CHAPTER 1:

Online Marketing 101

Let’s start out with a few motivating statistics.

By 2016, more than 50% of the money spent by retail customers in the US will be influenced by online marketing.

This means that one out of every two people will be making purchases because of an ad, a website or a mobile app that catches their eye. With that influential power, it’s clear that marketing products or services online is a near need for retailers all across the country.

At $9.6 billion, Internet ad revenues are the highest they’ve ever been.

This is indicative of two things: that more customers are buying based on online marketing ads and that more businesses are turning to online marketing to help their sales.

There are encouraging statistics for bloggers and website owners, too.

Blogs are 63% more likely to impact people’s purchasing choices than magazines.

Not only do fewer people receive magazines these days compared to a decade ago, but it would appear that more people turn to bloggers for trusty product and service advice. Even websites dedicated to general customer bases have more purchasing influence than any print competitor.