There are so many ways that are both seen and unseen that online businesses use to promote their web sites. Internet marketing is the online version of television commercials and Sunday newspaper inserts. Through the usage of things like banners at the tops and in the margins of web sites to backlinking, viral marketing, and automatic emails, business all over the Web are turning to Internet marketing to increases sales.

When the idea of Internet marketing comes up, most people do not realize that there is more to this form of advertising than putting a banner on a web site. Of course, this is certainly one form of Internet marketing that is quite popular, but there are other types of promotion that are widely used, too.

One of the other very popular ways of Internet marketing is called viral marketing, which refers to the use of advertisements that are attached to anything that might be forwarded to other web users. It is similar to word-of-mouth advertising, in that you are sending along tee advertisement to people you know. Have you ever forwarded a funny email or video? It is likely that there is advertising attached, and you just participated in viral marketing.

Another form of Internet marketing that has proven to be highly effective in reaching potential customers is something called backlinking. Basically, web sites enter into agreement with one another to place links to each other's pages within the site. In this way, the two are connected, which means that the if one is well recognized by search engines, then the other will be, as well; this is particularly effective if both sites are trying to reach the same demographic, because they can easily target potential customers.

Finally, there is the type of Internet marketing that utilizes auto responder technology. Have you ever sent an email to someone only to receive an automatically generated response seconds later? This is because the recipient has an auto responder that lets you know they did receive your message. Now, this is also being used for Internet marketing. Once you have given a business your email address, they can include you in mailings that are promotional, which is a form of Internet marketing.

All in all, Internet marketing is more than many people realize. Whether through the usage of backlinking, viral marketing, auto responders, or even ideal placement of banner advertisements, Internet marketing has one purpose: to increase the business of any given site. Even if these Internet marketing tactics result in just an increase in site traffic, then they have performed their function in reaching customers who are interested enough by the ads to check it out.