There are a vast number of internet marketing channels out there to choose from and it can be challenging to select the one that’s appropriate for your business. It is important to review a few points to ensure that your company’s internet marketing strategy is on the right track and that you are investing your time and money in the best channel available to you. Here are some tips to help you decide which internet marketing channel your business should focus on.

The easiest way to narrow down your options when it comes to determining which internet marketing channels to pursue is to do the following: outline your company goals, lay out your budget, and review who is available in your team to take charge of the required tasks.

When deciding on what your company goals are, think about what your business’ top priorities are. Whether your goal is to increase traffic to your site, make more sales, create a market for your product/service through educating prospects, or build brand awareness, you have to figure out which internet marketing channel will best serve you in meeting your goal.

Budget is another important issue that comes into play when you decide on an internet marketing channel to pursue. Whether your budget is exorbitant or tiny, you need to choose an internet marketing channel that will bring you the highest ROI.

Last but not least, who is available on your team that will help you achieve your goals? If you have team members with a strong search marketing background, it makes sense to focus on SEO. If your team members are social media whiz kids, engage your audience via social media outlets. If you have great writers on board, perhaps email marketing or viral content creation is your best bet.

The types of Internet Marketing Channels

Email Marketing – Email marketing consists of collecting the email addresses of potential leads and marketing to them with newsletters, direct sales messages, brand-building emails, etc. There is a big difference between spamming and marketing, always make sure to send the emails to only the people that are really interested in your company.

SEO – SEO uses tactics such as link-building, keyword research, and on-page optimization to earn high organic rankings on search engines like Yahoo and Google.

Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing involves having people sell your product/service for a share of revenue.

Viral Content – Spreading viral content consists of making linkbait, videos, and other creative content that helps you drive traffic to your site and spread your marketing message.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – CRO involves optimizing the process that gets your leads/sign ups to become customers. CTR improvements and Purchase process simplification are examples of CRO.

Social Media Marketing – Social media marketing is the process of leveraging social media platforms such as Digg, Twitter, and YouTube to attract more traffic to your site and increase your company’s visibility.

PPC Advertising – PPC advertising involves the bidding for placement on search engines. You earn visibility and traffic when people search for the terms you target. Examples of PPC Advertising are Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Display Advertising – Display advertising consists of placing banner ads, video ads, interactive ads, etc. on third-party sites to create brand awareness and earn traffic.

Online PR – Online PR is the process of submitting optimized press releases to major PR websites in order to earn traffic and build your brand.

Finding the best internet marketing channel to invest in is no easy task. Keep these factors in mind to determine what would work best for your company. After reviewing your goals, budget, and available manpower, you can decide on the right internet marketing path for your company.