Internet Marketing First to last concept
Internet website marketing is the best increasing and quite a few exciting department regarding advertising
these days. As the planet gets a lot more connected, checking up on trends and also tendencies is critical pertaining to entrepreneurs wanting to achieve new followers – who're far more scary, fragmented and also ruthless than previously.
Technological innovation and also software program tend to be modifying with a really high pace that it would seem almost impossible maintain using tendencies.
Products tend to be growing and also aligning towards on the web sphere.
This web is continually transferring, increasing and also modifying – every little thing will be fleeting.
How can intelligent online marketers overcome pretty much everything?
These people use the facility
on the web – and it is assortment methods – because of their individual requirements. These people locate unique and also private strategies to interact with shoppers on the web. These people prepare, set up, implement and also gauge intricate internet-wide strategies seamlessly. Most of all, that they by no means cease mastering, increasing and also aligning independently.
That you are properly continuing your journey to joining their rates.
• Know about Internet business (section 2)
• Learn Internet business History (section 3)
• Explore today’s internet business context, with a appropriate focus on the South
African amplitude (section 4)
• Learn about approaching trends (section 5)
• Discover how all the approach accomplished in this advance fit calm (section 6)
2. What is internet marketing?
Internet marketing – often called online marketing or eMarketing – is essentially
any marketing activity that is conducted online through the use of internet
technologies. It comprises not only advertising that is shown on websites, but
also other kinds of online activities like email and social networking. Every aspect
of internet marketing is digital, meaning that it is electronic information that is
transmitted on a computer or similar device, though naturally it can tie in with
traditional offline advertising and sales too.
Internet marketing has three cornerstone principles:
1. Immediacy. The web changes at a blistering pace and online audiences, whose
attention spans are short, expect on-the-minute updates and information.
To keep the favour and attention of this group, you must respond to online
messages and interact with communities as quickly as possible.
2. Personalisation. Customers online are no longer faceless members of a broad
target audience – they are individuals who want to be addressed personally.
Use the wealth of personal information available online to your benefit by
targeting the relevant people precisely and personally.
3. Relevance. Communication online must be interesting and relevant to the
reader, otherwise it will simply be ignored. With all the information that is
competing for your audience’s attention, you must find a way to stand out
and engage readers. The best way to do this is by giving them exactly what
they want, when they want it.
Throughout this course, you will learn tips and techniques for making all your
online communication more immediate, personal and relevant.
3. The origins of internet marketing
3.1 The birth of the internet
The internet is the newest and youngest medium, having been around in its current
form for just about 20 years. The very first interconnected computer network
was developed as a joint project between the US military and several research
organisations, and went live in 1969. New advances came slowly at first: network
email was invented in 1971 (though the system was very slow and primitive),
international connections were established in 1973, the term “internet” was first
used in 1974 and the first real online protocols were introduced in the 1980s.
Everything accelerated in the early 1990s as Tim Berners-Lee, acknowledged as
the creator of the internet as we know it today, built on his earlier revolutionary
work and released the UR L protocol, web browser software and the World Wide
Web to the public. By 1993, businesses started taking an interest in the internet.
The debate raged about whether they were permitted to use the internet for
commercial purposes, since it had been established as a strictly educational and
Introduction to internet marketing
GetSmarter Internet Marketing textbook
5
CHAPTER 1
non-commercial arena. Eventually, however, the businesses won out and the last
of these restrictions were dissolved in 1995.
Figure 1: The first email ever was sent between these two computers.
(Source: history-computer.com)
Early internet giants like Yahoo and Amazon launched their online platforms in
the mid-1990s amid a wave of new search portals, including Alta Vista, Excite
and Infoseek. Google launched in 1998, taking search to a new level of accuracy
and convenience. Other commercial websites, like the auction site eBay, began to
dominate the web, solidifying the interactive and global commercial potential of
the internet.
In 2004, the concept of “web 2.0” – the interactive, commercial, cooperative and
user-centric web – exploded into public consciousness. Its main characteristics
were the rise of social networking, the invention of tools that made creating
and customising personal pages increasingly simple, and the big push by online
marketers to make their advertising and products more accessible and desirable
to online markets. Commercial strategies have become more prevalent and
innovative since then. Recent years have seen a growth in web consciousness as
users become more adept at filtering and steering online content.
In December 1995, the internet had 16 million users, which equated to about
0.4% of the world’s total population. It surpassed 100 million users in early 1998
and continued to grow exponentially since then. The 1 billionth user joined in
December 2005. According to Internet World Stats, there were 2 billion users
online by June 2010 – that’s 30% of the world’s population.
