Internet marketing is useless unless it is geared towards achieving marketing objectives. This involves strategic market planning and the execution of strategies aimed at generating profit. It all begins with formulating the right plan.

A strategic Internet marketing plan creates an online presence that is aimed at attracting visitors and creating sales. It's end-goal is not to simply to generate views. Rather, its goal is to create a return on investment.

An effective strategic Internet marketing plan has two basic elements�target market and marketing mix.

The target market is that segment of people to whom you want your Web site to appeal. They are your prospective customers. If your product is prescription eye glasses, your target market consists of people who have poor eyesight, not people with perfect 20/20 vision.

Meanwhile, your marketing mix consists of those variables that dictate whether your target market will purchase your product. This includes their perceptions of your product (as shaped by your marketing and promotions), where they can buy your product (as determined by your distribution network), how much they will pay for your product (as dictated by your price), the credibility of your company (as shaped by your track record and reputation) and a host of other factors.

Here are some key questions to consider when formulating your marketing mix:

1. 1. Should you promote your product or service over the Internet?
   They factor to consider here is whether your target audience are active Internet users or not. If about half of your target market is active online, then Internet marketing would be a viable tool in your marketing mix.
2. What's the best approach for reaching my target audience?
   Just because half of your target audience uses the Internet doesn�t necessarily mean that you pour half of your advertising budget on Internet marketing and promotions. That would depend on how often and how long they go online. And if they do stay online a lot, you should still determine where to direct your Internet marketing. For instance, is joining an online mall a good strategy or would it be more effective for you to open an online store? Perhaps the best approach is as simple as producing an online catalog for them to look at.
3. Is your target market worldwide?
   If the great majority of your consumers are overseas, then perhaps you should focus most of your efforts on Internet marketing to reach them and not so much on offline marketing. You also have to consider things like the language barrier, foreign regulations, currency exchanges and the like.
4. How strong is your online competition?
   In Internet marketing, you should not only focus on yourself but on your competitors as well. There may be markets that are already dominated by large corporations. Battling head on with the big boys can be an expensive proposition. Choose your battles. It may be better to focus your Internet marketing on a smaller market that you can call your own.

Having an aggressive and competitive Internet marketing campaign is not enough if people don't trust you. The only time your prospective customers will purchase your products or avail of your services is when they trust you and your business. Here are 12 ways to build your credibility on the Internet.

1. Make sure that every new product your introduce meets the same quality standards of your previous products. That's what customers will expect, and you build credibility by meeting their expectations.
2. If you offer newsletters, publish them at regular intervals. Don't miss your publication dates. And make sure every issue contains content of equal quality. People appreciate consistency, especially in a dynamic industry such as Internet marketing.
3. Be definite about your business terms, such as your return policy, your product guarantee, and your shipping conditions. If you keep changing your terms, you will make your customers feel confused and misdirected. They will be less likely to give you repeat business.
4. Offer your customers free demos, samples, or trial versions of your product. This way, they can find out for themselves if your product will do what you say it will. Offering testers shows that you are confident in your own product and true to your promises.
5. Share your knowledge with your customers. Contribute regularly to discussions in chat rooms or forums if you have them on your Web site. Doing this will reassure people that you know a lot about your products and services, thereby establishing your credibility in Internet marketing.
6. Tell the truth about your products and services. That's basic but, still, so many marketers make claims that aren't true. When it comes to Internet marketing, it is actually better to under-promise but over-deliver.
7. Try to find out what it's like on the customer side. This will help you promote your products and services better and in a way that is credible.
8. Use testimonials. They're an efficient way of building credibility in Internet marketing. Gather feedback from customers who were satisfied with your product and put them on your Web site. Don't even try to write false testimonials because readers can smell a fake from a mile away.
9. Showcase your online business's awards. This is a sure way to build credibility. However, don't focus too much on yourself. This can make your customers feel unimportant. Besides, no one likes a showoff.
10. Display your business address, phone number, and e-mail address prominently on your Web site. Give your customers many options on how to contact you. This is not only a sound business practice, but also a way of building credibility in Internet marketing. Letting customers know that you are easy to reach helps develop confidence and trust in you. It shows that you have nothing to hide.
11. Respond quickly to customer inquiries and answer all their questions. This will make them regard you as credible and reliable.
12. Lastly, prioritize customer satisfaction above everything else. Satisfied customers will readily help you build your business image and your credibility in Internet marketing.
    

One of the keys to Internet marketing success is having good articles and quality copy. Copy is at the very heart of any successful online business as everything from pay per click ads to search engine rankings rely on the content of Web sites.

