Internet Marketing

[SUX2BU]

Anybody out there who is doing Internet Marketing? From web development, design and architecture, I am also now covering internet marketing for our business.

I have some questions that you may want to answer:


? Where will your traffic come from?
? How do you compete (and win) against other online businesses?
? Should you buy banner advertising?
? How do you turn site traffic into business?
? How will new customers find your site?
? Do you need dedicated search engine consulting?
? How do you use the information in your site's traffic logs to make your site more effective?
? What's the most effective way to promote your site through your existing marketing efforts?


I have started doing the search engine and the indexing thing (I actually submitted our sites to some top search engines).

Thank you in advance. :)

[Cali4Nia]

Hi!

I'm a marketing major (starving college kid mooching of parents) and I chose the Internet Marketing option as electives and, so far, I've taken Internet Mktng and Electronic Market and Retailing. I will be taking Internet Mktng Research soon. I'm an average lazy student...not as brainy as you :D but I thought I'd take a crack at your questions since I've come across these issues in class and group projects before. I'm a little rusty right now cause I was on vacation and stuff kinda left my brain there for a while so bare with me. I hope I can ask you some dumb questions about business/marketing in general or maybe you can give me some nice ideas regarding my group projects and term papers when I'm at a loss for them in the future, as well.

Oh and if some of my answers sound dumb...please be nice and don't insult me...thanks :D

Book Suggestions: E-Service: 24 ways to keep your customers when the competition is just a click away by Ron Zemke and Tom Connellan



? Where will your traffic come from? -- Utilize different communication and community building strategies like doing press release emails, building opt-in lists on your website so people can voluntarily submit their email addresses for information, have related discussion forums and chatroom on website, provide free online content about your product/company on website to entertain customers and get some banner advertising.

? How do you compete (and win) against other online businesses? -- Make each site visit memorable, build in security, speed and easy navigation into the website, make sure there's an option for human contact (like an 800 number they can call to speak to a live person), use incentives to increase spending, make site easy to use, keep interesting inventory, KEEP YOUR DELIVERY PROMISES, make sure there is an apology strategy when the company screws up on something and there is some kind of easy return policy.

? Should you buy banner advertising? -- Yeah.

? How do you turn site traffic into business? Same as above. Oh and make sure there's some kind of Seal of Approval from a known agency/orgranization like BBBonline, Visa, AmEx, VeriSeal or Turstel on your site to assure customers they're in good hands.

? How will new customers find your site? Employ search engine optimization firms (the credible ones). Check out the searchengines.com website

? Do you need dedicated search engine consulting? I guess yeah if you're a med-size to large scale corporation. Check out http://www.searchengines.com/

? How do you use the information in your site's traffic logs to make your site more effective? Pay attention to the web pages the customer frequently views and spends the most time in and improve design and content there. Offer free educational information on your site. As an internet shopper...I like that.

? What's the most effective way to promote your site through your existing marketing efforts? Ughh...mental block...I dunno. Do a situation analysis I guess. Give free stuff. Loyalty programs work. When I bought books from Amazon.com they email me like crazy...follow-up emails...these are annoying but they help me remember their company and it's a good retention strategy.

If anything else comes to mind I'll post it here but I'm hungry, I gotta eat breakfast. Har har...hope this helps you a bit although it sounds so bookish. Hey at least I tried :D I go back to school in April so my mind is still on "BUM" mode. Have a good one!

[ageee]

Ageee here, been with an international company which specializes in internet marketing for two years. served as an internet marketing specialist and had had trainings in meta tags, internet marketing, etc.hope my answer makes sense :)

? Where will your traffic come from?
Emails, press release in webbased newspapers, banner advertising, newsgroups, chatrooms, search engine submissions
? How do you compete (and win) against other online businesses? I use SWOT analysis and try to spy on the competitor's site hehheheh :D
? Should you buy banner advertising? Yes. But consider the location first and the number of hits that particular site has
? How do you turn site traffic into business? If it is a b2b type of webby, it is actually part of business, it will serve as proof for your possible advertisers that people actually visit your site
? How will new customers find your site? Search engine submissions, press release, email marketing, newsgroups
? Do you need dedicated search engine consulting? You can do it yourself!Read books, update search engine submissions every 6 months, update meta tags every 6 months as well
? What's the most effective way to promote your site through your existing marketing efforts?Search engine submissions coz I get to expand my target market.



