Internet marketing is an essential part of any marketing strategy. In fact, for many companies it is more important than offline marketing. When someone starts an internet business and sets up their website, the next step would be to drive traffic to that site. Of course the traffic should be relevant and from parties interested in whatever service or product the site offers.

The first step many companies use, in regards to internet marketing, is Google Adwords services. This is because, literally within a few hours, the business can drive targeted customers to their website. If someone searches for a relevant product or service, the ads will appear, sending potential customers to the site. Initially this is a very good internet marketing strategy, as it has immediate results. Not only that, but it is very easy to set up and to customize.

For a long term internet marketing plan, it would be a good idea to do proper SEO for any website. This can be done with an SEO company or done in house. This is a great long term solution, that will pay off if done properly. The first step would be to make sure the website is designed and written properly. That is to say, it is relevant to the product or service being offered. Also, written in a way that is offering information, without appearing to be too much of an advertisement. This alone helps a site appear higher in search results.

Of course, good internet marketing is more than a nicely written site. What can bring a site up to the top results in the major search engines takes more. What any successful website wants is authority. That is, by having other websites and businesses talk about and link to the businesses website. This is where a great SEO company can help.

Realistically in internet marketing, it would be best to have a two pronged approach. Having ads, a company can be hired to do adwords management to get started, or can be done in house. Then, for a longer term approach, hiring a company to help with SEO is a great step. Coming up high in search engine results can be the difference between a company making a lot of money, and one just struggling to get by. The difference even between the number one and number two spot can be huge. Not only that, but if a site is on the 2nd page or further, the odds are that it will receive very little traffic. With SEO it is important for people to be patient as the results can take months, but it will definitely be worth it.

Larry Lim is an SEO consultant with SearchGuru Malaysia. He offers consultations and services spanning Google Adwords to online reputation management.