If you want to get better results from your Internet marketing initiatives, you have to improve your writing. Here are five simple tips that can help you greatly enhance your writing skills.

Tip 1: Less is more

You should always keep this tip in mind especially where Internet marketing success is concerned. Internet users tend to browse through Web sites instead of reading all its content, so it is important to keep your articles short and specific. Also, write your content in a way that is easy to skim . Make the main message is easy to find. Be concise and straight to the point so that you communicate faster and more efficiently with your readers.

Tip 2: Use simple words

When writing, it is very tempting to bring out the dictionary and use the biggest words that you can find. Sure, doing that might make you sound smarter, but what you are really doing is turning your readers off. No one likes a show-off. Besides, using big, flowery words in Internet marketing can hide your true message and confuse your readers. They can also be intimidating. Stick to simple everyday words, the kind of words spoken in everyday language. This way, you are crystal clear.

Tip 3: Prune your writing

In gardening, you pull out the weeds so that your plant will grow beautifully. The same thing goes for writing. You should cut out words, sentences, or even whole paragraphs that don’t relate to the rest of your article. If it doesn’t make sense or contribute anything to your content, it is unnecessary and should be removed. Pruning your writing will make your article shorter, but as mentioned in tip 1, short copy is a good thing in Internet marketing.

Tip 4: Use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar

Internet users are a discriminating bunch and they will notice misspellings, missing punctuation marks and bad grammar. While it is true that what really matters is the message, bad spelling and grammar are irritating. Even a beautifully crafted article, if filled with mistakes, will tick people off and stop them from reading through. Blame it on human nature, but people tend to focus more on the flaws than the good points.

Brush up on your spelling and grammar to avoid mistakes. Find books, guides, and references to improve your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. These are worthwhile investments that lead to Internet marketing success.

Tip 5: Proofread your writing

After you have finished writing, go over it again. Check for spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, ideas that do not flow, run-on sentences, fragments, and just about anything that can affect the quality of your article. Don’t depend on software programs to do all the proofreading for you. Go over your own writing or, better yet, have someone review it for you. A fresh pair of eyes may be able to spot errors that you might have overlooked.

Writing for Internet marketing success doesn’t have to be hard. These tips will improve your content considerably and provide you with great results.

Internet marketing is second nature to veteran online marketers. They can list down the different methods of Internet marketing in their sleep. There's e-mail marketing, display advertising, affiliate marketing, viral marketing, pay per click advertising, and blog marketing, among others.

Meanwhile, those who are new to Internet marketing can easily be confused with all those methods of marketing online. Don't be intimidated by the crazy world of Internet marketing. Here are some of its secrets.

The first secret is to 'think free'. Not freedom for either you or your customers, but, literally, think free of charge. Try offering something for free on your site and see how rapidly this increases your traffic. Some free things that you can consider are newsletters, background wallpapers, software downloads, e-books, and free trial periods of your product.

Aside from generating traffic to your Web site, freebies can also be an effective way of creating leads. Offering something of value at no cost will make your visitors more willing to provide their e-mail addresses and to sign up for your mailing list. From here, you can regularly advertise your products to them and, hopefully, generate sales.

The second secret to becoming successful in Internet marketing is to provide valuable information. With this, people will keep coming back to your site for the quality content you provide. This translates to high traffic and income.

Build your credibility and reputation by constantly providing quality content to your visitors. People will perceive you as an expert and trust you as a reliable source. Ideally, your content will be so valuable that your visitors will pass it on to their friends and bring even more new visitors to your Web site.

The third Internet marketing secret is improving your Web site's ranking in search engines. You can do this by employing search engine optimization or by tapping pay per click advertising, wherein links to your Web site are positioned in search engine results every time someone does a search of keywords related to your site. Every timean Internet user types in those keywords in a search engine, an advertisement with a link to your Web site will come up as part of the results. You, the advertiser, will only pay the search engine when an Internet user actually clicks on the advertisement and visits your site. Those are guaranteed results.

The fourth secret is to network. Networking is just as important in Internet marketing as it is in traditional marketing. By having partners and creating joint ventures, you can officially put up links to each other's Web sites and gain access to each other's Web site traffic. Choose who you network with carefully as they will become representatives of you and your business.

The fifth and last secret to successful Internet marketing is to think outside of the Internet. Just because your business is online doesn't mean that your marketing has to be limited to cyberspace. Explore other forms of advertising such as TV, newspapers or radio so that your online business reaches beyond the confines of the Internet.