Online Marketing
Search engine optimization (SEO)...
... is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a
web
site from
search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "natural")
search results. Usually, the earlier a site
is presented in the search results or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers
will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including
image search,
local search, and industry-specific
vertical search engines.
As a
marketing strategy for increasing a site's relevance, SEO considers
how search
algorithms work and what people search for. SEO efforts may
involve a site's coding, presentation, and structure, as well as fixing problems
that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully
spidering a site.
Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a
broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the
HTML
source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development
and
design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to
describe web site designs,
menus,
content management systems and
shopping carts that are easy to optimize.
Pay per click
(PPC)...
... is an
advertising model 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 a
"
Sponsored link" 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.
Pay per click ads may also appear on content network websites. In this case, ad
networks such as
Google Adsense and
Yahoo! Publisher Network attempt to provide ads that
are relevant to the content of the page where they appear, and no search function
is involved.
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.
Email marketing is a form of
direct marketing which uses
electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or
fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a
potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. However, the
term is usually used to refer to:
- Sending emails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant
with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
- Sending emails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing old
customers to buy something immediately.
- Adding advertisements in emails sent by other companies to their
customers
Affiliate marketing...
... is a method of promoting web businesses (merchants/advertisers) in which an
affiliate (publisher) is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer, and/or sale provided through his/her
efforts.
Affiliate marketing is also the name of the industry where a number of different
types of companies and individuals are performing this form of internet marketing, including affiliate networks, affiliate management companies and
in-house affiliate managers, specialized 3rd party vendors and
various types of affiliates/publishers who utilize a number of different methods to
advertise the products and services of their merchant/advertiser partners.
Affiliate marketing overlaps with other internet marketing methods to some degree, because
affiliates are using the same methods as most of the merchants themselves do. Those
methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, email marketing and to some degree display advertising.
Affiliate marketing - using one site to drive traffic to another - is the stepchild of online marketing. While search engines, e-mail and RSS capture much
of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing, despite lineage that goes back almost to the beginning of online
retailing, carries a much lower profile. Yet affiliates continue to play a
fundamental role in e-retailers' marketing strategies.