What You Need to Know About Internet Marketing
Thanks to advances in technology, the internet presents an additional avenue for businesses to create brand awareness on a digital platform through internet marketing.
Internet marketing can provide a convenient way to personalize relationships and socialize with existing customers while reaching new customers at a low cost. But how do you get started in this field, and just what is internet marketing, anyway?
This guide aims to teach you what you need to know about internet marketing, including how internet marketing is defined, who the major internet marketing gurus are, and some tips on how to get started marketing on the internet.
You’ll also gain insight on popular internet marketing tools used in the industry based on internet marketing reviews to decide what internet market system may work best for you. Let’s explore the world of internet marketing.
Image: What is Internet Marketing?
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What You Need to Know About Internet Marketing
If you’re wondering what you should know about internet marketing, or where to start, you’re not alone.
There are a number of questions on the World Wide Web that many aspiring and even existing internet marketers have about the subject. Here are some questions that can be found across the Web from individuals who have concerns about marketing on the internet:
- What is internet marketing?
- How do I get started in internet marketing?
- What do I need to know about internet marketing?
- What are the benefits of internet marketing?
- What is the best internet marketing blog to follow?
What is Internet Marketing?
Source: Internet marketing system
TNMedia (2013) defines Internet marketing (also known as online marketing or online advertising) as any online solutions, such as a strategy, tool or method, for creating awareness to the public surrounding a company’s name or brand that aids in building its exposure and reputation.
If you use the right internet marketing tools, you can also improve your chances of being discovered online. There are several internet marketing strategies that can be used, including:
- Email marketing
- Search engine marketing (SEM), such as search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC)
- Website development
- Online display ads
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Affiliate marketing
These internet marketing strategies reflect some of the key internet marketing activities online marketers take part in, such as site audits, content creation, analytics, and keyword research. Although you may pick a niche internet marketing activity or method, it is still ideal to understand how all of these strategies work together to improve customer awareness and conversion to sales.
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Popular Internet Marketing Tools
If you want to get started in the field of internet marketing, you need to be aware and utilize some of the popular internet marketing tools on the market. That way you can test out the products to see if these tools meet your online marketing needs. Some of the top internet marketing tools for search engine optimization used in 2015 included Google Webmaster tools, Google Keyword Planner, Moz Pro, and SEMrush.
Content marketing tools are also important for internet marketers to utilize. Content marketing tools are useful for creating blogs, such as an internet marketing blog, and other content. Some of the most popular content marketing tools include:
- Google Alerts
- Google Trends
- BuzzSumo
- Feedly
Analytics tools that are popular when marketing on the internet include:
- Crazy Egg
- Google Analytics
- HubSpot
- Kissmetrics
- Adobe Analytics
- WordPress Stats
Internet marketers who engage in social media marketing can also take advantage of top tools, such as:
- Facebook Insights
- Twitter Analytics
- Hootsuite
- Bitly
- Moz Pro
- Tweetdeck
- Buffer
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Some Internet Marketing Gurus You Should Know
If you want to stay ahead of internet marketing trends, you should get to know some of the industry’s internet marketing gurus.
These internet marketing gurus often top annual internet marketing reviews and lists as influencers to watch due to their years of experience devising, testing, and implementing various internet marketing strategies.
Neil Patel
As the founder of internet marketing companies such as Quick Sprout, Kissmetrics, and Crazy Egg, Patel delivers results for best internet marketing practices.
He writes for various publications online, such as TechCrunch, Forbes, and Fast Company. He’s the marketing expert to follow if you want to learn how to market on the internet as an entrepreneur and become an expert at conversion.
Rand Fishkin
Source: Craft of Marketing – Internet marketing system
Rand Fishkin is the founder of MOZ.com (formerly SEOMOZ.com) and is a top expert in marketing, entrepreneurship, and SEO. His Whiteboard Friday blog posts on the internet marketing blog MOZ often offer SEO best practices that you can use to improve your internet marketing skills.
Tim Ferris
Source: Tim Ferris (Wikipedia) – Internet marketing system
If you want to learn how to be productive when marketing on the internet, Tim Ferris is one of the best internet marketing gurus to follow. This investor is an expert at managing time efficiently to be productive. He’s also the author of The 4-Hour Workweek.
Mari Smith
If you want to gain insight into social media marketing, Smith is one of the top internet marketing gurus to follow.
Not only is she one of the top internet marketing gurus, but she specializes in Facebook and is a co-author of several books, such as Loyal and Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, which you can read for better chances at improving your internet marketing knowledge.
Ann Handley
Source: B2B Marketing – Internet marketing news
As ClickZ’s co-founder and the chief content officer of MarketingProfs, Handley delivers expert advice and strategies using content marketing. She’s also a digital marketing pioneer and is resourceful for insight on content marketing trends.
