put it into action. Is it not true that it is you that will be you running your business not the plan? By you knowing and understanding this, you are in a much better position to take the necessary steps to make sure that you now follow through with your plan.So after the new internet marketer has determined just why he or she is motivated to be in internet marketing in the first place, has done the necessary research to determine just what niche they will be promoting and how they will do it, now is the time for you to use your personal feelings, qualities, and strengths to make your plan take hold and work. Some of the qualities you will need to develop if you don’t already posses them are;- Determination,
New internet marketers will need to have determination to help them to get past all of the setbacks and failures they may face when trying to develop their business. The determination to do whatever it takes to not fall prey to the notion of giving up to failure to every obstacle they may encounter. You will need the ability to stick with your decided internet marketing business model before giving it up for some other one just because you don’t see immediate success. It is your determination and willpower that will enable you to be successful in the end.- Steady Perseverance,
Steady Perseverance is very much similar to determination. The definition of perseverance is to be able to continue to stick or follow a course of action, a purpose, in this case your internet marketing business plan, in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Because it is a fact of life that unforeseen or planed for difficulties, obstacles, and discouragement is a part of every day life, you should expect that these things will also turn up in your online business endeavors. Grow beyond the newbie internet marketer by developing this quality if you do not already have it. Doing so will also make it easier for you to put in the hard work required to be one of the successes in this field.- Focus,
It takes being able to focus to run or operate any business so why should internet marketing be the exception. For your continued growth as a internet marketer it is imperative that you are able to remain focused on the task at hand, to be able to not be distracted. You should have or develop the knack for being able to know what is important in your online business, and what task should be done next. Learn how to identify and eliminate the distractions associated with your internet marketing business.Learn not to spend time on things in your business that don’t have to be done now. Focus on the things that need to be done today to increase your businesses immediate income making potential. While spending time on tasks like sprucing up your website, reading email, or posting comments in forums are or can be useful, you don’t want to spend all of your time on them, understand that by doing so you will be distracted from giving your online business the work in the most important areas that bring in potential customers, promote your product or service, or make money for the business.Remember there is only so much time in a day, you must learn how to use it wisely, focus will help you do just that. Focusing on the most important or most difficult tasks first, will ensure that your internet business gets the vital maintenance it needs on a daily basis. It would even help further if you would set up mini weekly work plans or schedules to prioritize the work you will need to accomplish on a daily basis checking the tasks on the list off as you complete them.Keep in mind the whole purpose here is to get the new internet marketer in the best position possible to advance in his effectiveness and abilities to operate a online business project successfully.Having and developing the characteristics of determination, steady perseverance, and the ability to focus with practice will not only help to make operating your internet marketing business much more enjoyable, even fun, it will take you a step further to growing beyond the newbie internet marketer.
Top 10 Internet Marketing Trends for 2011
The dawn of 2011 gives us the perfect opportunity to predict the top 10 internet marketing trends for the upcoming year. The 90’s was the decade of the internet, and since then we have seen new layers, tools, and worlds built on top of the world wide web.Social networks dominated the past decade, apps came on top of that, and 2011 will bring even more areas of digital interaction and communication.And just to have some fun for the holidays, I decided to turn them into some of the cheesiest puns and rhymes ever assembled in a blog post. If you can’t stand the rhymes, I’ve put a real title right next to them.So here’s my take on the top 10 trends (in order) for internet marketing in 2011.(1) No more game layer naysayers (The sculpting of the “game layer”)Seth Priebatsch, the founder of SCVNGR, plans to build a “game layer” on top of the world. Things like rewards programs, board games, social games and check-ins have all come to make up the idea behind a game layer.This game layer is a way to influence consumer behavior, by turning everything into a game. Wherever you go, whatever you buy will be built into a sort-of game dynamic that will reward you in multiple ways.This game layer will be the most important trend to watch in internet marketing in 2011, as companies like SCVNGR and Four Square become a bigger part of the consumer process.(2) Even more apps perhaps (Mobile apps continue to “suburbanize” the internet)The internet has been compared to the wild wild west with its initial lawlessness and quick expansion. With the introduction of apps, the internet is being tamed into smaller communities – suburbanizing the internet in a way.Jeff Cormier (Examiner.com) wrote an article today about how mobile apps are projected to experience 60% growth by 2014. In addition, revenue from mobile apps will increase from $4.9 billion this year, to $35 billion by 2014, according to an IDC report.So we will see even more apps in 2011. Apps mark the beginning of the taming of the internet into organized mobile programs, and 2011 will continue this trend.