Email marketing was the first marketing method to sweep the internet. The web's first generation of virtual businesses were built on the foundations of the “mailing list". Many smart businesses have developed extensive mailing lists for years, and are now able to reap the rewards of having a list of contacts that they can sell to with the push of a button. Through being able to gain life-long value from each email address they acquire, they are able to increase the return on investment that they get from each person who completes an action on their website. This means that email marketing is still smart business, and shouldn't be forgotten about.
Paid Search
Paid search, or pay-per-click marketing, involves buying advertising inventory on search engines. This isn't like TV advertising or Radio advertising which involves taking a shot-gun approach to targeting consumers. With paid search you can target consumers that are already showing an interest in what you are trying to sell. When someone types “buy shoes" into a search engine, and you sell shoes, marketers are presented with a dream scenario. They only have to pay for traffic are interested in what they sell. Not only that, thanks to tracking software and the ability to dictate the price you pay for a click, marketers can be sure they are getting a strong return on investment.
Organic Search
Organic search engine traffic doesn't cost a penny. Although you will have to spend money, or your own time, to make sure your websites are optimized for search engines, you don't have to pay any ongoing costs for the floods of traffic that are arriving at your website. Much like paid search the traffic is highly targeted, as you only optimize your website for keywords that are relevant to the products or services that you have on offer. Unlike paid search, organic search can sometimes take a while to translate into serious traffic numbers. You have to look at organic search as more of an investment rather than as a strategy for overnight success. However, when it pays off you'll be glad you spent the time or money that you did. Search engine consultants are able to charge over $500 an hour for their expertise. So if all else fails with your online business, if you've learnt SEO, you can relax knowing you could consult clients for the rest of your days and earn a boat load of cash in the process.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a smart way to gain additional traffic and sales while allowing other marketers to do the hard work for you. If you have a product to sell, then you can give someone a cut of your profits each time they make a sale for you. Thanks to the web it's easy to track, and not only that – you'll be the one who manages to benefit from the additional value you can extract from a customer's repeat business!
