Internet Marketing (IM) is a strategic advertising practice focused on optimizing web site visibility and visitor response through increased sales. Digital marketing is part of multichannel online marketing which uses digital technologies including mobile phones, desktops, electronic items and other internet-based media and platforms such as social media, internet based e-commerce websites, content sites and search engines. The objective of digital marketing is to achieve targeted business objectives by creating a competitive online presence through a consistent and timely message to the audience. There are many aspects of this form of marketing, but the core of Internet Marketing includes search engine optimization, content marketing, display advertising, and mobile marketing. The four main aspects of this marketing practice are:

Traditional Marketing The traditional form of Internet Marketing focuses on attracting new customers through the use of ads. Ads can appear on many different platforms, depending on the target audience, such as television, radio, and print. Because ads can only be viewed by the audience who originally clicked on them, Internet Marketing requires the ability to target specific, defined demographics. This limits the reach of ads and their effectiveness.

Automation Internet Marketing is often made possible through the use of automation. An automation platform automates the various stages of an Internet Marketing campaign, increasing efficiency and reducing time to spend. Some of the popular channels include Pay per Click, Social media, Email marketing and Mobile advertising. Automation increases the level of engagement and makes internet marketing more effective for all the involved parties.

Content Marketing deals with creating or updating the information about your company or product so that it can be accessed by potential customers. In traditional marketing, a company would have to either work to gather enough data to establish a viable customer base or develop a content strategy that would reach the right audience. In the last decade, social media marketing has developed to fill the role of content marketing. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are used to share information about a product or service with the masses. There are now at least seven types of social media marketing.

Search Engine Marketing The primary goal of any form of Internet Marketing is to increase the number of visitors to a site. This is done through search engine optimization (SEO). There are two types of SEO, organic and pay-per-click, although there are a few gray areas between the two types. Organic SEO generally focuses on making the most use of keywords while pay-per-click SEO uses pay-per-click advertisements to direct traffic to a website.

Paid Advertising is an important component of many forms of internet marketing, although it is usually considered the most intrusive. Many companies rely on traditional media, such as radio, television and print, to advertise their products. Other companies utilize internet marketing to create promotions that run on TV, radio and/or printed media. Some even utilize paid advertising to directly sell to the public.

Content Marketing The most obvious choice when discussing content marketing is to promote a product by providing unique and quality content to various social media channels. The process is not only important from a search engine result page (SERP) standpoint, but content marketing can play a large part in the long term success of a company as well. When a consumer searches for a particular product they will most likely do so via social channels, such as Facebook and Twitter. If a company’s content is of value to their consumers, then the consumer will recommend the business to others, ultimately increasing their exposure level.

Automation The automation aspect of internet marketing can be applied in a variety of different ways. Some marketers focus their efforts on creating inbound links to their website from other websites. YouTube and RSS Feeds are some of the channels that often include links to websites with similar content. The automation is most often found within the form of software that allows a business to manage its social channels on a daily basis, or even weekly. There are also web-based tools available to increase the activity of a channel’s audience.