Internet Marketing

Internet marketing (IM) incorporates many elements of marketing and promoting a web site online. Search engine optimization, pay per click, buzz marketing, viral marketing, affiliate marketing, and link baiting are all pieces of the internet marketing plan.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of pushing the ranking of a web site for valuable keywords towards the top, ideally to the #1 spot. This is organic traffic (free clicks - unlike PPC).  A search engine optimization specialist, or ‘SEO’ is an expert on the strategies available to rank a web site for organic search keywords.

Pay per click (PPC) is buying visitors by the ‘click’. Google Adwords/Adsense, Yahoo, and MSN are the largest per click marketing sources.

Buzz marketing is plugging your site/product on other spaces - such as: blogs, social sites, review sites, and forums.

Viral marketing is tying a product into a promotion technique. A famous example of this is Hotmail. Hotmail allowed anyone to sign up for a free email account. Then, whenever someone sent an email, Hotmail included a plug at the botton of the email letting the recipients know that they too could have a free email account.  Viral marketing can be as simple as requesting email addresses from your customers in exchange for a discount or bonus.  Every customer you add passes your product or service onto their friends and family.

Affiliate marketing is paying for leads/sales. It’s a program that allows other web masters to promote your product and get paid when a result is produced.

Link baiting is creating content that causes others to link to you. Maybe it’s funny or controversial, or maybe it’s useful. Anything that catches the interest of others and prompts web sites and people to link back to your site.  Learn more about the results link bait can generate:  Link Bait.

Internet marketing is many things. When you choose to market on the internet you should never limit yourself to just one technique. If you are going to sell on the internet, use every available option you have!