3.2 Marketing moves online
Websites first
The first marketing activity online started in the early 1990s with the creation of simple, text-based websites with basic information about a product or company.
These were complemented with basic emails – often unsolicited spam – that shared
information in a rudimentary way. As web tools evolved, so too did the websites,
incorporating images, sounds, videos and more advanced formatting styles.
Advertising takes off
As regulations fell away in 1995, internet marketing – and especially advertising
– boomed. To put the growth in perspective, US online advertising spend in 1994
was zero dollars, and leapt up to $301 million in 1996. Another year later, the
market was worth $1 billion. Search engine optimisation (SEO ) started tentatively
in 1995, relying on luck and guesswork before hackers managed to crack the
first algorithms in 1997. Companies began thinking about advert placement and
started buying advertising space on related websites, with links back to their
pages and often accompanied with data-gathering measures such as asking
customers to enter their contact information. In 1998, HotWired began selling
banner advertising space to large corporate clients and achieved a remarkable
30% click-through rate.
3.3 Success stories
3.3.1 Hotmail links its users
One of the earliest internet marketing success stories is Hotmail. Hotmail
launched in July 1996 as one of the first free webmail services available to the
public. It garnered a respectable but hardly groundbreaking 500,000 users by
December 1996. Then, a small and brilliant idea made the service’s users increase
exponentially: Hotmail added a short description and link to the signature of every
email sent over its network, encouraging readers to sign up for their own free
account.
The signature was attached to emails that went out, sent by users at no extra cost
to themselves or the company, and the message benefitted from the perception
of peer recommendation – if a colleague or friend was using and promoting the
service, it must be worthwhile. A year later, in December 1997, Hotmail had
8.5 million subscribers, and it continued to grow, surpassing 12 million in 1998.
Considering that there were an estimated 70 million web users in December 1997,
Hotmail held well over 10% of the market. The company was sold to Microsoft
eighteen months after launch for $400 million. This remains one of the simplest,
smartest and most effective marketing strategies of the early web.
3.3.2 Google conquers search
By the time Google entered the search market in 1998, online search engines were
already well known, generally had very loyal followers and had apparently saturated
the market. However, Google used a clever marketing strategy: it separated itself
from portal sites like Yahoo by emphasising its focus on search with a minimalist
interface that contained little more than its logo and a search box. The company
touted its revolutionary new search algorithm and famously stated that it was not
“evil”. Putting this into practice, it made a point of listening to customer feedback,
improving the product constantly and adding new features and tools. News about
the new search engine spread mostly by word of mouth.
The turning point for the company came in 2000 when Google launched its AdWords
service, a means by which marketers could bid on certain search keywords so that
their adverts appeared on search results when a user entered those keywords. As
the AdWords were auctioned off, Google’s revenue shot through the roof. The
simple and innovative system matched web searchers and advertised content
more accurately than ever before, saving marketers money and time. AdWords is
still Google’s highest-earning product.
3.3.3 Blair Witch leverages viral marketing
The well-known horror movie, The Blair Witch Project, was promoted almost
exclusively online and combined a variety of media and approaches to do so. The
movie itself, released in 1999, was filmed on a small budget and was never intended
for wide mainstream release. However, the creators had the idea of promoting
their film to potential investors online and built a website for it. Through word
of mouth facilitated by online channels, the site’s popularity grew and started
attracting new visitors.
Its biggest appeal was the wealth of interactive content related to the legend and
the film, both of which were entering the public consciousness. This included not
only videos and sounds from the film, but also fabricated news stories, photos,
biographies and accounts of the imagined events, all of which tied in to form a
coherent and fascinating narrative. Have a look at the page on www.blairwitch.
com. The website had over 10 million page views in the week that the film was
released, and the average time spent on the site per person was an unprecedented
16 minutes. It also ensured that the film got a wide release and netted over $250
million worldwide.
3.3.4 District 9 sweeps social media
A more recent example of a successful online viral marketing campaign is the
science fiction film District 9. The film, directed by South African Neill Blomkamp,
was widely advertised over social networks, both locally and abroad. Its marketing
strategy took a clever approach of subverting racial segregation laws and replacing
them with human-alien divisions. The online component involved videos of the
fictional Multi-National United (MNU ) corporation as well as other staged videos
like protests and news reports.
