Here are the 8 most common internet marketing myths I come across.

Myth #1 – It all starts with a great web site. Actually, the place where it starts is with a well-defined service. If you don’t have a crystal clear picture of whom you are marketing to and exactly what you’re selling them, the best web site in the world won’t get you clients. Before you even think about building a web site, you should know who your target market is, how to describe your professional specialty, and what specific benefits your work provides for your clients. The content of your site is much more important than the design. Yes, you should have a professional-looking site, but a brilliant design and dazzling graphics won’t pay off anywhere near as well as a clear explanation of why a client should work with you.

Myth #2 – More traffic means increased profits. The only result that more traffic to your web site guarantees you is increased bandwidth use by your web host. Before spending money on banner ads, web directories, or pay-per-click listings to drive more visitors to your site, you need to be sure that they’ll want to do business with you once they get there. Ask your colleagues and current clients to critique your site. Do they understand what you are offering? Can they see concrete benefits to your target audience? Revise your site based on their feedback.

Myth #3 – Social media is a waste of time—A growing number of companies are finally starting to see the light, realizing social media marketing isn’t just a passing fad. When done properly, social media marketing is an effective way to increase brand awareness, build links to your website, learn more about your target audience, and enhance your credibility with consumers.

Myth #4 – Stop trying if you have good search ranking? – Wrong. Just because you have top search engine placement for your keywords doesn’t mean you can take your foot off the pedal. The search engines are constantly changing their algorithms and updating their results to provide their users with the most relevant results possible.

Myth #5 – Internet marketing isn’t good for B2B services—Over $650 billion was spent on online B2B transactions in the U.S. alone last year. Spending continues to grow in spite of the recession. If you offer services to businesses, a strong online presence is essential to your success.

Myth #6 – “Internet marketing is too expensive” – It’s well documented that small business owners are cost sensitive, but it’s a misconception that Internet marketing is expensive. In fact, Internet marketing solutions are highly cost effective when compared to traditional advertising media that business owners are more familiar with.

Myth #7 – “Internet companies are unreliable; I don’t know who to trust” – For those small business owners that do see the value in Internet marketing, not having an Internet marketing solution comes down to a matter of choice—or too many choices. “There are so many [Internet marketing providers] you just don’t know who you can trust”, expressed one participant in the Toronto focus group, a sentiment echoed by several others on both sides of the ocean. The best advice to business owners looking to hire an Internet marketing solution provider is to approach the situation the way you would when hiring any other service professional.  Ask around; try to get a referral from a friend or acquaintance if possible. When looking at different companies don’t make a decision based solely on price and beware of offers that sound too good to be true. Ask questions about the company and their experience, and read through their own website.

Myth #8 – “Having a professional design is not important” – People often end up neglecting the design of their website, thinking that it is simply an aspect which doesn’t deserve their attention. If you are serious about branding and about being professional, then you can simply not neglect the design of your website. Think about it this way: what would you do if you came across a website which looks as though it was designed by an amateur? Would you be thrilled about doing business with them or would you think twice? If you want to be taken seriously then neglecting the design of your website is simply something you cannot afford.

Good marketing strategies can get your business many new customers in the present and in the future. In order to generate business you need to market it properly. Knowing good marketing strategies is your business life­line. That is what will get your customers, and repeat customers. There are thousands of different things you could do to market your business. Here are 5 good marketing strategies:

1. Give away free and unique gifts: Many businesses give away free gifts emblazoned with company logos, phone numbers, website URLS, and such. Commonly, these gifts would be items such as pens and notepads. Instead of the usual, come up with something different and unique to give away for free, something that will stand out more than a pen or notepad would.

2. Take business away from your competitors: The first thing to do is to watch your competitors’ marketing methods very carefully! Find out what makes them successful! THEN use those methods in your own program or business! And research new methods all the time that you can use, methods that your competitors may not even know about.

3. Conduct surveys to get media attention: Conduct a survey about trends in your industry and publish the results. People love surveys and it could get you and your business free publicity from the media.

4. Make good use of free advertising space: You are probably stuck on the idea of creating ads online, even free classifieds you likely take advantage of. You need to find as many places to advertise your business as possible! But one way to advertise effectively is to advertise your business in places where your competition does not. You will surprisingly find more customers this way! And the best part about it is, they will not know about your competition!

5. Find New Places To Advertise: Advertise where nobody else in your industry advertises. That can eliminate the competition for your ad to get attention of customers. You need to advertise offline as well in “free” places, when it comes to advertising. How about putting a logo on your car? Or even on your shirt? When you send out mail, drop in a business card! Does not matter who you are sending mail to! If you are mailing a check to your gas company, the recipient who works there may actually be in need of your services or products.

Those are just a few tips to advertise your business! The sky is the limit, get creative, innovative, share your experiments and keep advertising!

Slowly at first, then you’ll pick up momentum and things will start to move amazingly quickly. No gimmicks, no tricks. These three secrets are:

Budget – While some folks think this should be the first step, realistically you can better create the budget for your marketing plan when you have a good idea of the costs involved. That can only be done once you’ve figured out your targets. You probably already have a figure in mind of how much you can really spend, so go back to your marketing campaign sheet and total up the costs of all the ad spots you’d like to do. Chances are that total will exceed your overall spending limit. If you are engaged in pay-per-click advertising, check in daily for the first week or so and monitor your results to ensure you are paying for results.

Creating Your Ad Content – Internet marketing works best when you focus only on one or two things. You may have a variety of products but pick one or two items that are good sellers and have a solid appeal to your target market for your marketing campaign. Next, ask yourself, “What am I selling”?  - It’s rarely the product or service. You are selling a benefit, something that registers at the emotional level. If you are selling fishing rods, for example, you’re selling the excitement of successfully landing that monster in the lake. If you are selling cosmetics, you’re selling beauty. The most successful ads use words that relate to the customer. Use of You and Yours and never put the focus on Me, Mine, Our, My or We. Create several emotional words associated with the product – fun, comforting, relaxing, stimulating, addictive – and use at least one of them in the ad. Coupons are also an effective marketing tool. They can be easily tracked either manually or by an automated shopping cart system.

Have a plan – The down side of “just taking action” is that if you do a lot of random tasks, you tend to get a lot of random results. You need to put together a simple, reasonably logical plan. If you want notoriety and attention for its own sake, put together a Paris Hilton sort of plan. If you want credibility and trust from your customers, make it more of a Copyblogger kind of plan. There’s an old saying that when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem tends to look like a nail. Fight that kind of thinking as much as you can. Your plan may call for expertise you don’t have, or actions you aren’t very good at. So make some room in your plan to partner with someone else. If you’re great at connecting with customers but lousy at technology, find a partner whose strengths and weaknesses perfectly complement yours. Believe me, that person is out there and wants desperately to work with you. Making too many plans can be the enemy of your success.  Tracking and reacting to your campaign’s successes are critical in maintaining an effective marketing campaign. From your website stats to PPC stats, there are many ways to determine what is working and what isn’t. By paying attention you’ll learn volumes about your ads and how to hone them for best results.