Suggested reading: 101 ways to improve your site by Susan Sweeney

[SUX2BU]

Thank you very much, ageee and Cali4Nia. :)

Did you know that some search engines are already charging per keyword? Just imagine seeding in 15 keywords by bidding just to assure your site of a higher indexing position and rank? Wow.

One funny thing I discovered. One car rental site bid for the keyword "sex", and took the top spot under the "sex" category for weeks.

The problem with search engines, though, is that you'll have to invest time. Google, for example, crawls the sites submitted and indexes them only after 6-8 weeks. But I am not complaining, of course. :)

[Cali4Nia]

Sux2bu: Meta-tags right? Keywords within the meta-tags in a website is what you were referring to when you mention seeding in keywords for higher position and rank...right?

My only experience in applying what I've learned in my internet marketing classes was volunteering to submit a Survivor II Australian Outback contestant's (now defunct) fansite to the various site submission pages for different search engines outlined on searchengines.com. Geez...it took me the whole friggin' day to do that and then I find out afterwards that there were no keywords in the meta-tags made by the fansite webmaster. Sheesh!

That's it as far as applying internet marketing concepts learned in class on kinda sorta a so called job for me. Everything I and my other classmates have done in group projects and presentations are plans on paper. No opportunities for IMPLEMENTATION as of yet so I have no idea what it feels like to be in an entry level or mid level Internet Marketing position. I like learning about the subject but I'm curious to know how Internet Marketing is like in the real working world.


....which prompts me to ask you SUX2BU and AGEE and any other professionals in the Internet Marketing field in the PeX community:

1. What do you do in your Internet Marketing position?
2. What is your title?
3. Do you work long hours?
4. Are you really infront of the computer the whole day managing real-time traffic (banners, ads, clicks)?
5. Do you telecommute? (Work from your home)
6. How did you land this position? (Any previous business/marketing experience needed as pre-requisite?)
7. What computer/web programming skills are needed?
8. Besides the usual graphics/computer programming and educational/work experience qualifications companies are seeking in an Internet Marketing candidate (I've checked out Monster.com job ads for the field), what kind of interpersonal skills are needed in this field?
9. Do you like what you are doing?
10. Any other info/advice offered is very much appreciated :D

Right now...I'm torn between moving along a career path in business/internet marketing (private or gov sector) AND public school teaching. Money isn't really a factor in my decision. Just happiness, some control, freedom to be creative, a chance to yakkety-yak (I like to talk, express and emote), job security/stability and room for life outside of work to dedicate to self-improvement and a family in the future. :D

Thank you very much in advance for helping me in my attempt at virtual job shadowing all you Internet Mareting professionals that are reading this on PeX!

[ageee]

1. What do you do in your Internet Marketing position?
I used to promote websites through search engine positioning,banner ads, newsgroups and opt in email marketing
2. What is your title?
Internet Marketing Specialist
3. Do you work long hours?
Yup. Until now, even if Im not with that company anymore
4. Are you really infront of the computer the whole day managing real-time traffic (banners, ads, clicks)?
Hmm.. Not really. Most of my time is spent doing research and comparing tactics of our competitors
5. Do you telecommute? (Work from your home)
Yup..when the need arise.
6. How did you land this position? (Any previous business/marketing experience needed as pre-requisite?)
6 months.. I was trained for 3 months and got the position
7. What computer/web programming skills are needed?
HTML for meta tags, it helps if you know a little of java, javascripts and xml
8. Besides the usual graphics/computer programming and educational/work experience qualifications companies are seeking in an Internet Marketing candidate (I've checked out Monster.com job ads for the field), what kind of interpersonal skills are needed in this field?
Patience :D love for research and analysis
9. Do you like what you are doing?
Before? Yeah. But I got tired coz I wanted a job wherein I can do both internet and traditional marketing
10. Any other info/advice offered is very much appreciate
read books, research, never stop studying ;)

[ageee]

Originally posted by SUX2BU
Thank you very much, ageee and Cali4Nia. :)

Did you know that some search engines are already charging per keyword? Just imagine seeding in 15 keywords by bidding just to assure your site of a higher indexing position and rank? Wow.

