So you want to use the Internet to sell something so you look into your Internet Marketing and online advertising options. What are the differences between the two and what techniques will suit your needs the best? In this article we’ll briefly explore Internet Marketing is and how it differs from online advertising. We’ll explore a few examples of each and the pros and cons of paid vs free selling methods.

Definition of Internet Marketing and Online Advertising

Internet Marketing is the method in which a business will utilize a variety of techniques to drive traffic to a website or blog to promote their business. There are many different free methods to do this, and and many different paid methods as well. Online Advertising is generally one of the paid methods utilized within an Internet Marketing campaign.

Some Free Internet Marketing Techniques

There are many free Internet Marketing techniques, some more effective than others. Free Internet Marketing takes longer to set up, is a lot more work, and typically takes longer to generate results than some paid online advertising tactics. Examples of free internet marketing strategies would be:

• Article Marketing: This is probably the most popular free strategy because it is very effective and when set up properly, can often yield very long lasting results, generating traffic for the writer long into the future. This technique entails the marketer writing a series of 400-600 word articles, centered around a set of optimized keywords, and submitting said article to article directories. The article rides on the high Google rankings and often ends getting very high listing in the search engines for those chosen keywords. At the end of each article the writer includes a link to their website. Article marketing takes a lot of work and is time consuming. Plus for those less skilled in articulating themselves through the written word, this can be a daunting task.
• Forum marketing, bookmarking, signature writing, and social media marketing are all popular forms of free techniques that when properly conducted, can drive a lot of traffic to one’s website. But all take time, research, and testing.

Paid Internet Marketing Techniques

Generally when we hear of Internet Marketing and online advertising, we thing of paid advertising. Here are three of the most popular paid advertising methods that Internet Marketers use:

• Google, Yahoo and Facebook Ads. These types of ads are also referred to as Pay Per Click or PPC. That is because the advertiser pays so much every time one of their ads is clicked. Perhaps you’ve seen ads down the side of the page in the Google search results? Or you may have seen those little 4liner word ads on various websites around the web. Those are ppc ads. Facebook also offers ppc advertising but it tends to be a bit more affordable and some reports say that Facebook ppc ads are more effective because they are a bit more targeted. These type of paid ads can get expensive, but they tend to yield results much faster than free marketing and it is a lot less work. It does tend to provide more short term traffic. Facebook now has their new “Promoted Posts” advertising. The news isn’t in on this one yet but those using it seem pleased.
• Other forms of paid advertising include banner advertising, and paid classifieds. These aren’t usually as effective because few people tend to click on banner ads and classified ads are too crowded.

It seems that the most successful online marketers utilize both free and paid forms of marketing. It is recommended that you master 2-4 forms of Internet Marketing and use these to conduct a complete in-depth campaign before moving on to the next project. This type of focus is imperative to your success online.