History of internet marketing

The definition:

“Internet Marketing also refered to as web marketing, online marketing, emarketing, social marketing or new media marketing is the marketing of the products & services on the internet platform.”

Let’s see how it all started!

Internet Marketing today has become an integral part of people’s lives.When internet was first introduced not a single business house recognized the huge potential it had in store as a marketing tool. As early as 1993 it was just a tool used for emailing & data transfer. The best of the business units had declared it unfit for marketing purposes.

Then in 1995 Netscape the ISP went public and bought the online world into prominence by exploring its commercial potential. The wide reach, cost effectiveness, capabilities to measure the spending and easy accessibility made internet as the most feasible marketing tool.

The flood-gates opened after that:

Spending on Internet advertising in 1996 totaled $301 million in the U.S. While significant compared to the zero dollars spent in 1994, the figure paled in comparison to the $175 billion spent on traditional advertising as a whole that year. Online advertising grew to an industry worth nearly $1 billion in 1997.

Today, the latest study by emarketer says that the online marketing spend in the US will reach $40 billion this year and is going to cross the traditional print spend which is projected to be about $33.8 billion.

Online vs print media ad spend

On the other hand the ad spend on the TV is not greatly affected by this and seems like it will keep its top spot for few more years to come.

Online vs TV ad spend comparison

Most critical 10 email marketing mistakes

E-mail marketing has almost become too easy to execute, given the proliferation of bulk-e-mail providers. It’s critical for organizations to be strategic in this tactic and avoid these common mistakes:

1. Not having a strategy. You must have a strategy detailing reasons for the e-mail, content, audience, key messages and metrics.

2. Using an outdated list. You need a permission-based list of opt-in subscribers to increase open rates and reduce undeliverable e-mails. If contacts haven’t opted in, you may be flagged as spam and prohibited from sending future e-mails.

3. Focusing on nonrelevant content. Your message must be important to the audience. E-mails with the highest opt-in and open rates are most often thought-leadership topics or personal insights into industry trends.

4. Missing an opportunity in your top-line message. Your message may be viewed in a preview pane with images turned off or on an e-mail system or PDA that doesn’t support HTML content. Your top-line message must include a link to a Web-based version—just in case.

5. Being too text- or graphic-heavy. Adding visuals improves appeal, but you need a balance of images versus HTML text. Too much text can be overwhelming if not supported by interesting graphics to move the reader along.

6. Being “salesy”. If your readers sense a sales pitch, it will not only get deleted but they may even unsubscribe from your mailings. Worse yet, they could report your e-mail as spam.

7. Forgetting to drive your Web traffic. Editorial-driven newsletters are best developed with content directing Web site traffic. Include a portion of the story with a link to “read more” and have contextual links relevant to specific Web site pages.

8. Testing only on one browser or operating system. All e-mail systems will not display your message the same, so test it on a PC versus Mac and Internet Explorer versus Firefox. Format consistency is critical for HTML-based e-mails.

9. Sending at the wrong time. Whether your contacts are domestic or international, think about recipients’ time zones and business hours. Recent data suggest higher open rates occur on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

10. Ignoring metrics. Metrics reveal whether your message was successful. An initial report will show bounce rates so you can scrub your list. An evaluation the day after will begin to show open rates, opt-outs or spam reports.

What is viral marketing?

Viral marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on individuals rather than traditional campaigns to pass along a message to others. It usually refers to marketing on the Internet. Viral marketing is so named because of the tendency for messages to use “hosts” to spread themselves rapidly, like a biological virus.

The term “viral marketing” first became prominent when used to describe a marketing campaign for the e-mail service Hotmail.com. When the company launched, every outgoing message contained an advertisement for Hotmail and a link to its website at the bottom of the e-mail. As people e-mailed their friends and colleagues, they were also advertising the service. Recipients could simply click on the link and sign themselves up, and as they e-mailed friends from their new account, the message spread within existing social networks and was passed along with little effort from the company.

This example demonstrates all the key elements of viral marketing. Its cost to the advertiser is minimal. Instead, it takes advantage of existing resources by making everyone who uses the product an involuntary spokesperson. It exploits common behaviors, such as sending an e-mail. Viral marketing uses communications networks that are already in place. In the case of Hotmail, it implies endorsement from a friend. People who received an e-mail from a friend using the service learned that the product works and that their friends use it. And most importantly, viral marketing offers the ability to spread a message exponentially faster and to more people than conventional third-party ad campaigns.

