6 Internet Marketing Terms You Should Know

The world of digital marketing evolves at an incredible rate. Each year the techniques, trends and terminology change.
With the internet becoming so important for ALL businesses, it’s no longer just the industry professionals (like us) who need to understand these terms.
We’ve put together a list of the most commonly misunderstood internet marketing terms which we feel every business owner should understand.

Inbound Marketing

There’s a reason this is the first in our list. Inbound marketing describes one of the most important shifts in internet marketing of the last 5 years. Inbound marketing refers to the creation and publication of high quality content which attracts your ideal prospect. This content might be a blog post, a video, an infographic or a photo. Inbound marketing replaces the old ‘outbound’ techniques like cold calling, mail-outs, and traditional email marketing which are now almost completely redundant.

The Social Web

Sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ often get labelled as ‘Social Media’. Though the sharing of ‘media’ through these channels is one of their primary functions, it is only part of the story. These social platforms can, and should, also be used for networking, collaboration and monitoring. ‘The Social Web’ refers to the whole internet and its increasing ability to let us create and maintain human relationships.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is very similar to inbound marketing. The primary principle of this type of marketing is to create something of value for your customers. Relevant, engaging content that’s optimised for search visibility and social sharing will attract a highly targeted group of potential customers who are much more likely to buy from you. It replaces the ‘spray and pray’ approach of old and delivers more results and more value.

Search Engine Marketing

Now, this one has been around for a while. The reason it makes into our list is that its meaning has changed enormously over the last 2 years. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a process which aims to improve the search engine rankings of a particular website or webpage. A few years ago, for many companies, this meant engineering keyword densities and using artificial link building to climb the rankings. Thankfully, Google have changed all this. Now, content and the social web dictate the search visibility of a page. If you want to rank, you need a blog, a visible social presence and a modern, well thought out website which gives users what they want!

Geo Targeting

With the explosion in the popularity of the mobile web, ‘local’ has become really important for businesses. Geo targeting is the targeting of web users based on their geographical location. This can be applied to email, search results, even Twitter and Facebook posts. Technology now gives us the ability to target our messages and visibility to users in a 1 mile target area. What could this technology do to for your business?

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

One of the major advantages of the internet is the ability it gives businesses to measure and monitor the success of their efforts. A KPI is a measure of a particular metric. Getting more from your internet marketing is all about deciding which indicators are the most important for your business. Is it traffic, sales, engagement?
Once you’ve decided which KPI you want to measure, you then need to find a tool that can do it.

Read More: Web Design and Marketing

If you’ve spoken to an internet marketing specialist who is up to date with the latest online developments you are likely to have heard at least a few of these internet marketing terms. By using and understanding these modern terms and techniques you will have an advantage over the majority of other business owners.

We offer a comprehensive online marketing management service as well as in-depth online marketing consultancy. We will ensure that you are always using the right techniques for your business and that you are always up to date.
Got questions? Why not give us a call?
By Angus Findlay

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