Internet Marketing - Advantages and Disadvantages

Everyone seems to be jumping on the internet marketing bandwagon lately. In the race to get their business online, many successful businesses forget to ask themselves some tough questions about what they are doing, what their expectations are and what their plan is to meet those expectations.

The internet can be a powerful tool that can put you on solid footing with bigger companies. On the other hand, the other companies may have more money to pay for advertising. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you analyze your internet marketing strategy.

Advantage of Internet Marketing

- your store is open, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Further, your customers are worldwide in reach, and can shop anytime that they want to

- the cost of spreading your message is next to nothing. Emailing your subscription base is more oftne cheaper than sending a letter through the mail

- updating your subscribers can be done almost instantly through email. Visitors to your website can get up to the minute information on each visit. If you are having a sale, your customers can start shopping at the discounted prices literally as soon as they open their email

- if you have an information sensitive business, such as a law firm, newspaper or online magazine, you can deliver your products directly to your customers without having to use a courier

Disadvantages of Internet Marketing

- online marketing is not free. The cost of software, hardware, wed site design, maintenance of your site, online distribution costs and of course, time, all must be factored into the cost of providing your service or product.

- slightly over 50% of households shop online. While that number will continue to grow, you are reaching less than two out of three households.

- the internet is still regarded as a source of information gathering for the majority of your customers. Of the number of visitors to your site, the vast majority of visitors who are motivated to buy will do so in person. Many people prefer the live interaction when they buy. If you have a small business with one location, this may deter customers from buying.

- easier to have outdated information on your site, thus timing of updates is critical

- there is no replacement for good old fashioned customer service. The majority of internet marketers lack customer service and inquiry response programs. As a result, many online visitors to your site will already have painted your site as poor service before they have even contacted you. The majority of websites also have poor navigation, which makes it difficult for your visitor to find what they are looking for. Many sites were created with a marketing view, not a customer service point of view.

- is your site secure? Does your customer know this? There are many incorrect stereotypes about the security of the internet out there. As a result, many of your visitors will not want to use their credit card to make a purchase. The fear of having their credit card info stolen is a clear and present danger in the minds of your visitors

- there is a lot of competition for your product already out there. By the time your visitor finds you, they have already been clicking many links. Unless they can find what they are looking for quickly, they are gone.

- many web visitors expect something for free. What do you have to offer them?

There are many other pros and cons of internet marketing. Its important for you to consider each when creating your internet marketing strategy. Each of the disadvantages can be overcome, but only if you view the customer experience from the eyes of your customer, not as an internet marketer.

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Christopher Smith has been creating web sites for small businesses for over 7 years. In addition to providing deisgn and consultation services, Christopher also provides tips on search engine optimization, internet marketing and traffic generation.

Learn Affiliate Marketing - How I Finally Managed To Learn Affiliate Marketing The Right Way

When I set out to learn affiliate marketing in late 2006, I sort of knew how it worked, and I had some of the necessary skills already, so I figured it wouldn't be that hard. I bought a couple of ebooks that outlined "sure fire" methods to start generating multiple sources of income. I even bought a video e-course that promised the same thing. All of these made huge promises and returned squat for results. Their methods were just too vague to follow.

Finally after dumping about $300 down the proverbial toilet on total crap, (pardon the pun) I stumbled on a resource that has helped me a great deal in my quest to learn affiliate marketing. This resource, after about 4 days, taught me things that I had never even heard about before, and made complete and total sense. After going through a few tutorials and watching a few videos, I had a new outlook, and I set out to make money.

After 3 days, I had my first EVER sale as an affiliate. Success finally! The feeling was great and I wanted to learn more. I kept on digging and absorbing information in the forums as well as the more advanced sections of the learning resources and to make a long story short, today I am generating a part time income equal to about half of what I make at my day job in just a few hours a day, all of which is fun to me!

I don't think I would have ever managed to learn affiliate marketing the proper way if I hadn't stumbled upon this site. I would have ended up out in limbo making a sale every couple of weeks like most of the people who try it and fail. I'm glad I found it when I did, because I was so determined. Who knows how much money I would have wasted on junk ebooks in my inevitable quest.

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Finally, you've found something that delivers what it promises and then some. Here's a site you can go to that will show you proof of what you've read in this article, and even grab a few surprises along the way. IronClad Proof

Powerful Article Marketing - Latest 3 Ultimate Methods to Multiply Your Article Marketing

Most webmasters and ebusiness owners have unleashed the power of article marketing in terms of improving their online traffic and augmenting their sales. That is why, more and more marketers are going out of their ways to make sure that they are getting the maximum benefits of this method. If you are one of them and are currently looking for ways on how you can multiply your article marketing, these 3 ultimate methods are definitely for you:

1. Increase the number of your articles. This is the only way to augment the number of links for your website as each submission grants you one quality inbound link. To multiply the number of your articles, you can either write additional 3-4 articles everyday or you can hire ghostwriters.

2. Never sacrifice the quality of your articles. Though you must increase the number of your articles, it is of out most importance that you make sure that all your articles are still of high quality. Why? It's because online users will gauge your expertise and knowledge based on how your articles were written. If your articles sound hurried or if they don't make sense at all, no online users will be willing to read your other articles much more distribute or republish them.

