There are over 200 million people worldwide
connected to the Internet, with over 64 million regular users
in America. It’s no wonder that such a vast audience
has made online marketing one of the fastest growing industries
in the world. However, half the trick of conducing successful
ecommerce is finding a way to get people to your site in the
first place—hence online advertising.
Internet advertising generated an astounding $1.92 billion
in 1999, double from the amount generated in the previous
year.
According to the Association of National Advertisers, nearly
half of all American companies are selling online. The American
City Business Journal reports that businesses that use the
Internet grow 46% faster than those that don’t.
Online advertisers beware; marketing trends in this industry
often become outdated faster than you can say “pop-up”.
Here are some of the most common outdated online marketing
techniques that should be avoided:
- Pop Ups Ads- Pop-ups ads are like the billboards of the
information superhighway—you can’t go anywhere
without seeing at least one. The Internet has become so saturated
with pop-ups that overall web traffic times are slowing down.
Most web users are downloading software that eliminates them
from their system, so they are not the best way to reach
prospective consumers.
- E-commerce sites- Internet stores have become way too
abundant, especially when likely 99% of what you’re
looking for can be found at Amazon.com, the site that boasts “Earth’s
Biggest Selection”. Unless your product is so extremely
unique that it can’t be purchased elsewhere on the
Web, an e-commerce site may just be a waste of time and money.
- Re-selling E-books- E-books seem like a great idea. However,
most of the sites that sell them offer the seller the right
to resell the book to others. Therefore, the market has become
saturated with books that are often available for free from
some sites. And why would someone want to buy an e-book from
you that they can get for free elsewhere?
- Safelist Advertising- Like e-books, this is theoretically
a good idea. Safelists are groups of members who have opted
to receive ads from fellow safelist members. This form of
marketing loses its effectiveness due to the fact that most
members just mass-delete their bulk emails without reading
them. Everyone wants others to read their ads, yet no one
will stop to read other people’s ads.
- ‘Free For All’ pages- FFAs will post your
ad in one of seven categories on their page. Like safelist
advertising, the idea is that the thousands of others that
post ads will see your ad and click to your website. Again
though, everyone goes to FFAs to post, and not to access
ads. On top of this waste of time and Internet space, your
email account will get flooded with massive amounts of spam
if you sign up with one of these sites.
| Jessica Klein is a member of the 'Mount
Real Research Team', whose aim is to seek out and distribute
business information to the virtual public. She is
a freelance writer based in Montreal, Canada who loves
writing about anything from accounting to zebras. For
more info about Mount Real, visit http://www.mountreal.com. |
