A Brief History
The development of internet marketing is intimately tied to advances in technology. To truly understand what internet marketing is, it’s important to take a look back to how it came to be.
I won’t go into it here, but the development of the internet pre-1990 is fascinating. If you are interested, here are some cool sources for info!
https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21eFwbb48sE
In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web and in 1993 CERN released it into the public domain
The first ads didn’t take long to appear. The first widely seen banner ad, AT&T’s You Will ad, appeared on HotWired (Wired Magazine’s online publication) in 1994. Display Network advertisers today would be astonished to receive the 44% CTR that this ad had.
By 1995 search engine optimization began to gain traction as advertisers realized the importance of good rankings on search engines like Yahoo. Display ads also started to become more targeted as ads would be placed on websites that ideal customers were more likely to visit. DoubleClick (later acquired by Google) became the first tracking tool for Display ads, leading to improvements in ROI.
In 1998 Google hit the scene and by the early 2000’s, due to the superior relevancy of search results when compared to other engines, it became the most popular search engine. In 2000, they introduced AdWords and a couple years later switched to the familiar pay per click pricing model. In 2003 they began to make updates that dramatically changed rankings in search results. These changes were directed at SEO techniques that Google found problematic, such as hidden text.
2002 saw the launch of LinkedIn, followed by MySpace the following year and Facebook another year later, ushering in the age of social media.
Google Analytics came to be in 2005. This was a big leap forward for advertisers. The quick feedback allowed for campaigns to be modified quickly for better results. The following year Google acquired YouTube and Facebook began to work with advertisers. Soon after smartphones began to gain traction.
2009 saw the launch of the Bing search engine and AdBlock. Google introduced sitelinks for PPC advertisers the following year. In 2012 Psy’s YouTube video, “Gangnam Style”, became the first to hit 1 billion views. Around this time we saw the rise of content marketing, the creation of content to promote products or services.
In 2015 Google announces that mobile friendliness is a factor in quality score, which effects ad rank. 2017 saw the first time digital ad spend was more than television as spend. Worldwide the figures were: TV – $178 Billion and Digital – $209 Billion.
This very brief history clearly left a lot of important events out. I just wanted to touch on some of the events that marked important developments of the current aspects of internet marketing. For more thorough information of events check out this timeline from jellyfish.com or this blog from HubSpot.
What is Internet Marketing?
Internet marketing is the promotion of goods or services using the internet with the intent of driving traffic, leads and sales. As the internet has grown and changed, advertisers have followed suit. The diversity of the internet has created many outlets for marketing.
Search Engine Marketing is all about visibility on search engines like Google. This includes organic rankings through Search Engine Optimization and paid positioning through Pay Per Click. Search engines are the most widely used way people seek out goods and services. Looking to get your tires changed? Google it. Want to try a new restaurant? Google it. It’s important to make your business visible.
Social Media Marketing is all about content creation. Creating quality content on a regular basis to attract a following organically, supplemented by paid promotion of some of your content is a great way to boost visibility. According to BackLinko, in 2020 there are 3.81 billion people worldwide using social media, meaning there are people on social media who would be interested in what your business provides.
Video Advertising is quickly becoming a dominant way to advertise nowadays. Commercials on streaming services like Hulu, on sites like YouTube or as Display ads on other sites have taken hold and are here to stay. This method may be less accessible to smaller businesses, but if you can, this is a great way to promote your business.
Display ads are advertisements on websites in the form of text, image or video. These often come in the form of banner ads. The CTR has dropped significantly from the days of the AT&T banner ad, but these ads are generally priced on the pay per click model. These are often a good way to get inexpensive exposure.
Direct Placement® is the trademark service of Direct Placement, LLC. This is front page placement on Google or Bing at a flat rate. It features websites on highly specific keywords to target the right users. As opposed to PPC, you don’t pay for extra clicks to have front page placement. This is great way to quickly get your website and business visible.
Conclusion
By looking at the history of the internet as it relates to internet marketing, we have seen that it is important to diversify your methods and not to put all your eggs in one basket. For example, focusing solely on SEO leaves you at the mercy of search engine updates. Google as made numerous updates that have dramatically changed organic rankings, causing many businesses to lose good positioning after lots of SEO work. As with SEO, paid promotion in multiple forms (display, PPC, video, etc.) has weak points as well. AdBlock means that a good portion of users will not see your ads. Social media and content marketing take a tremendous amount of effort and time, which many smaller businesses can’t commit to. Finding multiple methods that complement each other to create a solid online presence might be your best bet for maximizing ROI.
Direct Placement, LLC is a digital marketing agency dedicated to shaping our advertising efforts to best fit your company’s needs. We are a Google Premier Partner and Bing Ads Accredited Company that specializes in a number of digital advertising formats. From our trademarked flat-rate SEM marketing service to social media marketing and even directory profile creation, we have a number of services that we can use to help your company thrive. Contact Direct Placement, LLC to learn more about how we can start transforming your business one click at a time! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger for more regular marketing content.
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