(3) All bets off, all Groupon (Downward pricing pressures on SMBs from Groupon-like sites)As Groupon continues to roll out sites for more and more cities across the country, the “group coupon” phenomenon continues to sweep the web.Thousands of other coupon sites have also popped up. I Am Hungry, for example, offers restaurant deals around your area. With apps for Facebook and mobile devices, these types of sites are spreading like wildfire.We are almost at the point with all of these sites that you could always get a meal at half price. For 2011, look for the Groupon and I Am Hungry-type sites to put downward pricing pressure on small service businesses (especially restaurants).(4) Online privacy issues and miscues (Online privacy becomes a huge issue/opportunity)Access to data is an essential part of the idea behind Web 2.0. Having up-to-date information on people is the key to targeting search results, advertising, and offers. However, when will this go too far? 2011.The Federal Trade Commission just released a report this month about protecting consumer privacy. This movement covers an idea to implement a “Do Not Track” program for consumers. This would be a technology that would allow consumers to tell websites to not track their activities and information.As this movement plays out, look for online privacy to be a huge part of the web in 2011.(5) Boob Tube out, YouTube in (Increase in online video marketing)Faster internet connections, easy share capabilities, better video search, link integration, and YouTube channels – these all point to an even bigger emphasis on video marketing. A video going viral is the dream of every marketer, and it’s easier to make those videos and easier to have them spread.Pew Internet Research says that 7 in 10 adult internet users have used the internet to watch or download a video. In addition, videos can help increase search rankings and have a major impact on SEO.With all of these factors coming together, online video marketing will become mainstream in 2011.(6) Local becomes focal for search engines (More emphasis on local search)Over the last few months of 2010, we’ve seen local results take a bigger role in Google SERPs (search engine results pages). Tools like Google Places and Yahoo! Local make it easier for businesses to gain exposure for their certain keywords and now have placed more importance on those listings.By incorporating Google Tags into Google Places and offering statistical insights for your place listing, Google is telling small businesses that local search will become even more important in 2011. This makes sense considering that the goal of a search engine is to deliver the best results for each search. What good would a plumber in Seattle do for a homeowner in Boston?(7) 2011 Twitter: More litter, less glitter (Major change in the Twitter model)A San Francisco Chronicle article came out today revealing statistics about Twitter. As the article states, Only 8% of American adults use Twitter and less than 1/4 of those users are “heavy” Twitter users.Twitter’s goal to become the world’s largest media company, therefore, is too far out of reach.It seems that Twitter has been most successful in the celebrity-realm, as people can get an insight into the lives of their favorites stars. The celebrity element, however, is not mainstream enough for Twitter to survive solely on that niche and its goal to become THE media outlet seems out of reach. So where does Twitter go from here?Well, we’ve seen the introduction of “promoted tweets” and the new Twitter profile in 2010.What does 2011 hold for Twitter? I am predicting declining participation rates on Twitter, more dead profiles, and potentially a serious change to make money and increase participation.(8) HTML5 goes live (The release of HTML5 and its impact)HTML5 is currently under development by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group. The latest HTML revision will make it easier to incorporate multimedia into websites.The impact on SEO will be interesting to follow in 2011. The new <> tag, for example, will make it easier to segment new posts for online periodicals like blogs and online magazines. Search engines will most likely place either more or different emphasis on these sorts of tags.(9) Online communities = new opportunities (Market Research continues to change)Typical market research reports are generated over a long period of time and result in 1000 pages of somewhat outdated data. Online communities are a newer way to conduct real-time market research from a group of about 200-500 consumers that represent the target market for that specific brand. These people will answer key questions and discuss certain topics associated with a product before it launches, for example.Companies like Communispace and MindGauge allow brands to gather consumer insight quickly. MindGauge’s website describes the difference between traditional market research and online communities by saying, “Rather than an independent source gathering information, respective managers will begin to integrate the community into all components of their projects.”Although this powerful insight tool has been around for awhile, we are predicting that more dollars will be devoted towards this kind of tool in 2011.(10) The cloud starts to reign (Cloud Computing continues to spread)Although “the cloud” does not really fall under internet marketing, its impact on agility for sales forces and IT departments is undeniable, so it found its way into the top ten. The days of building custom-made business apps and software are gone with companies like salesforce.com. Cloud computing allows businesses of all sizes to get better systems up and running, faster and cheaper than custom-built software.For 2011, even more clunky and expensive IT systems will be scrapped for the cloud and collaboration will be brought everywhere through mobile devices.2011 should be the fastest year in internet marketing. Many more trends will occur that could change the landscape of internet marketing for businesses of all sizes.What do you see as the biggest trend for 2011?