Search engine marketing has boomed in recent years and statistics show that spending for online marketing is only going to continue to increase year after year. Several years ago the concept of running a website in conjunction with your "brick and mortar" store was seen as just another avenue to generate a handful more sales each year. Today, running a website is not only a great way to generate a considerable amount of new revenue, it is almost essential to the total marketing plan of your business.

Every day, millions of people go to the web for research, shopping, news, entertainment and more. Offline stores are heavily promoting their websites to their consumers in the isles and at the checkout stand as a means of building brand loyalty as well as shopping convenience. Marketing your website online can literally add thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars into your business bank account.

As consumers turn to the web for a variety of reasons, planning the online marketing strategy of your website can help you tap into each of those avenues as a way to generate new traffic, more conversions, and a loyal customer base. Ignoring the potential of the web will only serve to give your competitors a substantial advantage in reaching your target market. Not investing appropriate time, money, or resources into the online marketing of your website is akin to handing your customers over directly to your competitors.

Let's consider the success of Amazon.com. When you think of online bookstores, most people think of Amazon. Why is that? Why not BarnsandNoble.com or Borders.com? Ten years ago, when the web was in its infancy, yet growing in popularity, Jeff Bezos jumped into the online game with a bookstore of his own. He got his store online before Barnes and Noble and Borders and now runs one of the most successful marketplaces online: Amazon.com

Even today, as all national booksellers are selling their products online, they have not been able to overcome the online success of this one guy who started a bookstore in his basement. Here we are, ten years later, and there are still thousands of businesses that have still not built up their online presence. Many have websites, but very few are marketing their websites effectively. You may not become the next Amazon.com success story, but effective marketing of your website can add considerable coin to your purse.