There is a lot of information out there about internet marketing available, both online and  offline. The vast amount of information available to a small business owner can be overwhelming and quite confusing.  That is why many small business owners are too intimidated by internet marketing to make a serious effort to grow their business with the power of internet. That is really a shame because when you strip away all the hype and the latest “secret of the day” the basis are really quite simple. Whether you want to learn enough to do the internet marketing for your business online, or you want to be informed well enough to make wise choices in outsourcing the internet marketing for your business, it is critical that you understand the big picture.

It is my firm belief that the success of your business depends upon your ability to get yourself noticed,  and then to provide the incentive for people to help you grow business by their loyalty and what they say about you.  It is  really just that simple on the internet and on the street. The differences lie only in the techniques that you must use to make that happen.

On the internet you have essentially two ways of  getting your business noticed. You either buy advertising or you earn it by getting your name out there and associated with the services of your business. Hard to believe it is just that simple,  isn’t it? The core idea is simple enough.  It is putting that idea into practice and making concrete marketing plans that determines your success or  failure.

There are many methods  to  buy your way in front of the screens of your potential customers. As with all advertising, it can be very cost effective,   or a complete waste of your time and money, depending upon the skill with which you can target your spending  your prime customer group. The great thing about advertising on the internet is that you can test return on investment very quickly and effectively without the kind of huge financial commitment you would need for a similar campaign on the street. A prime example of internet advertising is  Google Adwords text ads that are on the top and right column of all their search results,  and on millions of sites on the web. The other online service providers such as Yahoo and MSN have their own version of these text ads. There are many other forms of  advertising which I will discuss in future articles.

The other way to get yourself in front of your target customer group is to earn it.  The object is  to  get yourself listed as highly as possible in the search results for terms of interest to you , and to get your business direct traffic from other sites that mention your services.  The best way to do this is to provide information that other websites find useful for their viewers.  This requires a commitment to effort and cash to make it work, but the results are much more permanent than buying advertising.  Personally I much prefer this method since you get long term results for your efforts. However, you must know what you  are doing in order to get the maximum return for your efforts.

It is just that simple, and that complex!