Did you know that as many as 82% of internet goers search the web for nearby businesses, and 61% of consumers search for local products and services on their smartphones? Modern marketing is taking big leaps, and it is much more complicated than traditional methods, like cold calling. Maintaining a competitive edge involves creating a strong internet presence, typically through an integrated online marketing strategy. What constitutes effective local internet marketing?

SEO and PPC

What is search engine optimization and search marketing? Search engine optimization (SEO), simply put, is assessing and utilizing keywords to rank at the top of search engine result pages. Effective SEO is complex, taking much more than keywords into consideration. Time of day, the day of the week, user device, location, and more, also impact the overall success of SEO. Even so, most companies agree that SEO is well worth the effort. Business to business marketers, in fact, credit it with up to 57% of all lead generation.

There is no arguing that Google is dominating the web. Still, it is never a good idea to rely on one marketing tactic or scheme alone. One of the most popular, and inexpensive, internet marketing strategies is pay per click advertising, or PPC. PPC ads boast an extremely low cost-per-conversion, especially when compared to print, radio, and TV advertisements.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Did you know that as many as 40% of U.S. iPhone and android comparison shop on their smartphones while in a physical store? With the ever-increasing number of smartphones, iPads, and tablet computers, cross-platform compatibility is becoming more important than ever before. Consumers are notoriously impatient, waiting an average of only five seconds for webpages to load. Whether on a smartphone, or a desktop PC, impatient consumers will abandon slowly loading pages, and favor competitors with fast-loading websites. Websites should also be mobile optimized, and remain user-friendly and easy to navigate whether consumers view pages on a laptop, or on an iPad. Experts agree that the mobile commerce industry is highly likely to be fruitful, and, by 2015, companies are likely to sink an estimated $119 billion into mobile websites.

Companies hoping to make it should tackle a number of popular internet marketing strategies at the same time. SEO, PPC, and cross-platform compatibility are crucial, and continuously growing, tactics out there. Refernce materials.