Internet Marketing

Posted by Fadzuli

May 10, 2008

A few days back a friend of mine ask me to do a post on Internet Marketing and what is it all about..

So here’s my inputs..

Firstly you must understand what “Marketing” is all about. If you go to Dictionary.com, the first definition of “Marketing” is:

1. the act of buying or selling in a market.
2. the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.

So when you combine “Internet” + “Marketing”, the definition just translates to

the act of buying or selling using the INTERNET as a medium.
the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, and selling through the INTERNET.

So what is the difference between Internet Business & Internet Marketing.

Usually people will associate Internet Business ( E-Business ) & Internet Marketing together. Internet Business is the entity while Internet Marketing is the actions taken to make that entity profitable.

So the act of buying or selling online. How do you do it?

Let’s start with selling.

In order to sell in an off line business,

1) You need to tell or Promote your business.
2) Get someone to recommend your products or services.
3) If possible advertise.
4) Offer free goodies.
5) Follow ups!!

So yeah its the same for online marketing except the medium is different.

For example- online marketing consists of email publicities, banner adverts, link exchanges, article writings, blog recommendations etc etc. Its totally a new set of skills especially for people who are not familiar with the internet.

Buying online!

1) Firstly to buy online you need to have a credit card or a debit card to make online transactions. This really depends on your market. In some places like Singapore or Malaysia, the audience prefer to pay via online banking or cash.

2) Receiving products. If you are buying digital products such as ebooks or softwares, you would be given a link to a page where you can download the product. If its a physical item, it would then need to be delivered.

3) Well buying online also have risks because you need to make payment first before you can get the products. Therefore there have been cases where people get cheated and so on. So be careful.

Conclusion:

I would advise you to do more research first about the Internet Business that you wish to embark on. There are several online business models that you could follow. Check out www.entrepreneurs.com.

I hope this article gives you a clearer idea what internet marketing is all about. The difference is just the medium yah!!