Ontario business

Internet marketing

Everything you do to promote your business online is Internet marketing. Internet marketing is a fast-changing industry that readily adapts to improvements in technology.

For example, Internet marketing strategies include (but are not limited to) website design and content, search engine optimization, directory submissions, reciprocal linking strategies, online advertising, and email marketing.

Here are some examples of the time and cost-saving benefits of using the Internet to market your products or services:

• The Internet is the widest channel of communication available to small businesses.
• The Internet allows you to collect immediate feedback from your client base with little out-of-pocket expense.
• Internet marketing can be more efficient than print marketing materials and advertising strategies which can be expensive to produce and traditionally have a short shelf life.

Internet marketing tools

No matter what your business, Internet marketing should form part of your marketing mix. How large a part will depend on your particular needs and budget. The tools you use to develop your online presence and drive traffic to your website will also depend on your particular business and target market demographics.

Internet marketing is a fast-changing industry that readily adapts to improvements in technology. There are always new marketing tools available to small businesses. Some of these tools are listed below.

• Website development & search engine optimization

  Designing and building a website is only one aspect of bringing your business online. With billions of websites on the Internet, it's just as important that you ensure people can find your website.

  SEO is about ensuring your website gets noticed and ranked highly by search engines. You want to strive for a top ten ranking. Studies have shown that most search engine users don't scroll past the first page of results.

  Optimization includes:

  • Building a website using search-engine-friendly coding techniques
  • Researching appropriate keywords and keyword phrases that fit the target market
  • Using keyword-rich content in the title tags, headings and overall content
  • Growing quality inbound links to the site

• Online advertising models

  Consider advertising on third-party websites and in search engines using a combination of banner advertisements and text links, for example:

  • Graphical banner advertisements and text-based ads placed on third-party websites that link back to your website
  • Paid advertising in search engines

• Publishing on third-party websites

  Another often overlooked but cost-saving method of marketing your business online is by publishing editorials and articles in third-party e-zines, e-newsletters and on information-based websites. Just as editorials in offline media can help position you as an expert in your field and drive readers to your website, providing articles written (or ghost-written) by you to targeted online media can also drive traffic to your website, often with no out-of-pocket expense. Just remember to include a short biography that outlines what you do and a link to your website at the bottom of each article you publish.

• Permission marketing using email

  Permission-based email marketing can be a low-cost and very effective component of your web marketing strategy. It can help to build a relationship between your business and your target market, and can drive traffic back to your website. Email marketing can consist of direct emails and sales letters to your customer base, personalized auto-responders, and/or email newsletters.

  If you have the budget and don't have the time, you can hire a freelancer or a firm to conceptualize, develop and publish your email messages and newsletters for you. The advantage to email marketing is that you can choose a do-it-yourself option, where you do all of the work, or part of it yourself, thereby saving hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.

• Corporate blogs

  A weblog, or blog, is simply a Web page that acts like an online journal. You can post articles, commentary, images, and links to other websites of interest on it. Blogs can make up a significant part of your overall marketing strategy. All you have to invest in a blog is time. Although business blogs, or b-blogs, carry an inherent marketing focus not found in creative blogs, their casual structure provides the opportunity to connect with readers on a more immediate and personal level than traditional websites and newsletters allow.

  Blogs are generally do-it-yourself solutions. Maintaining one is very easy for just one person to do. Blogs can simplify and speed up the online publishing process, allowing you to disseminate information in the timeliest manner available.

• Affiliate/referral programs

  Affiliate programs, also known as referral programs or partnership programs, involve the use of affiliates to help market a website's products and services in return for a payment for each sale, lead, action, or visitor generated. Amazon.com has created one of the most sophisticated and successful affiliate programs on the Internet, a program that has no doubt contributed to their high level of brand recognition online.

Check out the following resources for more information:

• Explore the Benefits of Marketing Online
  
  http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/a/marketingonline.htm
  When marketing your business online, you can make changes on the fly and track real-time results. Find out about other benefits of online marketing.
• Marketing FAQs
  
  http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=47|K=225539
  Find clear answers to your questions about marketing techniques and approaches, including direct mail, e-marketing, online retail, customer loyalty and data mining.