Posted in Internet Marketing Strategy	February 9, 2007

An effective Internet marketing system distributes valuable content without charge

By Kim Mateus, Editor & Publisher Mequoda Daily and Library

If you're still using traditional online advertising as part of your Internet marketing strategy, know this: Nobody is paying attention!

According to a recent Forrester Research Study, only 13 percent of consumers admit that they buy products because of online ads, and a negligible six percent believe that companies generally tell the truth in ads.

Consumers say that clutter, interruption, and irrelevance are the primary reasons for their frustration, according to the report, giving rise to the 81 percent use of ad blockers and spam filters among those with high-speed Internet access.

The key to an Internet marketing system that engages consumers, the report concludes, is to facilitate an experience—not disrupt consumer viewing.

Trendwatching calls this tryvertising—introducing yourself and your products by letting people experience and try them out first.

Roger C. Parker calls it relationship marketing on the Internet.

We call it an effective Mequoda Internet Marketing System.

Implementing the Mequoda Internet Marketing Model requires a willingness to give away valuable content without charge, using earned and paid media sources to drive traffic, and up-selling your database through various marketing channels.

The major difference between the Internet marketing strategy of the Mequoda Method and that of traditional publishing models is the use of free content to drive online traffic.

By offering free content (e.g., email newsletter subscriptions, HTML webpage access, eBooks or eReports, blogs or Web feeds) through a variety of earned and/or paid media sources, a publisher can entice interested individuals to a website—a Mequoda Internet Hub.

• Once on site, the individual must provide an email address in order to receive the free content.
• That contact information becomes part of a huge Internet marketing database, which the publisher can then use to market products of value.
• The Mequoda Internet Marketing System describes eight examples of earned media sources that can effectively drive traffic to publisher websites.
• The Mequoda Internet Marketing System also describes six database marketing channels that publishers can use to bring home the bacon.
• Using content to drive traffic isn't just a theory. For leading-edge publishers, the Mequoda Internet Marketing System is happening today.

Additional resources

How to Start and Run an Effective Internet Marketing System

Back to the Basics: Five Steps for Creating User-Centric Products

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