Internet marketing has become as important, if not more so, than traditional marketing. With so many websites out there, companies now have the opportunity to reach a much wider audience, and with a good web design that incorporates search engine optimization (SEO), businesses can take advantage of boundless networking outlets, especially in the area of social media.
I just read an article at BloggerSavvy that spoke about the power of word-of-mouth advertising. This is one of the ways social media can help you with your internet marketing. In an article written by Kelly K. Spors for the Wall Street Journal, he states that “social media can help firms better connect with and market themselves to consumers and others in their industries, and they are often free.” In fact, websites like twitter, stumbleupon and digg are so popular that they have become part of many internet marketers’ daily lives. While having a website helps a business spread the word through the internet, you may also want to consider starting a blog as a companion site.
The plus side to creating a blog is the ability to go into more depth about your company’s niche market, products and services, and once you’ve built up some really good relationships through the social media networks, other people will begin to submit your blog posts to the various bookmarking sites and directories, which promotes your website even more. A good web design company can create a blog and incorporate it into your website for you; this way you can get traffic to both at the same time. The next thing you may want to consider is whether you want to hire a professional that is familiar with how internet marketing works.
Marketing a website and blog can be very time consuming, and I have found, better left to those who truly understand it. That’s why I recently hired a professional to handle my internet marketing for me. I’m so busy with my web design company and blog posts that I found it better to hire somebody who knew much more about how it all works than I do. Keep in mind, the key to internet marketing is networking and connecting with everybody in the blogosphere. This entails visiting the numerous social networking websites, visiting the websites of people you are building relationships with and commenting on sites that are in a similar market as you, just to name a few. As you can see, this can be a full time job, and if you’re busy running your business, you can’t really devote the time it takes to get the most out of this type of marketing.
While traditional marketing is still a vital part of promoting any business, internet marketing is growing by leaps and bounds. Owning my own web design company gives me a unique perspective on how many businesses today have a website for their company, and the numbers are growing everyday. It takes time and effort, but engaging your potential clientele in more personal relationships through social media has become a must in today’s technologically driven world. While I am fairly new to how this all works, I am educating myself quickly in order to catch up with the millions of people who already know the power of the internet. Being that I am a beginner, I welcome your thoughts, suggestions and comments; after all, that’s what building a connection is all about.
Datex Media 
December 18, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I’d be very interested to read (at some time) your experiences on hiring an Internet marketing professional. The god and bad, the do’s and don’ts.
Personally I also find that it’s very time consuming. In my case I operate a web development and hosting business, and find that I’m forced to multitask (aren’t we all?).
As to the growth issues, it still amuses me (in a kind way), the number of clients that just don’t understand the business/site growth opportunities they are missing by not participating in social web community activities. I truly thing the days of an old fashioned, static web site are long gone!
December 18, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I totally agree. Frankly, I’m shocked by how many bigger businesses aren’t utilizing the social media marketing avenues. Although I have started seeing them pop up more recently. I will definitly delve more deeply into this issue on my posts, as I think it’s vital to any business. Thanks for the input.
December 19, 2008 at 12:49 am
Thanks for taking the time to swing by my website Scott, I appreciate it.
I have found over the years that you can’t really teach people how to use Social Media or Social Networking, but rather it comes from inside of you as a person. If you have energy and are legitimate, you create unique and inspiring content and experiences that people enjoy. This then in turn will get discussed via word of mouth using Social Media and Social Networking. The core to your business and what you have to offer people must be different and better than anyone else to truly take advantage of Social anything.
Advertising using Social Networking is not about blasting people with your marketing but rather about listening to them and engaging in an open conversation with them about your product, service, or whatever the point to your business is.
In todays marketplace there is an endless plethora of new business’s starting up and then failing, because they first do not look at the basics, what makes you different as a company and why should people care? If you add value to peoples lives and honestly care about your clients, the Social Networking will power itself around you, as long as you leave yourself and your business open to it.
I personally have opened and started accounts at all of the major Social tools online, and I check them frequently.
Business does not have to be complicated, keep it simple stupid is a common thing I hear, and I never forget that.
Have fun, be honest, and spread the love!
Happy Holidays ! ! !
December 19, 2008 at 12:53 am
Thank you so much for your insight. I hope that is what I am doing, and I strongly encourage everybody else to follow your advice. Your blog is informative and informational. It will be a great tool for me to use to learn and grow. Thanks again!
December 19, 2008 at 3:08 am
Internet Marketing has its good advantages in the success of your business. Some company hires professional experts to their job on optimizing and design of their site. It is important that the company or client to understand the business/site growth opportunities. This article has a informative topic to help us in what are the do’s and dont’s in internet marketing for our website. Thanks for the knowledge and learning, hope that it helps on our growth in this field.
December 22, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Hello,
I just saw your comment on ProBlogger about the tips offered not making a great deal of difference on your blog. May I ask did you do them for the thirty days? The reason I ask is that I am looking for tips for getting more traffic to my blog- I am mentored by Alex Jeffreys and part of a big team. We are all trying to get as much traffic as possible ( a $1,000 prize for the person with the most traffic!), so any advice you have will help!
