Navigation time is impressively higher than watching time. This ending year the money invested in Internet advertisement was even (and sometimes superior) to the invested for TV advertisement. The new way to engage the market has been set.

The question is simple. Why people prefer Internet?
The answer is quite simple as well: Youtube.com, Facebook.com, Wikipedia.org, MySpace.com, etc. etc. Is it a 1.1 billion daily market a good reason?
CNN is investing equal time and effort in its Internet news channel, than the TV channel. Why?
In July of 2005, immediately after the London terrorist attacks to the subway’s stations, hundreds of users uploaded their video footage (taken with their own cell phones) to TouTube.com. The BBC validated them by linking to them directly from its own portal. At that time no media channel was able to cover the attacks in such a way, as a result: 750 million people around the world watched the videos via Internet in the first 28 hours after the attacks.

Some facts to consider
According to a study developed by EIAA (European Association of Interactive Advertisement) in several European countries, for instance Spain, the population spend 12 hours per week surfing the net, against 10 hours per week watching TV.
Center of Investigation Pew published a study that shows that 60% of people (average 30 years old) prefer Internet as a source of information than the TV, over 3,200 people asked.
Barack Obama conquered 2 million of followers on Facebook, against McCain that only obtained 600 thousands: for many people that was the beginning of the victory.
In 2008 there were 80 video productions and soup operas around the world transmitted exclusively through Internet.
British Intelligence Service admitted they use Facebook to incorporate new agents, and the FBI also says they are using Facebook to follow tracks on 120 thousands criminals.
Amazon.com receives 250 million visits per day.
Queen Elizabeth broadcasts her Christmas annual live message also through YouTube.com.
Wikipedia.org, despite the detractors and criticism regarding content inaccuracy, is the number one encyclopaedia online (also free), with more than 150,000 volunteers, 11 million articles in 265 languages and more than 275 million of visits per day.

The numbers of potential Internet marketing opportunities are surprisingly rising breaking the forecasts of analysts around the world. The market is showing us a definitive new trend and companies are trusting Internet as a serious new media channels to make business in new ways.

An electronic or online newsletter is a frequently distributed virtual publication, generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Many newsletters are published by organizations, societies, associations, and companies to provide information of interest to their members, employees, or visitors. General attributes of newsletters include news and upcoming events of the related organization, as well as contact information for general inquiries.
At some point in 2004, many users were inundated by all types of newsletters, overwhelming the market and exhausting the users across the world. As a result, people stopped paying attention to newsletters.
In the last year, the market has begun to make better use of this type of publication, by adding real value for their current and potential customers.
At this point, it is important to make a good distinction. There are three types of newsletters:

1) Promotional newsletters
2) Active newsletters
3) Subscribed newsletters.

The promotional newsletter, also called the “trashy newsletter,” is a false promotional instrument. Its content does not present a real value proposition, and the only goal is to promote or generate a covered marketing activity. People generally detect this type of promotional material and dismiss it instantly.

The active newsletter also has a promotional objective, but from a different perspective. Many companies distributed interesting material through active online newsletters, such as opinionated articles, useful data, relevant industry news, and tips or tricks.

Subscribed newsletters are the most effective, since they are distributed among users who requested them. Web sites may offer simple forms to encourage visitors to subscribe. The users of these types of newsletters are really interested, for some reason, in the company or the products, in which case, the value of the information published is very high.
It is important to differentiate the active from the subscribed newsletters. They might be similar, but the subscribed information must have an extra value that makes the newsletter somehow more specific and less promotional.
Subscribers are not expecting advertising; they expect useful data. The initiation of a newsletter project is a big task, and must be considered very seriously.

The final product is the result of an evolution of steps:
a) Market analysis
b) Product analysis and definition
c) Design
d) Delivery method

In late 1998, Elliot Anderssen from Alcatel at the University of Toronto said, “The real value of this type of marketing (Internet marketing) is the captive public factor. Remember, there is no communication channel in this industry that could manage millions of people looking for something.” Anderssen had a valuable point, although it took a while to understand what he “looking for something” really meant.

People who open an Internet browser or search engine are going to engage in a hunt that will bring a result as a part of a motivational activity; they do not visit the search engine necessarily to have fun, to relax, or to find some entertainment. Let’s mention that 0.6% of domestic Internet users buy something online, and 86% of those come from Seanrch engines. On another hand 1.1% of work users buy something online, and 91% of those come from search engines.

This information is fundamental in understanding the added value of Internet marketing. Never before has any type of marketing activity secured a qualified market like the Internet does. If we expand this to a global scale, we can see that from the 320,000 daily average online buyers, around 275,000 will come from a search engines. Imagine the extraordinary potential of a new business channel that could virtually manages an average of 100 million focused buyers per year.

Search engine traffic is called the “focused market,” since people sit in front of the computer with a defined objective (the “looking for something” factor). On the other hand, traditional promotional channels make contact with the “unfocused market,” people who access them to obtain entertainment or learn information. This market is not necessarily interested in “looking for something.” They could potentially become buyers, but they might not.

How many people reading the newspaper or watching TV are interested in the advertising? Leolen Lipovetsky, from Eye4u.com, during his speech at Westwood College in Anaheim, California, emphasized this point about today’s advertising landscape. “The market’s interest has been the most important component in any promotional process. Online buyers have initiated the process and they are far advanced on it at the time they arrive to the right e-commerce site.”
Search engines manage about 100 million online buyers per year, with the main objective of Internet marketing being to capitalize on this impressive segment of recognized online buyers. In ten years, the amount of online buyers will be around one billion per year. Try to understand the power of a market that size, and you will see that SEO will be the most powerful business generation tools of the future.

About the writer: Miguel Todaro (www.migueltodaro.com) is the author of the book Internet Marketing Methods Revealed, published by Atlantic Publishers Company. He has been advisor of important corporations in marketing, multimedia and e-commerce projects. He is an expert in software development, with strong background in graphic design, multimedia programming and marketing. In 1997 he developed one of the first automotive e-commerce projects on the net, for the Italian company Fiat Auto International Corporation. As a consultant he helped major organizations such as UNICEF, AIGA, Oracle and IBM.
He also developed experimental multimedia e-learning ventures for different companies in North America, including BP and Methanex Corp.