I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend! The weather was beautiful in Boston and it was good to be home for a weekend!! Its back to the work week though and I will be off to Jacksonville, FL to speak!!

Internet marketing is called by a lot of terms these days, a sure sign of its ever-increasing popularity. One thing remains in a virtual world that is fast changing, Internet marketing is here to stay. Internet Marketing refers to the methods employed by business owners to advertise and sell their products and services online. With this new medium to build on, advertisers are finding more ways to reach out to the global audience who are starting to spend more time (and money) on the Internet.

Internet marketing is made up of several aspects that work together to fully harness a website’s power. These factors are weighed in carefully to ensure that goals and target audiences are met with precision. These include: search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads, email marketing and Web 2.0 strategies.

Search Engine Marketing is the promotion of a website by increasing its visibility through search engines. This is done through paid placement, contextual advertising or paid inclusion. It differs from another method of website promotion through search engine optimization or SEO in such that the latter makes use non-paid or organic techniques. Through research on the most popular keyword searches and search engines, SEO strategists incorporate these results into the website’s html code or content. Link building is another technique used in SEO.

Banner ads are what you see on the tops or sides of a website (either long and wide or tall and narrow). They are usually accompanied by some graphics or flash animation to maximize its presence. Some advertisers now employ brief video clips to accompany their banner ads. Its purpose is to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of its advertiser. Email marketing is the mail you get from advertisers about a promotion, an invitation, a press release or just a greeting. Its general purpose is to build relationships with customers over time.

Web 2.0 is the host of web applications that foster online communities, participation, information, sharing and collaboration between users. Examples are forums, blogs like Tumblr, Multiply or Livejournal, video sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo, social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, photo sharing sites like Flicker. As long as you can interact or leave comments to the site, foster an ongoing discussion or relationship with other users of the community, then it is considered a classification of web 2.0.

Several business models make up the spectra of Internet marketing:

• E-commerce: Wherein the goods are a) sold directly to consumers, b) sold to businesses or c) sold from consumer to consumer.
• Lead-based websites: This is similar to walk-in customers in the world of retail. Sales are generated on point or on the website of the business.
• Affiliate Marketing: This refers to the product or service offered by a business that is sold by another active seller online for a cut in the sale made. This is done by providing a link of another business that is related to yours on your website. You can also put up ads of another business on your space for the same arrangement.
• Local Internet marketing: refers to how businesses make use of various online tools to generate sales for their real world businesses. This may include putting up a Facebook page, a video on YouTube or establishing a Twitter account.

As with any other form of marketing, it is best to employ caution when engaging in Internet marketing. Know that consumers can be uncomfortable with sharing personal information especially financial data online. It is important that you offer the option to “opt out” of certain data sharing activities. Also provide money back guarantee option for buyers are still wary over buying anything that they cannot physically see or touch. All of these techniques will help your business in the long run and help you gain a reputable name in the online world.

Because of the wide possibilities offered by the Internet, most businesses have sought to find their place in the virtual world. Inability to keep up with the times might mean a sad goodbye to your company. So it is best to suit up and keep with the ever-changing pace of the world.

Thought this was a pretty cool video explaining Social Media the easiest way possible. Check it out!

Just want to thank everyone who came out to our San Francisco Bootcamp this past weekend. I hope you were able to learn a lot of stuff and go home and put it to use. We know it is a lot of material being thrown at you in a weekend, so do not hesitate in calling our office if you have a question on something you learned. Now go make money!!!