Internet Marketing
Quite simply, internet marketing involves any techniques you employ to attract visitors to your site. And while each company has its own business model, there are certain characteristics that are common among online businesses. Like traditional bricks and mortar shops, online businesses cannot survive without traffic, so advertising in various forms is important to the success of your online entity.
Some of the more popular methods of internet marketing, both paid and free, are:
- Search Engine Optimization -- once the site is optimized, it can lead to free traffic from search engines known as organic or natural traffic
- Link Building -- provides two main benefits which include more traffic and the ability to move rankings
- Article Marketing -- writing articles for submission to high ranking sites and/or relevant sites in order to gain both backlinks and more traffic
- Banner Ads -- purchasing ad space in online magazines and newspapers for brand exposure and product sales
- Social Bookmarking -- letting others know about your favorite pages when you publish new information
- Social Media Marketing -- using interactive sites to promote your products, let customers know about sales and promos, and to become known in a setting other than your website
- Forum Marketing -- becoming involved with others in the same niche in order to assist them, answer questions, and become known as an authority in your area of expertise
- Pay-Per-Click -- buying advertising through text or graphic ads that are paid for when someone clicks on your ad. These types of ads are sometimes referred to as "sponsored ads".
- Pay-Per-Lead -- sometimes you want to develop your email list so that you can send out a regular newsletter or let potential and existing customers know about your specials. By paying other sites to encourage their customers to submit their email addresses, you are actually paying for the email address which is called pay-per-lead.
- Reciprocal Links -- finding like sites with whom you can exchange links. Often, web owners provide a page of other resources to make their sites more informative to their users. Typically, traffic from this type of link will be more suited to what you are selling.
- Auction Sites -- many companies have started by selling their products online through major auction sites. This is a relatively cheap way to start and gives credibility and exposure to both the brand and the business.
- Video Site Submissions and How to Videos on your own site
- Pop Unders on both your own sites and similar sites
- Online Classifieds
- Sponsorships
- Press Releases
- Announcing New Sites on Your Network of Sites
- Mobile Marketing -- setting up website so that it is usable with cell phones and other handheld devices
You may have also heard the terms web marketing, online marketing, online promotion, marketing campaigns, online marketing, and even e-marketing. Whatever you call the tasks, they are simply a way of advertising your business and creating a brand.
Here at Lodi Commerce, we specialize in all aspects of internet marketing. Regardless of whether you prefer to focus on one strategy or need a massive campaign utilizing many of the above strategies, we can undertake your projects with ease, which translates into results for you.