Fans became very engaged with the content and it spread virally from District 9’s
website, Facebook Page and Twitter account around the world. The real effect
was seen after the opening of the film. Viewers enjoyed the film so much that they
commented widely online to encourage others to view it – the film even became
these days. As the planet gets a lot more connected, checking up on trends and also tendencies is critical pertaining to entrepreneurs wanting to achieve new followers – who're far more scary, fragmented and also ruthless than previously.
Technological innovation and also software program tend to be modifying with a really high pace that it would seem almost impossible maintain using tendencies.
Products tend to be growing and also aligning towards on the web sphere.
This web is continually transferring, increasing and also modifying – every little thing will be fleeting.
How can intelligent online marketers overcome pretty much everything?
These people use the facility
on the web – and it is assortment methods – because of their individual requirements. These people locate unique and also private strategies to interact with shoppers on the web. These people prepare, set up, implement and also gauge intricate internet-wide strategies seamlessly. Most of all, that they by no means cease mastering, increasing and also aligning independently.
That you are properly continuing your journey to joining their rates.
• Know about Internet business (section 2)
• Learn Internet business History (section 3)
• Explore today’s internet business context, with a appropriate focus on the South
African amplitude (section 4)
• Learn about approaching trends (section 5)
• Discover how all the approach accomplished in this advance fit calm (section 6)
2. What is internet marketing?
Internet marketing – often called online marketing or eMarketing – is essentially
any marketing activity that is conducted online through the use of internet
technologies. It comprises not only advertising that is shown on websites, but
also other kinds of online activities like email and social networking. Every aspect
of internet marketing is digital, meaning that it is electronic information that is
transmitted on a computer or similar device, though naturally it can tie in with
traditional offline advertising and sales too.
Internet marketing has three cornerstone principles:
1. Immediacy. The web changes at a blistering pace and online audiences, whose
attention spans are short, expect on-the-minute updates and information.
To keep the favour and attention of this group, you must respond to online
messages and interact with communities as quickly as possible.
2. Personalisation. Customers online are no longer faceless members of a broad
target audience – they are individuals who want to be addressed personally.
Use the wealth of personal information available online to your benefit by
targeting the relevant people precisely and personally.
3. Relevance. Communication online must be interesting and relevant to the
reader, otherwise it will simply be ignored. With all the information that is
competing for your audience’s attention, you must find a way to stand out
and engage readers. The best way to do this is by giving them exactly what
they want, when they want it.
Throughout this course, you will learn tips and techniques for making all your
online communication more immediate, personal and relevant.
3. The origins of internet marketing
3.1 The birth of the internet
The internet is the newest and youngest medium, having been around in its current
form for just about 20 years. The very first interconnected computer network
was developed as a joint project between the US military and several research
organisations, and went live in 1969. New advances came slowly at first: network
email was invented in 1971 (though the system was very slow and primitive),
international connections were established in 1973, the term “internet” was first
used in 1974 and the first real online protocols were introduced in the 1980s.
Everything accelerated in the early 1990s as Tim Berners-Lee, acknowledged as
the creator of the internet as we know it today, built on his earlier revolutionary
work and released the UR L protocol, web browser software and the World Wide
Web to the public. By 1993, businesses started taking an interest in the internet.
The debate raged about whether they were permitted to use the internet for
commercial purposes, since it had been established as a strictly educational and
Introduction to internet marketing
GetSmarter Internet Marketing textbook
5
CHAPTER 1
non-commercial arena. Eventually, however, the businesses won out and the last
of these restrictions were dissolved in 1995.
Figure 1: The first email ever was sent between these two computers.
(Source: history-computer.com)
Early internet giants like Yahoo and Amazon launched their online platforms in
the mid-1990s amid a wave of new search portals, including Alta Vista, Excite
and Infoseek. Google launched in 1998, taking search to a new level of accuracy
and convenience. Other commercial websites, like the auction site eBay, began to
dominate the web, solidifying the interactive and global commercial potential of
the internet.
In 2004, the concept of “web 2.0” – the interactive, commercial, cooperative and
user-centric web – exploded into public consciousness. Its main characteristics
were the rise of social networking, the invention of tools that made creating
and customising personal pages increasingly simple, and the big push by online
marketers to make their advertising and products more accessible and desirable
to online markets. Commercial strategies have become more prevalent and
innovative since then. Recent years have seen a growth in web consciousness as
users become more adept at filtering and steering online content.
In December 1995, the internet had 16 million users, which equated to about
0.4% of the world’s total population. It surpassed 100 million users in early 1998
and continued to grow exponentially since then. The 1 billionth user joined in
December 2005. According to Internet World Stats, there were 2 billion users
online by June 2010 – that’s 30% of the world’s population.
