The Most Effective Internet Marketing for Small Business Techniques

Internet marketing, also called online marketing, Web marketing, webvertising, e-marketing and iMarketing, is marketing using the World Wide Web as the medium. There are several reasons for the growth in Internet marketing for small business. When you look at the ratio of cost to reach of a target audience, Internet marketing for small business is way ahead of traditional advertising methods like classified ads, posters and direct mail marketing. Internet marketing brings in targeted Web traffic, meaning you get greater return on investment (ROI). Most aspects of local Internet marketing for small business campaigns can be measured, tested, and traced through ad servers. The fact that there are many Internet marketing techniques to choose from means you can choose the most appropriate method for your target audience.

There are several techniques of internet marketing for small business that you could use.. Note that you could use several local Internet marketing for small business techniques simultaneously. You could do display advertising when doing Internet marketing for small business. This involves the use of banner ads or Web banners in 3rd-party websites to drive traffic into your website and for increased brand awareness. This local Internet marketing for small business technique is, however, disadvantageous in that most Web browsers and anti-spyware software programs have features to prevent banner ads.

An effective Internet marketing for small business technique is search engine marketing (SEM). This involves the promotion of a website through increasing its visibility in SERPs (search engine results pages). This is achieved through contextual advertising, paid inclusion and paid placement.

No local Internet marketing for small business campaign is complete without search engine optimization (SEO). This is the process of optimizing a website, a particular Web page in the website or a blog for major search engines (like Google, Bing and Yahoo!). Ensure that only White Hat SEO techniques are used when doing Internet marketing for small business. These methods of local Internet marketing for small business include link building, XML sitemap creation, Alt and Meta tag creation, keyword optimization, page speed optimization and social bookmarking.

With the increased penetration of the Internet, local Internet marketing for small business can now be done through social media. This is called social media marketing or SMM. This method of local Internet marketing for small business involves the use of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, forums and online communities to bring in targeted Web traffic.

Another effective Internet marketing for small business technique is email marketing. This involves the creation of a mailing list (usually over time) and the promotion of products/services through the mailing list via electronic mail.

You could opt for referral marketing when doing local Internet marketing for small business. This is the promotion of products/services through word of mouth and other referral methods. You could do affiliate marketing when doing Internet marketing for small business. This involves the selling of products/services through affiliates, where the affiliates get commissions for each product/service sold. Another option is content marketing whereby you create and freely share informative content with customers/clients and potential customers/clients.