There are so many internet marketing possibilities for promoting
an online business, or even a traditional business. The ability
to engage in internet marketing has truly opened the door for
women in business and has made working from home a lot easier
than it used to be.
Internet marketing can be much less expensive than traditional
marketing and it can reach a huge, precisely targeted audience.
Because there are no geographic barriers in internet marketing,
it is truly possible to do business worldwide and to sell
anything from anywhere, even from the comfort of your own home.
Following is a simple explanation of some of the most common
internet marketing options that you can use to promote your
business.
Article Distribution
Distributing professional articles with a resource box that
directs readers to your website is a very valuable and effective
method of internet marketing. The articles can be given away with
permission to reprint at-will under the terms that the article
content and resource box cannot be changed. Many website
operators will post these articles on their websites which will
direct visitors to your website as well as enhancing your
internet marketing link campaigns.
Directory Listings
Directory listings are a form of internet marketing that can be
very useful. Directories are a lot like search engines, only
listings in the directories are managed and ranked by people
rather than by automated, electronic means. Many directories
accept directory listings free of charge, so they can be an
inexpensive and effective form of internet marketing.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a viable internet marketing technique that is
very similar to direct mail. Generally, it is best for internet
marketing messages sent via email to be sent to opt-in or
subscriber lists. However, third party lists can be purchased for
the purpose of email marketing.
If using third-party lists, check into how the email addresses
were collected and make sure that they are truly targeted lists
with content gathered from individual who opted to receive
information relevant to what you are sending.
Ezine Advertising
Ezine advertising, as an internet marketing option, is a lot like
advertising in a magazine; only the “magazine” is delivered to
subscribers electronically rather than through the mail.
Companies that distribute online newsletters often sale
advertising in their newsletters as well, and some may even trade
out for an advertisement in your newsletter.
Link Campaigns
Building links to your website from other websites that have
information relevant to your target market should be a part of
your internet marketing plan. Link popularity, the number of
links coming in to your website, and link relevancy, the
relevance of the website that is linking to you, can improve your
website ranking in the search engines as well as directing
targeted traffic to your site.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing
Pay-per-click search engine marketing is one of the most
successful forms of internet marketing. Basically, pay-per-click
search engine advertising is a process whereby you bid on
specific keywords that will direct targeted traffic to your
website. You are listed in the search engines based upon the
amount you bid for the keyword. You are charged the bid price
each time a visitor clicks on the search engine listing, through
to your website. This is a good internet marketing option because
you only pay for successful click-throughs which result in
traffic to your website.
Portal Listings
Portals are similar to directories but are generally specific to
a topic or industry. Because visitors to portals have interest in
the topic, getting listed in a portal that is relevant to your
business can be a very effective internet marketing technique for
driving targeted, qualified traffic to your website.
Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing is a much preferred internet marketing option because the majority of visitors to just about any website come via the use of a search engine. Search engines use what is
called spiders or crawlers which are really just software
programs that index websites and determine their relevance, based
on the search engine’s rules, to the information a person using
an internet browser is looking for.
There are also meta search engines that draw from the results of
other search engines, and specialty search engines that are
geared to a particular topic or industry. To get listed in search
engines, a website needs to be optimized and submitted to the
search engines. Major search engines include Google, Yahoo!, MSN,
Alta Vista and others.