One funny thing I discovered. One car rental site bid for the keyword "sex", and took the top spot under the "sex" category for weeks.

The problem with search engines, though, is that you'll have to invest time. Google, for example, crawls the sites submitted and indexes them only after 6-8 weeks. But I am not complaining, of course. :)
yup, that's why people from that field has lots of money. hehehhe boring stuff kse e.. you know every so often you have to browse and check if you still maintain the top spot.not unless if you paid for the slot.plus the fact that you have to know which meta tag is popular as we speak. there's this site that i used to go to to check which one is being used for that moment. go to has it and metacrawler something... meta spy i think. i forgot na e..

[SUX2BU]

Hello ageee and Cali4Nia. :)

What do you do in your Internet Marketing position?
The bulk of my work is more on web architecture, design and programming, but I am also inclined towards doing internet marketing and web management. I just appointed myself as the Internet Marketing Strategist to widen the scope of my tasks and help our company have a more commanding web presence.

What is your title
Business Manager, Web Architecture Specialist, Internet Marketing Strategist, Internet Design Consultant.

Do you work long hours
I work 12-15 hours a day or sometimes more.

Are you really in front of the computer the whole day managing real-time traffic (banners, ads, clicks)?
Not the whole day. I just spend 2-3 hours a day or less/more depending on the volume of traffic.

Do you telecommute? (Work from your home)
Yeah. I also talk to prospective and existing clients. I conduct client calls.

How did you land this position? (Any previous business/marketing experience needed as pre-requisite?)
I used to work as a bank financial analyst whose tasks included analysis, market research, industry studies, financial and business development. In a way, there is a parallelism between my former and my current job. My knowledge about the business sectors is really of big help.

What computer/web programming skills are needed?
You should understand the workings of HTML, DHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, various scripts and a little of Java.

Besides the usual graphics/computer programming and educational/work experience qualifications companies are seeking in an Internet Marketing candidate (I've checked out Monster.com job ads for the field), what kind of interpersonal skills are needed in this field?
Let's just say that I am philandering with Internet Marketing, and doing it entails dealing with a s s h o l e s sites. You should really be patient, keen and very focused on web industry research and analysis. It will be helpful if you get a global perspective in terminologies used to describe what you are selling. My other advantage is my exposure to literature, and the humanities. The more well-rounded you are, the sharper your analytical skills would be. Take note that you will also be writing effective and sales-driven promotional contents.

Do you like what you are doing?
I do. It is a relatively fresh job. What is so interesting about it is the point of driving the online users towards buying your products and services. It will test your ability in enticing the web users while you are like blindfolded and fishing in the dark, and still managing to win them over because of your concepts, ideas, and varying online marketing methods. This alone makes me think that it is damn worthwile pursuing.

Any other info/advice offered is very much appreciated
Surf the web a lot. Learn new things because technologies are ever changing. Meet up with interesting people, read a lot and watch lots of good movies. :)

[wly]

Here are some great resources that can help you out:

http://www.selfpromotion.com - For beginners

http://www.searchenginewatch.com - all you want to know about search engines.

http://www.searchengineforums.com - great online discussion about all the search engines.

http://www.payperclicksearchengines - tips and tricks to PPC search engines.

http://www.geekvillage.com - http://www.abestweb.com - http://sitepointforums.com - http://www.gethighforums.com

These are some resources that have helped me in my online venture.

[Bogshot]

There is an organization of Philippine Interent Mktg Professionals (called PIMPs :D ), but I really dont know if it is still active.

They have a mailing list (pimps@yahoogroups.com) and a site at http://www.pimp.org.ph

[ageee]

:wave: I 'm a member of PIMPs. ;) We had events last year but this year wala pa e.. I think everybody's busy.:D

[SUX2BÜ]

Wow. A very good read.

:)