Internet Marketing - Demystified

Internet marketing is an outcome of the electronic wave that is sweeping the globe. It has been successfully harnessed and this has resulted in various advantages like online buying and selling of goods as well as the generation of business leads.

Types Of Internet Marketing: The various types of Internet marketing are:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): In this kind of marketing, the website is made more search engine friendly so that when a specific keyword or search is typed by the user, the site will make it into the top search results. This type of Internet marketing is more appropriate method to attract the potential customers.

Pay-Per-Click: Under this category, the advertiser pays the search engine certain amount to get the address of his website featured separately if a keywords relating to his industry of sector is typed in.

Affiliate Marketing: It is a kind of marketing wherein a company hires other companies or websites known as affiliates and entrusts them with the responsibility of marketing the product. The affiliates are paid commission. The affiliates can host a website in which it may display the banners or logos of the company. If the visitor clicks on this banner, they are redirected to the sponsor's site. The affiliate is paid a commission.

Online Auctions: Online auctions are just as the auctions that take place in the real world. Items are put up for sale and the seller quotes the minimum price. Interested buyers then start quoting their price. And the item is sold to the highest bidder. The buyers in case of online auction can be form any part of the world

Banner advertising: Here banners of the advertiser is displayed on the website. The advertisers pay a certain amount of money to get the banner displayed on the website for a certain period of time. The banners are usually visually appealing to attract the potential customers. The respond it will get depends upon the website it has been displayed. Again there is no guarantee that the prospective customers will view it.

Directory Listings: It is a service wherein sites are placed in special categories in a directory. Such kind of service can be free or fee based. The listing can be made in yellow pages or directories such as Yahoo.

Internet marketing is thus a new age marketing that provides the sellers with never seen before kind of opportunities. Since it is online, it is much cheaper than traditional methods of marketing and can be done by even a small-scale enterprise.

Ethical E-mail marketing: There are many web applications which allow website owners to maintain the subscriber database and allow personalized newsletters to be sent in a jiffy. Usually marketing strategies are impersonal in nature. For e.g. an ad shown on TV is simultaneously watched by many. Email marketing gives an opportunity for personally addressing the recipient. If handled tactfully, email marketing can be used to successfully stroke the emotions of the targeted audience and thus elicit positive response. It can be used to send information about the latest product information, launches, beta products, and updates on service workshops, seminars etc to the subscribers.

Advantages of Internet marketing:

No Geographical Limitation: Since the Internet has no geographical constraints; it is good tool for marketing. One can advertise the products on the web to attract the potential customers. One need not be physically present to deal with the client.

Overseas market: Before the advent of the Internet, for procuring a business, one had to visit abroad, hunt for buyers and then finalize the deal. This proved a major hindrance for small and medium sized companies as it meant having huge financial capacity. Internet marketing has become a great boom, as one need not travel anywhere for getting and meeting the prospective customers.

vCost-effective Option: Internet marketing is proving to be a cost-effective option as compared to traditional methods of marketing such as print, and the audio/video medium. One only has to have access to the net in order to start up with Internet marketing. One also saves on traveling cost that is incurred if trade fairs and trade shows are attended.

Availability of 24 hours: Internet marketing can be done for 24x7x365. If a company maintains a website, this website can be viewed by customers any time during the day. For e.g. an e-store maintained by an electronics manufacturer. The prospective buyers can visit the site as per their convenience and will browse the product gallery. They can also go through the description of the product and gather more information related to the same.

Display of full information: In the traditional world of print and audiovisual, there is a limit to how much information can be passed on to a customer. In print the restriction is in the form of the size of the ad (Unless you want to shell out a huge amount!). In radio and TV ads one has the restriction, which is measured in seconds. These restrictions cannot be ignored. If a company is having a diverse product line, a website can be a more proper medium of conveying the information to the reader.

Increasing the returns on investment on a website: Internet marketing increases the return on investment on the website. If the website is able to attract more customers and increases the sale volume, the website owner will be able to recover the expenses incurred on maintaining the website.

Discovery of new markets: Many times it so happens that a particular market remains untapped by the seller due to his lack of awareness or due to geographical hostility. Under such circumstances, Internet marketing can serve as a great tool in tapping such markets. Since Internet has no geographical boundaries, it is easier for the buyer or the supplier to know and contact each other. This has led to the discovery of new markets. If customers from untapped markets come to the seller he will become aware of the existence of a new market for his products.