Joe Pulizzi
Source: Joe Pulizzi – Internet marketing reviews
Joe Pulizzi’s Content Marketing Institute is the go-to website to learn about content marketing. Pulizzi actually coined the phrase “content marketing” back in 2001, and his team of content marketers provides great insight into the subject.
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10 Tips for Getting Started With Marketing on the Internet
Now that you know what internet marketing is, a few examples of internet marketing strategies and tools, and which internet marketing gurus to follow for internet marketing news or to learn more about B2B internet marketing, you can take a few steps to get started in internet marketing.
Tip# 1 Be focused on your customers.
You want to center your marketing strategies around your customers because they are the ultimate end to making the sales that make your business function. If you concentrate on your customers and their needs, you can start choosing the correct internet marketing tools and strategies that can help lead them to convert to a sale.
Tip#2 Think beyond marketing campaigns and build an ROI-producing internet marketing foundation.
It’s not enough to only think about internet marketing campaigns that have a solid end date. You need to look at the bigger picture and think of establishing a foundation that is sustainable. By creating and practicing a fundamental internet marketing strategy, you can improve your chances of increasing your return on investment from dollars and time spent on internet marketing.
Tip#3 Develop the story of your brand.
If you want an effective way to connect with customers, then telling a brand story is the way to go. Storytelling helps you to build on your brand’s reputation while building a rapport with customers. It allows you to become a trustworthy, emotional entity in an often static, digital world.
Tip#4 Drive traffic to your website.
Source: Spinxdigital – Internet marketing reviews
You should use your internet marketing strategies to drive traffic to your website or blog so that you can get the opportunity to convert to sales and gain loyal customers. You can often find customers for free by taking advantage of traffic drivers, such as SEO, blogging, public relations, email lists, video marketing, and syndicated content, such as podcasts or episodes on YouTube.
If you don’t have the right traffic or any traffic coming to your website, it won’t matter how good the product or service that you’re trying to offer is. At the end of the day, you need customers to have a viable business.
Tip#5 Convert customers via website optimization.
This will require you to devise a strategy that will help you optimize your website based on insights from your customers. You can use a combination of analytics to determine customer behavior, copywriting, split testing, design, and other tools to achieve this goal.
Tip#6 Use content marketing to build connections with your audience.
You can use content marketing, such as guides, white papers, blog article posts, videos and webinars to connect to your viewers and readers. When you create content that creates value for your customers and audience, you can build a bond based on trust and solidify your credibility that may even eventually match or exceed that of the popular internet marketing gurus.
Tip#7 Use online advertising to find customers.
When you use paid channel marketing, such as SEM or PPC, in the right way, you can wisely use your internet marketing dollars in the right areas to get to the right audience. You can implement internet marketing strategies with online advertising, such as internet-based targeting, geotargeting, remarketing, and behavioral targeting to find the right customers.
Tip#8 Use email marketing for personal connections one person at a time.
If you want to avoid having customers place you on a block list or direct you to spam email, avoid creating robotic content. Email marketing is your opportunity to create valuable content for your customers that will not clog up their inboxes. Achieve effective email marketing by creating a balance between personal, human connection and automation.
Tip#9 Use affiliate marketing to automate incremental sales.
Source: Forbes – Internet marketing reviews
If the business you work in is averse to risks or you have low or no internet marketing budget to spend on costs that need to be paid upfront, then affiliate marketing provides a good starting point for generating revenue.
Affiliate marketing works similar to a referral service where you will discuss a product and get paid for the referral once the customer buys the referred item or service within a specified timeframe. You can create new income for your B2B internet marketing strategy using affiliate marketing once you have an audience.
Tip#10 Use SEO to be discovered on the internet.
Source: The Next Web – Internet marketing reviews
If you want the right customers, you need to deliver great content that is relevant to them and that can help you rank appropriately in search engines.
That is why it’s vital to have a search engine optimization strategy that takes this into consideration. Once you get your content on point, you can focus on user experience and communication.
In addition to taking these steps, make sure your internet marketing campaign utilizes both a public and a social media strategy to spread the word about your brand. Also, don’t forget about mobile marketing; your website needs to be optimized so that it works on the mobile web.
That means you need to invest the time and money needed to ensure that your website is formatted correctly to function via cellphones and other mobile devices.
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Final Thoughts about Internet Marketing
Are you still intrigued about internet marketing? If you are, that is a sign that you’re committed to being a dedicated internet marketer. Dedication is a skill you will need to pursue the different strategies you can take as an internet marketer. Don’t forget that internet marketing is a constant, living and breathing activity that must adapt to change.
Therefore, the way you do marketing on a digital platform must be adjusted for that platform. If you want to get started in internet marketing, take note of what internet marketing gurus, such as Neil Patel and Rand Fishkin, are saying about the field. They provide insight into internet marketing trends, deliver internet marketing news, and can even give tips on tweaking internet marketing strategies.
If you keep these tips in mind and use this guide as a starting point, you can begin your journey into internet marketing with great confidence.
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