Best wishes,
Ruth
December 22, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I actually do everything the article in Problogger suggested. It’s just that, as of yet, I haven’t noticed a huge jump in traffic after about 2 months. Is there anything different that you do?
December 22, 2008 at 6:40 pm
@Scott Mahler, which ProBlogger post are you referring to? I looked at the site, but did not seem to find much in terms of “increasing traffic” (maybe I used the wrong search keywords?). I found there was a lot of nice stuff on that blog, but very, very hard to find something specific in a “specific” search.
December 22, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Yeah, it can be difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for. Problogger has been around for quit a while, and is one of the most visited sites about blogging. It’s under their archives, and it’s titled “Three Simple Actions That Doubled My Website Traffic in 30 days.” Let me know If you are still having trouble finding it, and I will try and locate it for you.
December 23, 2008 at 3:39 am
I’m seeing the trend of people jumping into the internet bandwagon as of late. I’m guessing traditional marketing is fast becoming a thing of the past. The use of social medias is a powerful and effective method of promotion. Besides, it’s FREE.
Yan
December 23, 2008 at 3:41 am
Yes, I agree with you about social media being a powerful and effective tool, and the fact that is free aint bad either. But, do you think traditional marketing will be completely forgotten, or do you think people will utilize both? I tend to think you should grab your marketing opportunities wherever you can…how about you?
December 23, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I agree that traditional marketing is not dead. Online activities are simply another tool, and can best be used to enhance marketing campaigns. In my opinion, online marketing should not be the only venue.
I think we are seeing greater emphasis placed in online marketing because it has a more cost effective ROI in our difficult economic environment. Bottom line, when things get tough (economically), it makes sense to invest marketing dollars and energy in solutions with the best returns, as such, when economic times are more difficult, Internet marketing gains even greater dominance.
December 23, 2008 at 5:43 pm
That exactly my feeling. Any business that ignore traditional marketing will miss out, but internet marketing is definitly more cost effective. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
December 23, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I read that post “Three Simple Actions That Doubled My Website Traffic in 30 days”. I think at the time it may have had value, but currently I really don’t think it’s of much value now. Maybe I’ve misunderstood something, but I just don’t believe that this will approach doubling traffic (100% increase) in 30 days.
Trackbacks are now automated in newer WordPress versions. I agree it’s a good idea to work with some Technorati tags though.
Maybe it’s just me, but the advice in that post seems very old to me (a bit outdated maybe?) – Correct me if I’m wrong!
December 23, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I would agree, which is why I was confused by the fact that I’m already doing all that and my traffic, while growing, isn’t soaring to the top of the chart. I think that post was more for the beginner that doesn’t know how to even start.
December 24, 2008 at 4:29 am
[…] also twitter and stumbleupon . The basic idea is the same for all of them, sharing information and promoting your business website or blog, but they work in slightly different ways. I will go into more detail about each one in upcoming […]
December 24, 2008 at 6:28 pm
[…] isn’t to say that you can’t branch off into relate topics. For example; my business is internet marketing, and my blog has categories that fit into the large scope of my topic. So, let’s say your […]
December 26, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Nowadays the market is flooded with a number of internet marketing company, out of which some are frauds and scams too. But if you hire the services of a genuine company and follow their guidelines, you are sure to succeed with the internet marketing of your business.
January 2, 2009 at 1:13 am
[…] more popular and competitive. The bottom line is that you are trying to utilize your blog to market yourself, product or services, so you want to make sure you’re writing content that will raise your […]
January 5, 2009 at 6:18 pm
[…] I just wanted to take this time to thank Scott Mahler over at Datex Media for his kind words via his Twitter account, about a comment that I made on his own blog post regarding Social Media. […]
January 5, 2009 at 6:25 pm
It way my pleasure! I like the interaction blogging gives me with other people, and comments are one of the best ways to build on those relationships. So, thank you again.
January 8, 2009 at 11:20 am
There are many successful people who have used Internet marketing to boost their business and come out at the top, you will find them in these forums and have some interesting discussions and suggestion. There is nothing better than this for people who are not familiar with Internet marketing company.
January 9, 2009 at 12:11 am
Hi, I’m Isaac Yassar and I help people reaching success in self development, business, and blogging for free.
Thanks for sharing, you got a good points there.
In response to social media usage, I loved what Steve Pavlina said that Just keep trying to genuinely help others, and everything will do the rest”.
I do not visit social medias often, but I concentrate to create my best work that can help others, if my audience loves what they read, they’ll put it in social medias for sure. If not, I gotta learn more.
January 9, 2009 at 12:21 am
I tend to agree with your thoughts about doing good work and sharing your knowledge with others; you do this and the rest will take care of itself. But social media can be a great way to do that as well. There are many people on sites like twitter that give the benefit of their experiences freely with others on the site. Thanks for your thoughts, and if you build it, they will come.
March 16, 2009 at 4:13 am
Really helpful to understand the importance and steps to be taken for any internet marketing purpose! Thanks Scott!!