What is Internet Marketing ?

Internet marketing, or online marketing, refers to the promotion of goods and services on the internet. The online world acts as a medium to communicate messages that a business drafts for its audience. Online marketing is also synonymous with online advertising.

It is essential to understand that online marketing is not second to traditional marketing. Nor is it a complimentary service that you can use to boost your marketing efforts on other mediums. Instead, online marketing is a hardcore way to promote a business and make it known to an audience that is bombarded with tons of similar stimuli every minute of the day. 

Perhaps the very foundation of online marketing lies in finding newer ways to reach customers and markets that would be interested in what a business has to offer. Since traditional mediums like newspaper, prints and TVs have been tried over and over again, a new and creative internet marketing idea seems to be the fresh start that modern businesses so desperately need.

Another reason why internet marketing has gained so much momentum in the last few years is that, by using this method, many companies and business owners aim to break the clutter that has piled up because of nonstop marketing efforts. Every company and every business, in an attempt to attract customers, indulge in various marketing tactics, like an ad in the local newspaper or a TVs campaign that can be viewed on various channels.

When combined, all these campaigns lead to an overload and customers usually become resistant to such attempts. Internet marketing provides a different way to do the same activities, and cash in on high consumer interest as well. Coupled with this, increased internet usage is another factor that has made this marketing alternative quite a hit.

According to statistics, 80% of the people in the United States use the internet regularly. Out of these, 97% use it to search for products that they eventually end up buying. Google research reveals that 10.3 billion searches are conducted online result in nine out of 10 product/business follow-ups. With such high rates of internet usage and the possibility of customers getting back to you, wouldn’t you want your small business to have a face in the realm of the World Wide Web?

However, the dilemma comes in when owners of small business, who rightly play the part of marketer, administrator and finance office as well, voice that they do not have time to keep their online presence updated. With such a bleak outlook of even trying to take advantage of the Internet, these companies often ignore one of the biggest consumer touch points of the 21st century.

Not only does such a business let go of an opportunity to grow and mature with the market, it also sets itself up to lose to the competition. Businesses that compete with you, directly or indirectly, can make tremendous profits and convert potential sales leads into loyal customers by taking advantage of being present on the internet.

Therefore, it is essential for a small business working in the global economy to make use of internet marketing. Even if you do not have the resources to spend on an e-commerce website, at least make sure you are listed in the online yellow pages directory. When customers conduct a quick search for the product they want, your company name will be displayed. 

Approximately 48% of all customers using the internet to search for businesses use the Yellow Pages Directory, which is available online. As it will be discussed in later sections, there are many ways to market your business on the internet, using either free or paid solutions depending on the budget you have to assign to internet marketing. Using these methods is an excellent way to make sure you are heard and seen on the internet.

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