Internet marketing used to be simple. It was a basic storefront philosophy: you threw up a website store, placed a few banner ads at other sites and started marketing your product. E-bay was an early but extremely savvy internet marketer that took off like a shot, but today's internet marketing is much more complex and vastly different.

Internet marketing today encompasses a whole range of different marketing strategies, some that don't even directly relate to selling the actual product. Marketing experts will tell you to image, loyalty and brand awareness are just as essential to success as selling the actual product, and Internet marketing today recognizes this. Today a successful Internet marketing plan has to encompass all of these ideas to compete in a truly global marketplace.

It is not just about getting people to visit your company's site anymore. It's also about:

1: Brand awareness. Find what makes your particular brand special. With perhaps hundreds or even thousands of other websites selling similar items or services, decide what sets your item or service apart as unique. Your Internet marketing needs to highlight what's special about you. Create a tag line, a slogan that's catchy, short and easy to remember and design a logo. Use it on your home page and everywhere else you can, including in your emails and on your banner ads to create easy recognition.

2: Creating buzz. Internet marketing is ideally suited for this task. Get out and blog. Visit other blogs that relate to your industry and comment sagely, providing links back to your site. Stir up debate and discussion. Get a dialogue going. Be sure you also send out press releases whenever your company achieves a milestone or releases a new product or service.

3: Become an expert. Again, Internet marketing techniques let you become an expert like never before. Write articles on industry issues you're passionate about, and then submit them to online magazines and Internet forums. Remember to include your byline at the bottom and a link to your website. Offering your insights on other websites is a great way to establish yourself as in industry expert, whether it's in the fashion industry or the insurance industry. Having a blog of your own is another great way to establish yourself as an expert and generate traffic to your site. It can also generate some great incoming traffic and get some discussions going with visitors.

4: Creating customer loyalty. Internet marketing doesn't just focus on getting the customers, it also wants to keep the customers. It costs far more to gain new customers than it does to keep repeat customers, so it pays to think about what your customers want that will keep them coming back for more. A site that's regularly updated, fresh and interesting is a great aspect of Internet marketing that lots of business owners overlook. Fresh content, a newsletter that really offers fresh, vital, useful information is great marketing.

5: Conducting research. You can use Internet marketing campaigns to learn more about your customers and potential customers. Get your fingers on the pulse of consumers with brief, interactive surveys. If they are interesting and fun you can learn an awful lot about what they really want from your products or services and what they don't like. You can also learn a lot from your own blog. Don't hesitate to answer questions or get engaged in a dialogue with visitors. Remember, its all marketing.

With so many Internet marketing options available, the competition is fierce and you can find dozens of ways to enhance your business. In fact, you can spend all of your time focusing on just the marketing aspect of your business. As you continue to grow, you may want to consider hiring someone to focus on your Internet marketing so that you can get back to running your company.