Importance of Employee Development
Employee development activities help in the growth and development of employees, who are the true assets of an organization. You need to respect your employees for them to feel motivated and develop a sense of loyalty and attachment towards the organization. Don’t forget your employees strive really hard for almost the entire day to accomplish […]
Time Management Skills
The judicious use of time by an individual to succeed in all aspects of life refers to Time Management. Time Management not only helps individuals to make the best use of time but also ensures successful accomplishment of tasks within the stipulated time frame. It is essential to do the right thing at the right […]
Definition of International Retailing
Ever since International Retailing started getting recognition in the industry, several academicians as well as Industry experts have tried to come up with exact definition. The attempt to define International Retailing raised a legitimate question as to what exactly the retailers were internationalizing. Unless the correct fact was established, there could be no right definition. […]
The Mobile Wave is the Wave of the Future
The evolution of media and its interaction with business trends has gone through several waves. If it was Web 1.0 with the introduction of the internet, then it was Web 2.0 with the explosion of social media. Both these waves of innovation revolutionized the virtual world and gave new meanings to how we live, shop, […]
Corporate Social Responsibility – Meaning, Need and its Evolution
The practice of CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility as a paradigm for firms and businesses to follow has evolved from its early days as a slogan that was considered trendy by some firms following it to the present day realities of the 21st century where it is no longer just fashionable but a business requirement […]
Ever wondered how websites give away much for free or for low prices and offer lots of information and other such conveniences? Did you ever felt the need to know how online marketing works with terms such as clicks, click through, eyeball views, and likes and shares indicating how online marketing firms monetize these aspects?
Indeed, online marketing offers website owners, firms, marketers, and advertisers a way to convert the digital footprint of the visitors to the websites into monetary values thereby ensuring that website owners do not lose out on their low cost access and advertisers find new ways to convert clicks and eyeball views into product sales.
If not anything online marketing is similar to Television and Newspaper marketing except that in its case, the number of unique visitors can be measured accurately due to the availability of tools that provide statistics on how many visitors (measured as eyeball views) browsed through, among them how many actually clicked on the ads, and in a more granular manner, how many of them visited the advertiser’s website.
These metrics in turn help marketers and advertisers pick and choose which websites to place their ads in. In a way websites compete with each other to attract the, most number of visitors in a manner similar to how TV channels are geared towards attracting the highest readership possible so that advertisers choose them over others when placing ads.
Thus, online marketing is a relentless race to garner the most eyeballs, achieve the most number of clicks as possible, and to convert such clicks on ads into product sales. In this respect, it needs to be noted there needs to be a “synergy” between the websites on which the ads are being placed and the ads that are being displayed.
A clear example of how successful online marketing works is this website, ManagementStudyGuide.com wherein as you read a particular article, you can see ads that are relevant to the topic of the article.
Indeed, the key to successful online marketing is the complementarities and the supplementarities that the website and the ads that are being placed on it have in common.
This is the reason why many websites and the advertisers who place ads do so with view of attracting what are known as Click Through consumers.
These are visitors who after reading something on the website notice the ads that are related to the specific content and then click on the ads and if enticed and persuaded, buy the product that is being advertised. For successful “conversions”, the website of the advertisers has to be optimized as well.
Talking about optimization, it is also the case that websites can attract visitors only if they are ranked higher than the other pages when browsers search for information on search engines. Research has shown that browsers do not go beyond the first 10 (or more commonly, the first five) results on Google when they search for a particular keyword.
This is the reason why most websites often undertake what is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization wherein they use targeted language and keyword placement so that they appear on top of the results. Indeed, the better optimized your site, the more chances that you would attract visitors, and the more possibility of conversions.
However, sometimes this race for search engine ranking has the consequence of making the language on the website pretty jumbled and unorganized and hence, not reader friendly, thereby defeating the purpose for which such optimization was done.
Having said that, in recent years, the race for eyeballs and likes and shares has led to what is known as Black Ops Advertising wherein marketing and advertising are so “in your face” that it is almost impossible not to notice or for that matter, not to be bombarded by ads and escape the incessant buzz of notifications and alerts.
You may have noticed how most websites ask whether you want alerts to be sent, and how they place ads almost everywhere to the point where it becomes irritating, and how intrusive such ads are as you browse through the website.
Indeed, this type of advertising is known as Black Ops Advertising and it has got some consumer privacy advocates and other well meaning stakeholders worried about how to protect consumers from this so that they are not tricked into buying because the ads are so invasive.
Moreover, there is also the concern that in the race for eyeballs, clicks, and views, marketers are unduly targeting the consumers and in some instances, collecting data that includes personal and confidential data as well. Indeed, in an age where Data is the New Oil, such nefarious access to data might do more harm to everyone than good.
Thus, there is a need for regulating online marketing in the same manner in which print and visual media marketing is regulated.
Of course, one must also consider how online marketing helps businesses lower costs of website access for users as they gain on ads and then pass on the benefits to the users by charging them low costs for access.
Thus, there are advantages and disadvantages of online marketing and much depends on how website owners allow their websites to be used or misused as far as the race for eyeballs, clicks, and likes and shares are concerned.
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