There are many ways to market yourself using the internet and many will argue which one is the best. Some cost money and some are absolutely free. Billions of people visit the internet on a daily basis and in this day and age it is easier to get your name out and be heard than ever before. By simply publishing a web page you can reach millions of readers without having to spend a dime.
This section is not going to go into full detail on how to market your new website but will present you with some resources that will allow you to help yourself. We can lead you to water but we’re not going to scoop it into your mouth for you. That is entirely up to you.
One easy thing to do is go to www.google.com and search for “Internet Marketing” – that should and will keep you busy for as long as you want to stay busy. It’s tough to muddle through what works and what doesn’t’t but then again, something that works for you might not work for someone else. So just like every other type of marketing, internet marketing is a hit or miss. You can have the best developed marketing strategy but if you don’t present it right then it will fail.
Some great resources for internet marketing are internet forums, link exchange sites, email (not SPAM), and directories.
Internet Marketing Resources:
Google.com
Dmoz.org
Wikipedia.org
SuperPages.com
Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.
Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily. Viral promotions may take the form of funny video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, images, or even SMS text messages. It is claimed that a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he/she likes, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like. Viral marketing is based on this natural human behavior.
The term “viral marketing” is also sometimes used pejoratively, to refer to stealth marketing campaigns–the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.
Great Places for Viral Marketing:
Myspace.com
Twitter.com
Facebook.com
Youtube.com
Web Forums – Search the internet for them
Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising used on websites, advertising networks, and search engines where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser’s website. Advertisers bid on keywords they believe their target market would type in the search bar when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser’s keyword list, the advertiser’s ad may appear on the search results page. These ads are called “sponsored links” or “sponsored ads” and appear next to, and sometimes, above the natural or organic results on the page. The advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad. Pay per click advertising is a search engine marketing technique.
While many companies exist in this space, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN adCenter are the largest network operators as of 2007. Depending on the search engine, minimum prices per click start at US $0.01 (up to US$0.50). Very popular search terms can cost much more on popular engines. Arguably this advertising model may be open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and other search engines have implemented automated systems to guard against this.
PPC Resources:
Google Adwords
Overture.com (Yahoo’s PPC program)
SuperPages.com