3.2 Marketing moves online
Websites first
The first marketing activity online started in the early 1990s with the creation of simple, text-based websites with basic information about a product or company.
These were complemented with basic emails – often unsolicited spam – that shared
information in a rudimentary way. As web tools evolved, so too did the websites,
incorporating images, sounds, videos and more advanced formatting styles.
Advertising takes off
As regulations fell away in 1995, internet marketing – and especially advertising
– boomed. To put the growth in perspective, US online advertising spend in 1994
was zero dollars, and leapt up to $301 million in 1996. Another year later, the
market was worth $1 billion. Search engine optimisation (SEO ) started tentatively
in 1995, relying on luck and guesswork before hackers managed to crack the
first algorithms in 1997. Companies began thinking about advert placement and
started buying advertising space on related websites, with links back to their
pages and often accompanied with data-gathering measures such as asking
customers to enter their contact information. In 1998, HotWired began selling
banner advertising space to large corporate clients and achieved a remarkable
30% click-through rate.
3.3 Success stories
3.3.1 Hotmail links its users
One of the earliest internet marketing success stories is Hotmail. Hotmail
launched in July 1996 as one of the first free webmail services available to the
public. It garnered a respectable but hardly groundbreaking 500,000 users by
December 1996. Then, a small and brilliant idea made the service’s users increase
exponentially: Hotmail added a short description and link to the signature of every
email sent over its network, encouraging readers to sign up for their own free
account.
The signature was attached to emails that went out, sent by users at no extra cost
to themselves or the company, and the message benefitted from the perception
of peer recommendation – if a colleague or friend was using and promoting the
service, it must be worthwhile. A year later, in December 1997, Hotmail had
8.5 million subscribers, and it continued to grow, surpassing 12 million in 1998.
Considering that there were an estimated 70 million web users in December 1997,
Hotmail held well over 10% of the market. The company was sold to Microsoft
eighteen months after launch for $400 million. This remains one of the simplest,
smartest and most effective marketing strategies of the early web.
3.3.2 Google conquers search
By the time Google entered the search market in 1998, online search engines were
already well known, generally had very loyal followers and had apparently saturated
the market. However, Google used a clever marketing strategy: it separated itself
from portal sites like Yahoo by emphasising its focus on search with a minimalist
interface that contained little more than its logo and a search box. The company
touted its revolutionary new search algorithm and famously stated that it was not
“evil”. Putting this into practice, it made a point of listening to customer feedback,
improving the product constantly and adding new features and tools. News about
the new search engine spread mostly by word of mouth.
The turning point for the company came in 2000 when Google launched its AdWords
service, a means by which marketers could bid on certain search keywords so that
their adverts appeared on search results when a user entered those keywords. As
the AdWords were auctioned off, Google’s revenue shot through the roof. The
simple and innovative system matched web searchers and advertised content
more accurately than ever before, saving marketers money and time. AdWords is
still Google’s highest-earning product.
3.3.3 Blair Witch leverages viral marketing
The well-known horror movie, The Blair Witch Project, was promoted almost
exclusively online and combined a variety of media and approaches to do so. The
movie itself, released in 1999, was filmed on a small budget and was never intended
for wide mainstream release. However, the creators had the idea of promoting
their film to potential investors online and built a website for it. Through word
of mouth facilitated by online channels, the site’s popularity grew and started
attracting new visitors.
Its biggest appeal was the wealth of interactive content related to the legend and
the film, both of which were entering the public consciousness. This included not
only videos and sounds from the film, but also fabricated news stories, photos,
biographies and accounts of the imagined events, all of which tied in to form a
coherent and fascinating narrative. Have a look at the page on www.blairwitch.
com. The website had over 10 million page views in the week that the film was
released, and the average time spent on the site per person was an unprecedented
16 minutes. It also ensured that the film got a wide release and netted over $250
million worldwide.
3.3.4 District 9 sweeps social media
A more recent example of a successful online viral marketing campaign is the
science fiction film District 9. The film, directed by South African Neill Blomkamp,
was widely advertised over social networks, both locally and abroad. Its marketing
strategy took a clever approach of subverting racial segregation laws and replacing
them with human-alien divisions. The online component involved videos of the
fictional Multi-National United (MNU ) corporation as well as other staged videos
like protests and news reports.
Fans became very engaged with the content and it spread virally from District 9’s
website, Facebook Page and Twitter account around the world. The real effect
was seen after the opening of the film. Viewers enjoyed the film so much that they
commented widely online to encourage others to view it – the film even became
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