Online marketing means different things to different people. In the ever changing world of online marketing and e-commerce, general website maintenance is often overshadowed by the focus on search engine optimization and Pay per Click or PPC. While these are proven strategies to increase site traffic and create sales, most online marketers don’t think enough about the obvious steps they can take to increase traffic to their websites.

A comprehensive online marketing strategy is 90% content driven and is focused on identifying and convincing your target audience. For a basic online marketing strategy your goal is to drive traffic to your site. Traffic is step one. Without traffic there can be no sales.

Online Marketing focusing on a target audience can include developing a marketing campaign that can be measured. Unlike traditional forms of marketing such as newspaper, radio or television, the leads generated from online marketing can be effectively tracked so well that there is little doubt about whether the campaign is successful or not.

More and more business people have begun to realize that online marketing is much better suited than most traditional forms of marketing for marketing their products and services. One of the main techniques in online marketing is SEO or search engine optimization. Search engines like Google and Yahoo enable people who are actively looking for products and services to find them through the Internet by simply entering a few key words in the search bar. The search engine then offers the user a list of websites closely matching the search terms. And if you did your SEO right, including the right content containing those key words, then your website should turn up on the first page of the search engine results.

Tracking the results of your e-marketing lets you know the exact profitability of your online marketing campaigns. Having a system in place to provide traffic metrics is vital to success. Tracking the results of online marketing efforts and then focusing on what works in order to improve your online marketing is the key to a successful online business. Targeted marketing – identifying who is likely to want/need your product or services and specifically targeting them - is the first step in any effective online marketing strategy.

Author's Bio: 

The Author is a journalist in profession and has written many articles regarding Search Engine Optimization and Online Marketing.