3. Use automatic submission software. By doing so, you will be able to submit your articles in few clicks in your mouse. That would mean more time for you to write your articles and much lesser wasted time.

Improving your article marketing campaign is probably one of the best decisions you can ever make to further improve your online traffic and page ranking. By following the 3 steps, you'll be sure to succeed in this method in no time.

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Amplify Your Article Marketing Efforts By Helping The Reader

Article marketing is a really great way to build an online business. If you have tried other methods like ppc or ezine advertising and still have not experienced any success I seriously suggest that you consider article marketing.

Let us first take a look at why this is such a great method of advertising your business. I think that the primary reason is that today with the increase in spam and advertising messages people are not as receptive to blatant advertising as before. Many years ago to be a top marketer all you needed to do was advertise your website using ppc. Today the ppc search engines are so competitive and it really is a lot more difficult to make a profit.

As the famous sales trainer Jeoffrey Gitomer once said people buy from people that they like, know and trust. With article marketing people are most likely to have read several of your articles before they click through to your website. This means that by the time that they click through to your site they already like, know and trust you. Consequently they are ready to buy from you. With other forms of marketing you need to do the hard work first.

Now the best way to maximize these results is to write articles where you help the reader. Share a slice of your expertise without giving the farm away. The more useful information that you give your reader the more likely that they will subscribe to your newsletter and become a paid customer. I find that 250 to 350 word articles work the best. This is so that they are short enough and do not get lost before they have an opportunity to click on my resource box.

Finally, make sure that you have your unique selling proposition in your resource box. This will be your 30 second elevator pitch that will make the reader want to click through to your website.

Are you really interested in driving massive traffic to your website?

Here's the answer:

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Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

How To Get More Clicks From Your Article Marketing

Article marketing has emerged as the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to build traffic to any website, and build name recognition for yourself as an authority in your field.

In a nutshell, it works like this. You (or someone you hire to ghostwrite for you) write a number of short articles that typically range from 300 to 900 words in length. You keep the articles informative, without an overt sales message. The tone of your articles must be helpful and useful to readers who have an interest in your topic.

Next you submit your articles to any of the hundreds of online article submission sites, also known as "article banks," and agree that anyone can reprint your articles for their websites under certain conditions. These conditions include the fact that you maintain your copyright over your own materials, that the article be reprinted exactly as you published it, without any changes, and that your name and website also be kept intact.

Finally, and most importantly, the person reprinting your article must agree to also publish your "resource box" along with the article.

The resource box is where the magic of article marketing takes place. This is where you can put your sales and marketing message. It is also where you tell readers about yourself and about the services you offer. And finally, the resource box is where you place a link pointing to your website.

When people read your articles, whether they find it on the article bank you submitted the article to, or on another website that reprinted your article, they will naturally read your resource box as well. They may then click on the link to your website and get more information about what you can do for them.

But the key word here is "may." If your resource box does not motivate readers to click on your link and visit your website, the whole effort involved in writing the article will go to waste. Many people spend a lot of time writing very high quality articles only to let down when it comes to crafting the ideal resource box.

Don't make this mistake, make sure your resource box gives readers a reason to click on that link. Don't just offer a benefit, for visiting your site, offer benefits they can have right now. Use phrases like, "find out how," or "learn more about," or "don't lose another minute." Appeal to your readers' need for immediate gratification, and you get more clicks and more visitors for every article you write.

Charles Brown is a copywriter and internet marketer who teaches entrepreneurs how to create superior marketing campaigns, write compelling web content, capture more leads, build huge email lists and use autoresponders to turn casual website visitors into buyers. His popular newsletter, Tightwad Marketing Ideas is a must for any entrepreneur wanting to successfully market any business without spending a fortune.

Article Marketing Basics - Article Marketing for SEO

Article Marketing Basics

Article marketing basics comprise several SEO strategies. SEO (Search Engine Optimizing) involves relevancy, quality, informative copies, keyword density and so forth. While other strategies are considered in article marketing basics, the list is the primary targets that Internet marketers focus on when attempting to reach top rank at the major search engines.

Relevancy: Relevancy is important. Relevancy is a sensible connection, since it gives Google and other major search engines the ability to compute the informational retrieval system to find or retrieve data that matches a users requirements. In summary, relevancy assists users with finding products and services easier.

Quality: Quality is also important; Google and other major search engines expert high-quality article writing basics, since the attributes attracts traffic, which keeps these search engines in good standards with the Internet community.

Informative copies: When you post informative copies on your web pages it drives traffic to your pages, which increases your sales and chances at reaching the highest rank on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other major search engines.

Keyword Density: Keyword density is explained in a few ways. Keyword density is the top priority for most Internet marketers that focus on article marketing basics. Keyword phrases set the reference points. The words used give reference to other information that indicates where the content of a document is heading.

Keywords in computer language is code words, which these words have specific meaning. The words flow in sequence of numbers and letters to form common words significant within the context. Keyword density various, since some Internet marketers will cram the pages believing that Google and other major search engines will notice their web pages quicker. Contrary to their theories, Google rejects this behavior. Thus, when focusing on article marketing basics, keep your keyword phrases around 5 to 20 percent.

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