Forget about electricity, automobiles and airplanes. The Internet is now considered American’s greatest gift to the world. What began in the late sixties as an alternative communication channel for the military has quickly developed into a fullfedged business and economic system.
“Believe the hype. The Internet and the World Wide Web have become the most important new communication media since television, and ones that are fundamentally reshaping contemporary understanding of sales and marketing.” Jim Sterne.
During the late nineties, the Internet explosion saw all sorts of new companies rapidly developing products and services that capitalized on the Web’s potential. However, the push to market often resulted in poor planning and business models that neglected to include realistic business goals. Unfortunately, as the year 2000 ended so did many of the dot-com firms.
Companies now realize that web-based techniques and strategies must be approached as they would with any traditional marketing activity. The same fundamental questions must still be answered:
Who are our customers?
What is the competition doing?
Which marketing mix strategies are most effective?
Are our business models realistic?
How and when we will make a return on investment?
But there are many non-traditional things to learn about this new medium:
Search Engine Optimization — The best and most cost-effective way to get people visiting your website starts with getting your website listed on top search engines and directories. But how is that best accomplished? Do you concentrate on offsite or onsite optimization? How do you find your keyword phrases? And a host of other important questions about SEO.
Pay Per Click Advertising — Is the easiest and quickest way to create instant online presence. Campaigns can be created and launched in less then 2 weeks. Costs are determined by keyword search volume and keyword market value. But how do you ensure you get the most return on your investment?
Email Marketing — A custom newsletter design combined with a powerful email management system will make sending engaging emails, newsletters, or promotions that will stand out above the rest easier than you think! But what is an autoresponder? What is a drip campaign?
Advanced Web Statistics — Web statistics provides a lot more data than how many hits your site receives (what is a "hit" anyway?). Statistics allows you to easily measure vital information such as where your visitors are coming from, how long they stay, what pages are the most popular and on which pages visitors most commonly exit. The accuracy and configuration of these tools are critical in diagnosing problem areas on a website or determining the results of a campaign.
This site will explore products and services to help you get the most from your Internet Marketing.
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One of the biggest challenges that I have found running my own business is that you can get in a routine. For most people that doesn’t necessarily sound bad, but it can be the death of your business. While other businesses are innovating and testing, by staying the same, you will be left behind.