Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing covers an ever-increasing range of techniques.
1. Search engine optimisation (SEO)
The first thing that most people do when looking for information online, is to use a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or MSN. Traffic from search engines is premium, because it is targetted - people are actively searching for information - for a solution to a problem. This is why the ability to get a good position (rank) for your chosen keywords (the phrase that people searched for), is extremely valuable.
You can hire a search engine optimisation (SEO) consultant, who can identify any problems with your website, and advise you on how to improve your rankings. However it basically comes down to content, and links. Whether your website has enough relevant content, and could be considered an authority on the subject (for the keyword searched for). And whether you have a significant quantity and quality of incoming links from other websites. A link from another website is seen as a vote for your website, especially if the link to your website uses, or is surrounded by the keyword searched for. For example if you linked to this website using the text "Home Business Australia", and your website was about home businesses, it would be helpful. And welcome.
However achieving a good position at a search engine for your keyword can take a lot of time, developing the content, and getting incoming relevant links. Which is why Paid Search Engine marketing can be helpful, especially in the early stages of a website's life.
2. Paid search engine marketing (SEM)
Most search engines offer paid marketing solutions for quick advertising results. If you look at the typical results page on a search engine, the "natural" or "organic" results for optimised websites appear in the main left column. Paid results are on the smaller right-hand column, and also often at the top of the page. They are usually identified by "sponsored results" in a small font.
Google's paid search engine marketing program is called AdWords. You can nominate the keywords you want to appear for, set a daily budget, write an ad, nominate a landing page on your site and have your ads appearing in Google's search results in the right-hand column in a few minutes. How high your ad appears - whether towards the top of the page, or on page 1 at all, is dependent on the "quality score" for your ad, determined by the relevance of the keyword to your ad and the landing page, historical click through rates, and how much you are willing to pay for each click. You only pay for when someone clicks on your ad and visits your site. You don't pay if your ad is simply displayed (these are called impressions), but no-one clicks. You can also nominate your text ad to display on other websites, instead of just Google and partner search engines (such as AOL).
You need to monitor your paid SEM campaigns, to make sure that they are cost-effective. The more targetted the traffic, the better your conversion rates - whether visitors to your website actually do what you want - whether it is buying a product, or filling in your contact form.
3. Banner ads
Banner ads are picture ads displayed on websites, linking to another website. "A picture is worth a thousand words" - if done correctly, and can catch the eye and set a mood, enticing people to visit your website.
Some websites sell banner space directly, or through banner-swap programs. However most websites would sell their banner space through a program such as Google AdWords these days. So you can build a graphical ad that meets Google size specifications (and terms and conditions), and pay for your banner to be displayed on other websites. Google AdWords allows you to either select particular websites from a list, or to nominate keywords relevant to your ad, and they will choose the websites that your banner will be displayed on.
4. Press Releases
Press Releases can generate large amounts of traffic, however you do have to have something press-worthy. Whether it's a brand new website, a new function, a significant event, or significant information, there are tight guidelines on submitting press releases online. Prime sites for submitting press releases include prweb.com and prwire.com
5. Articles
Article writing is a useful technique for generating traffic.
You may wish to write articles for specific websites, or specific newsletters with a high level of readership, with the goal of getting them to visit your website.
Or you may write articles and submit them to article directories such as ezinearticles.com or goarticles.com, for the purpose of getting them included on other websites (regardless of the traffic levels), purely to generate additional links to your website, to boost your search engine performance.
6. Email marketing
Most internet marketing gurus emphasize the importance of building a mailing list. They recommend encouraging people to subscribe to your mailing list by offering something free, such as a special report, or special subscriber-only offers. Email marketing allows you to build a relationship with your readers over time. You should treat your subscribers with dignity, sharing information, and not just flogging every opportunity or product that comes along.
Avoid spam complaints by having double-opt-in signup, offering a way to unsubscribe at the bottom of every email. Make your emails available in both html and text format. iContact is a company that provides email solutions such as autoresponders, double-optin signup, whitelist agreements with major ISPs and HTML email templates.
7. Blogs
Blog is short for "web log" - a diary-style website that presents information (posts) organised by date, with the most recent generally at the top. Blogs are easy to create, and can be done for free, for example at www.wordpress.com or www.blogger.com.
Blogs are a great way of communicating, as they can allow interaction between the author and readers. Blogs often rank well at search engines, as search engines generally appreciate lots of fresh content.
Blogs also allow readers to subscribe to posts, by providing the posts as an RSS feed.
8.RSS
Email marketing is known as push-marketing - where you push your email message to subscribers. As people's email inboxes become clogged up with spam, and email response rates drop, they are offering alternatives such as RSS, which stands for Rich Site Summary (or Really Simple Syndication).
RSS Feed reading programs allow you to pull Feeds from numerous websites and read them in one place at the time of choosing. If you have a Google account (free) you can use Google Reader, or there are many other free RSS Readers available, both accessible through your web browser, or as a standalone application on your desktop.
9. Building on a Budget
If you'd like to learn more about building a network and generating more traffic cheaply, please visit Building on a Budget.
10. Social Networking
Social Networking is the term for online marketing where people establish an online profile, and share information with people in their online network of friends. Please visit Social Networking for more information.