Internet Marketing Pros and Cons

Internet Marketing Pros and Cons

Being an effective medium of business promotion, internet marketing is regarded as a godsend for businesses that need quality promotion of their products or services at an affordable price. Also known as eMarketing, online or internet marketing has created a revolution owing to its nominal cost of advertising. Online marketing, because to its interactive nature and around the clock availability is a much more accessible tool than a conventional offline marketing campaign but comes with its own set of limitations and security concerns.

The pros and cons of Internet marketing are briefly discussed below.

Advantages

Online marketing is way cheaper than its conventional counterpart when you compare it as a ratio of money spent while marketing to the number of potential customers reached. A very small part of the total capital is required to reach an even wider market through eMarketing.

Online shopping of products and services can be performed at the customers’ own convenience and is not time bound. Tedious and exhausting market surveys and research as required in conventional market system are not essential in internet marketing and the customer can research and purchase his product out of a huge range of products while sitting in his living room. The products thus purchased can be delivered at their doorstep in the specified time.

All kinds of statistics about all kinds of products are available to Internet marketers. Online advertising can be carefully measured through methods like pay per click (ppc), pay per impression (ppi) and pay per play (ppp) and then only the ads that are the most appealing to the customer may stay. Billboard advertising fails in this case.

According to 2007 statistics, the growth of Internet marketing is faster than any other type of marketing media owing to its overall efficiency. The customer response is much easier to follow than in other kind of offline media.

Disadvantages

Internet marketing is an ever-growing phenomenon and requires the customer to constantly upgrade his/her computer hardware and software in order to have a complete and comprehensive view of the products that marketers are offering. One of the biggest barriers is a low-speed internet connection. Although 90% of the American households have high speed broadband connections, the conditions are not so similar over the rest of the world.

From the perspective of the buyer, there is one serious drawback. A customer cannot touch, taste, smell or try a product before making an online purchase. This can become extremely limiting even with rich multimedia advertising. This problem has though been countered and the customers are offered value added services like ”product return-money back policies” if they do not like the product that they have purchased.

Besides these drawbacks, security is a major concern. As far as the sensitive information like credit card numbers etc. are concerned Customers are sometimes hesitant to buy products online because of their lack of trust in marketing websites. Companies that engage in online businesses often claim that they will keep the customer information private and confidential but have time and again been caught selling information.

Business with Twitter Marketing

Benefit Your Business with Twitter Marketing

Are you an online business owner? Whether you sell a product, a service, or generate income through affiliate links, internet marketing is a must. To generate a sale, you must first drive traffic to your website or blog. There are many ways for you to do so, including the social networking website Twitter.

Before highlighting the benefits of marketing your business with Twitter, understand what Twitter is. As previously stated, it is a social networking website that also acts as a micro-blog. After signing up for a Twitter account, you develop a list of contacts. These are individuals you want to follow or receive updates from. Many will return the favor, becoming followers of your updates. There are no limits on how many messages you can send; however, there is a 140 character limit. Updates, otherwise known as Tweets, are sent through instant messaging, mobile web applications, RSS feeds, Facebook, and the Twitter website.

By performing a search on Search.Twitter.com, you will see updates contain varying information. Some may ask questions on a new way to make money online, others may highlight their day, and so forth. The key to using Twitter as a marketing tool is to advertise without really advertising. Respond to Tweets found on Search.Twitter.com that are applicable to your website, blog, product or service. Occasionally send updates to your friends. Highlight your new blog post, summarize a product you are selling, or provide a discount code. You can also reply to members that you follow.

As for the benefits of marketing your business with Twitter:

You can generate traffic. As previously stated, whether you sell a product or service, either directly or indirectly, you need to drive traffic to your business website. You can easily do so with Twitter. Did you recently update your blog? If so, share a summary of your post on Twitter and then provide a link.

You can generate interest. In addition to generating traffic to your website or blog, you can also generate internet. There are a number of ways to do so. First, create catchy Tweets. For example, do you sell a new eco-friendly product? If so, don’t just instruct people to buy your product, but ask for their feedback. Ask how it can help the environment. Then, ask your followers to forward information on your product to their contacts. When you have a catchy message and product or service, it is easy to generate interest on Twitter.

You can make a sale. Regardless of whether you sell a product or a service, a sale will generate income. By increasing visitors to your website, you increase your chances of making a sale. You can go a step farther by making contacts that are within your targeted market. For example, do you sell children’s clothes? If so, your target market is parents. Perform a search on Search.Twitter.com to find posts that focus on parenting. You can offer a response that leads to your website, increasing your chances of making a sale.

You can get feedback. As previously stated, a great way to subtly increase traffic to your website or blog is to ask for feedback. By providing a link, you will not only get website traffic, but you will also get what you asked for, feedback. For example, do you sell great products, but are your prices too high? Twitter members will let you know.

You can update customers. When connecting with customers, may opt for newsletters. Yes, you can take this approach, but you can also do Twitter updates. Give your customers the opt in for Twitter updates. You can share promotional codes, new product releases, and so forth. If you take this approach, create a separate account for business and personal use.

Finally, you can use Twitter to hire help. Whether you want to hire a full-time employee or outsource a writing project or two, you can use Twitter to find qualified individuals looking for work.