So, exactly what IS Internet Marketing?

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the driving of quality traffic to a website through either free or paid sources.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of influencing your website's position for relevant keyphrases at search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN to increase the number of visitors referred to your website when such keyphrases are searched for.

SEO can be further sub-divided into on-page (the things you change on the pages of your website) and off-page (the things you change on the pages of third-party websites) optimization.

Pay-Per-Click Campaigns are used to direct traffic from sources such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, and you are charged a pre-negotiated fee only for each visitor actually sent to your Website.

Visitor Experience Optimization

It's all well and good to drive high-volumes of targeted traffic to a website, but what good is it if the website is not setup to properly take advantage of this traffic increase?

Visitor Experience Optimization (VEO) is the process of optimizing ones web site so that it converts the maximum number of leads and/or sales.

We start out by optimizing the website to maximize the visitor-to-lead conversion ratio, utilizing high-perceived-value offers and the like to encourage visitors to divulge their contact information.

As most online sales are made long after an individual first encounters an online entity, we setup automated mailer systems to communicate with these prospects on a pre-defined schedule, building brand awareness and establishing your company in their mind as the industry leader for the particular product or service in which they are interested.

Ultimately, when a prospect is ready to 'buy', your brand is typically the one that springs to mind, and your prospect will come to you. At this point, you would utilize your usual sales processes to 'close the sale'.

About the Author

Anthony M. Peck is an established and highly respected Internet Marketing Consultant, and author of many articles that cut through the theories and rumors to uncover the truth about search engine optimization (SEO). He is CEO of Elbow Marketing Technologies, a Philadelphia-based Internet Marketing Firm that also produces educational and entertaining SEO seminars to enlighten business owners and decision makers about search engine marketing. A free SEO Blueprint is also available for download.