Internet marketing: the eight channels, how a plan is built, and what to measure

Internet marketing is promoting a business online: through search engines, websites, social media, email, online ads and the review and marketplace sites where buyers compare options. The term is older than "digital marketing" and today the two mean nearly the same thing, with digital marketing sometimes also covering offline screens and apps. What makes the internet different from print or radio is that almost every step can be measured, aimed at a narrow audience and changed in days. A good internet marketing plan picks the few channels where its buyers already make decisions, connects them to a website that turns visits into enquiries, and tracks which channel produced each customer.

The main channels of internet marketing

Channel	How it works	Pay for	Speed
Search engine optimisation (SEO)	Making your pages the best answer so search engines show them in free results	Time, writing, technical work	Slow to start, keeps working
Paid search (PPC)	Bidding to appear above the free results for chosen searches, paying when somebody clicks	Each click	Fast
Social media	Posts, video and ads on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn	Time, production, ad budget	Medium
Email marketing	Messages to people who gave you their address	A sending tool	Fast once the list exists
Content marketing	Guides, videos and tools that answer buyer questions	Time and expertise	Slow, compounds
Display and video ads	Banner and video ads on websites, apps and YouTube	Impressions or views	Fast
Affiliate and partner marketing	Other sites promote you and earn a share of each sale	Commission	Medium
Local listings and reviews	Your Google Business Profile, map listings and review sites	Time	Fast for local searches

The split between search engine marketing and SEO confuses many people because the words have shifted over time. Our page on the difference between SEO and SEM explains both definitions, and the guide to what you actually pay per click covers how the paid search auction sets the price.

How internet marketing differs from traditional marketing

Traditional marketing, such as a billboard, a newspaper ad or a radio spot, shows one message to everybody who passes and is hard to tie to a sale. Internet marketing can show different messages to different people, start with a small budget, and report what each one produced. It also lets the buyer come to you: a person searching for "accountant for freelancers" has told you exactly what they want. Most businesses still use both, and the useful question is which mix fits the budget. The page on traditional and digital marketing and how to split a budget works through that decision.

Building an internet marketing plan in six steps

1. Describe the buyer and the decision

Write down who buys, what problem they are solving and what they do before they choose. A home owner choosing a roofer searches, reads reviews and asks neighbours. A finance director choosing software reads comparisons, asks peers on LinkedIn and books demos. The channels follow from that journey.

2. Fix the website first

Every channel sends people to a page. That page needs to load fast on a phone, say plainly what you sell, where and for whom, show proof such as reviews, and make the next step obvious: call, book, buy or ask. Money spent on traffic before this is fixed leaks away.

3. Choose two or three channels

For a local service, start with the business profile, reviews and search. For an online shop, product feeds, paid search and email. For a business that sells to other businesses, content, LinkedIn and search. Add channels only after the first ones run steadily.

4. Set a budget in two parts

One part is money paid to platforms, such as clicks and ads. The other is time or fees for the work: writing, design, setup and management. Plans often fund the first and forget the second.

5. Track every source

Install analytics, record form fills and calls as conversions, tag campaign links, and ask each new customer how they found you. Without this, you are guessing which channel to keep.

6. Review monthly, decide quarterly

Look at cost per enquiry and cost per customer by channel each month. Move budget between channels each quarter, once there is enough data to see a pattern.

Doing it yourself or hiring help

Many owners run internet marketing themselves at the start, which is a good way to learn what works. Help becomes worth paying for when the work outgrows the hours you have, or when one channel, such as paid search, is costing enough that expert management saves more than it costs. The job title "digital marketer" covers very different skills, so hire for the channel you need. Our comparison of digital marketing specialists and the four specialisms hiding behind one job title helps you write that brief.

Mistakes that cost the most

• Chasing every channel at once. Thin effort in six places rarely beats steady effort in two.
• Measuring traffic instead of customers. Visits are a means. Enquiries and sales are the result.
• Trusting a promise of page one. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO says nobody can guarantee a number one ranking. Treat that promise as a warning sign.
• Not owning your accounts. Your ad accounts, analytics and domain should be in your name, with any agency added as a user.
• Stopping too soon. SEO and content are judged over a longer window than ads, so set the review date before you start. Judge them on a longer cycle than paid ads.

The newest place buyers look

Internet marketing has always followed where people search, from directories to search engines to social feeds. The latest step is the AI assistant. People now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews "who is a good accountant for freelancers in Austin" and get a short list of names rather than a page of links. Those names come from what the web says about each business, so the same work on clear pages, reviews and listings feeds both search and the assistants. What is different is that a ranking report does not show whether an assistant names you. AI Knows Us measures that directly, across those five assistants, and shows which sources shaped each answer. It is a sensible addition to the tracking in step five.

Questions about internet marketing

What is internet marketing in simple words?

It is using the internet to tell people about your business and get them to contact you or buy, through search, websites, social media, email and online ads.

Is internet marketing the same as digital marketing?

Almost. Internet marketing is the older term and covers online channels. Digital marketing is the newer term and can also include things like in-app ads and digital screens. In everyday use they mean the same work.

Which internet marketing channel is best for a small business?

For most local businesses, a complete Google Business Profile, steady reviews and a clear website come first. Paid search and email usually follow, then social media and content.

How much does internet marketing cost?

It ranges from only your time to large monthly budgets. Plan for two costs: what you pay platforms for clicks or ads, and what the work costs in hours or fees.

When can we judge whether internet marketing is working?

Paid search and email can be read from launch, in the ad account and the email platform: cost per enquiry and replies by campaign. For SEO and content, read Search Console impressions and positions and enquiries by page. Google's SEO Starter Guide says: "Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months. In general, you likely want to wait a few weeks to assess whether your work had beneficial effects in Google Search results." What each channel brings depends on competition, your offer and your budget.