There are different types of viral marketing, all using the same fundamental principles. Pass-along messages encourage users to send them along to others, such as e-mails with instructions to forward at the bottom or humorous video clips. Incentive-driven messages offer rewards in exchange for providing e-mail addresses. Undercover viral marketing presents messages in an unusual page or false news item without any direct incitement to pass it along, in the hopes that word-of-mouth will spread the message. Gossip or buzz marketing seeks to get people talking about something by creating controversy.

Viral marketing has come under criticism from consumers, privacy advocates, and marketing pundits because of concern over unsolicited e-mails. The best campaigns, however, use the principles of viral marketing tactfully to avoid negative reactions and ensure a high pass-along rate – the number of recipients that will pass the message to others. Much like the common cold, effective viral marketing uses people to unwittingly transmit a message within their social network. It takes the concept of word-of-mouth and enhances it with the instant global communication afforded by the Internet.

What is Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a revenue sharing venture between a website owner and an online merchant. The website owner will place advertisements on his websites to either help sell the merchant’s products or to send potential customers to the merchant’s website, all in exchange for a share of the profits.

There are three ways to earn money through affiliate marketing:

Pay Per Click — Every time a potential customer leaves the affiliate website by “clicking” on the link leading to the merchant’s website, a certain amount of money is deposited in the affiliate’s account. This amount can be pennies or dollars depending on the product and amount of the commission.

Pay Per Sale — Every time a sale is made as a result of advertising on the affiliate’s website, a percentage, or commission, is deposited into the affiliate’s account.

Pay Per Lead — Every time a potential client registers at the merchant’s website as a result of the advertisement on the affiliate’s account, a previously determined amount is deposited into the affiliate’s account.

For many website owners, this is a great way to earn some extra money without actually having to “do” anything. All it involves is placing an ad on the affiliate’s website. There’s no selling or promotion of any kind. The affiliate can just sit back and wait for the profits to roll in.

It’s also beneficial to the merchant. By placing affiliate marketing advertising on websites all over the Internet, he has free advertising and doesn’t need to do much selling on his own. The more websites a merchant is affiliated with, the more exposure his products get, and all he has to do is allow ads for his products to appear on someone else’s website.

While affiliate marketing has its benefits, there are also a few cons. For instance, the merchant has to share the profits with an outside party. If an affiliate uses unsavory means to bring customers to his website and sell the merchant’s products, the merchant will also have to contend with doing a little damage control on his reputation.

The affiliate has to do thorough research on the merchant before agreeing to affiliation. To not do so can mean ending up with a merchant who refuses to pay commission fees or packs up his business and moves on without informing any of his affiliates. This is rare, however, and most merchants and affiliates have a pleasant and profitable business arrangement.

It’s important to choose wisely. In some cases, an ad can be placed on an affiliate’s website for months before a potential customer “clicks” or purchases something. If the commission is only pennies, this can lead to a frustrating relationship. Both the affiliate and the merchant are well advised to ensure the relationship will be mutually beneficial.

Affiliate marketing is considered one of the best ways to earn money online. If this is an avenue you wish to pursue, you’d be well advised to research each merchant thoroughly. After that, there’s not much else to do except wait for the profits to roll in.

 

CPC, CPA, CP.. what??

CPA (Cost Per Action) – The cost paid per qualified action (click, sale, registration) from an online advertisement or affiliate link.

CPC (Cost Per Click) – The cost or cost-equivalent paid per click through from an online advertisement to the advertiser’s destination.

CPL (Cost Per Lead) – Total cost of online advertisement campaign divided by the number of leads generated.

CPM (Cost Per thousand impressions) – An agreed upon price paid to a content site for displaying an advertiser’s banner a thousand times. “M” represents the Roman numeral for 1000.

CPS (Cost Per Sale) – The cost paid per sale generated from an online advertisement or affiliate link.

CR (Conversion Rate) – Percentage of site visitors that take a desired action.

CTR (Click Through Rate) – The percentage of visitors that click-through an ad impression/link compared to the total number of visitors that viewed the ad impression/link.

Click through – The process of clicking on a link to visit another page or site.