Internet marketing is vitally important for your business.

Not convinced?

OK, utilising activities such as article marketing, social media, blogging and other content creation will have a dramatic effect on your business’ online visibility and exposure.

Just in case you are still sitting there shaking your head, take a look at a few facts and figures that were compiled earlier this year by Pingdom about internet usage, social media, email etc.

So if you’re ready, prepare to be blown away.

Email

Whether you use email as a marketing medium or simply as a method of communication, it is a vital part of your business. Just take a look at these stats:

  • 107 trillion – The number of emails sent on the Internet in 2010
  • 294 billion – Average number of email messages per day
  • 1.88 billion – The number of email users worldwide
  • 480 million – New email users since the year before
  • 89.1% – The share of emails that were spam
  • 262 billion – The number of spam emails per day (assuming 89% are spam)
  • 2.9 billion – The number of email accounts worldwide
  • 25% – Share of email accounts that are corporate

Amazing eh? When you see those sorts of numbers you suddenly realise how reliant we have become on technology for our businesses and every day lives.

And that’s just the start.

Internet

This is the biggy – especially if you’re still unsure whether your business should be online or not. Bearing in mind there are 255 million websites (as at December 2010) with 21.4 million added in 2010 there is an enormous opportunity for online marketers.

Add in the following stats on internet usage and you’ll see why the internet is the place to be:

  • 1.97 billion – Internet users worldwide (June 2010)
  • 14% – Increase in Internet users since the previous year
  • 825.1 million – Internet users in Asia
  • 475.1 million – Internet users in Europe
  • 266.2 million – Internet users in North America
  • 204.7 million – Internet users in Latin America / Caribbean
  • 110.9 million – Internet users in Africa
  • 63.2 million – Internet users in the Middle East
  • 21.3 million – Internet users in Oceania / Australia

When you view these figures as a potential market for your products and services you’d be mad not to be making the most of it.

But what about the new(ish) kid on the block? Well…

Social Media

Yup, social media is here to stay and is sure to morph into all sorts of new forms over the coming years.

It has opened up new lines of communication making it easier than ever for consumers to voice their opinions.

If you are one of the many people who still think social media is just a passing phase, take a look at this:

  • 152 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse)
  • 25 billion – Number of sent tweets on Twitter in 2010
  • 100 million – New accounts added on Twitter in 2010
  • 175 million – People on Twitter as of September 2010
  • 7.7 million – People following @ladygaga (Lady Gaga, Twitter’s most followed user)
  • 600 million – People on Facebook at the end of 2010
  • 250 million – New people on Facebook in 2010
  • 30 billion – Pieces of content (links, notes, photos, etc.) shared on Facebook per month
  • 70% – Share of Facebook’s user base located outside the United States
  • 20 million – The number of Facebook apps installed each day

That doesn’t look like a passing fad to me.

If you want to grow your business exponentially, get on the internet and join in the social media conversation.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter, blogger and social media groupie

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