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The invention of the Internet not only allows everyone access to an almost endless stream of information, but it is also a new frontier in which companies and corporations can market their products and services. And because people are spending more and more time online, it becomes increasingly important for those companies to reach the most potential customers possible. That’s why there are so many ways for companies to spend their money online for advertising and converting new customers.
Ads
Ads can be found all over the Internet, just like they can be found in real life in the form of billboards, newspaper ads, and TV commercials. Just because the Internet is a fairly recent development in marketing, it doesn’t mean you can’t use old tactics. But many of the new ads – like Google ads or banners on websites and blogs – have the additional element of allowing users to click and link to a website with more information, more sales copy, or possibly even a video.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing works on the Internet much like a referral does in the real world. Some companies don’t want to spend the time and energy it takes to get their name in front of potential customers, so they offer incentives to other people to market for them; the marketer then receives a share of the purchase when a referred customer connects to the selling company and buys a product. For example, many companies might give a website owner or blogger an interactive advertisement to place on their site. When a visitor to the blog clicks the link and buys a product, the blogger gets a portion of the sale.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the buzz right now. This is when companies create profiles on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and offer news, updates, discounts, and offers to people who follow them. It’s an effective way to market because companies get to market directly to people who have connected to them voluntarily and want to know more and receive more information.
SEO Marketing
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the art of bringing websites to the top of a search engine results page. We all know that the top five or six results in a Google search get the most traffic, so companies use a combination of keywords, links, and site architecture to get their website to the top of the list.
These are all great online marketing strategies, but some strategies may work better than others – based on the products a company sells and the types of customers it wants to reach. If you have a business, and are looking into online marketing, give some of these strategies a try.
About the author: James Gunter lives and works in Utah, where he writes about social media, pell grants for college, and runs a content creation company.
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