It is natural that there will be a backlash against this kind of activity, to have a massive multi-lane motorway built in your back yard apparently overnight is a daunting concept, even more scary is trying to find your way onto it!

Like every thing in life these days; there has to be a strategy, a plan within which should be several key points. How much time to invest, how much money to invest and without doubt an idea of what you want to achieve; what is your goal, who do you want to attract.

Before we get too carried away it is important to remember that the traffic should be two way and informative. This is fundamental to what has become known as Web 2.0 don’t worry, this is not a new bit of software but a term to describe this phase of the internets development. This new phase is about opinion and being more personal and approachable. It is not enough for a business to exist now, it also has to have a character, opinion and a voice. Unless you have an endless marketing budget which allows you access to television and cinema advertising the Social Media Super Highway is the way forward.

We see part of our role as the Social Media Driving Instructors, you know how to drive, you’ve had a website for years; but you haven’t yet ventured onto the motorway and that is where we can help.

Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. Marketing builds awareness. Awareness lets potential customers find out about your product or service. Just as with a bricks and mortar business, marketing is essential in order to let people know your business offer exists.

Although the World Wide Web can be thought of as a media channel where prospects will see your copy day after day, the truth is that unless you attract those prospects to your website first then your efforts are in vain.

The term ‘World Wide Web’ should really have a fourth word, ‘Wilderness’, because that’s where any website begins and stays if no efforts are made to attract visitors.

Any business that builds a store, for example, must make efforts to attract custom in order to succeed. The very same principle applies online and just as in the offline world, the amount of benefits reaped is proportional to the amount of effort put in.

In order to maintain any kind of competitive advantage, sustained efforts must be made with a long term plan in mind.

Compared to traditional offline methods of marketing, one of the distinct advantages of marketing online is the speed at which new marketing strategies can be put to test. For example, a pay per click campaign could be launched and the results analysed all in a single day. Such campaigns can promote the smallest businesses amongst the largest industry relevant websites viewed by thousands of qualified prospects.

One of the greatest Internet marketing fallacies is those services offering automated submission to hundreds of search engines as an effective means of search engine promotion. When 80% of all search engine usage is carried out using the three largest search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN), the only others worth being included in are those that are highly relevant and/or localised. This means that automated submission services such as these can offer limited benefit and then only to those websites that don’t already appear in a search engine’s listings.

The effectiveness of these types of automated and unspecific services quickly becomes diluted when they are made readily available to all.

For effective Internet marketing that delivers significant and measurable results, there is no substitute for a well-structured, customised approach making the best possible use of the technologies available.

Building a successful Internet business starts with building a website and continues with effective marketing.