Initially, Websites and e-mails were merely names on online brochures. This captured the customer’s attention, as they could send and receive e-mails to and from the company. More importantly, customers had a new interface to become familiar with a company – the Website. It became a new area of presence. In a span of 10 years, the Web has become a vital means of collecting e-mail addresses and contact details of users. Today, Websites are becoming the first points of contact for many of customers. This was enhanced by Google, which became a dominant search engine. Thus, search engine optimization came into practice.
Google became an advertising site which earned revenue on the basis of pay-per- click advertising. Blogs came up and increased the pool of links. Niche marketers used the strengths of these thousands of blogs for selling products through affiliate schemes and running pay-per-click advertising. This increased Internet revenues. Today, marketing is done through social networking Websites like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, which have become new channels for marketers. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets will soon overtake computers as the primary method of accessing information and interacting on the Internet. Companies like Google and Apple are trying to make mobile devices the new PC for consumers.
Given the competitive and dynamic business environment, an organization must adopt certain features in order to survive and grow. These include the following:

• It should make optimum use of Web services.
•  It must follow Web standards.
•  It should make use of an interface customization utility for creating the right environment to use IT for the success of its business.

A business model, especially of an e-business, is not very well understood by most people. Many companies today talk of the changes from traditional models to new ones, but very few are aware of what it actually means. A business model for e-marketing which has been explained here is an example that defines a way of doing business with IT as its central component. Thus, the business model is directly related to the revenue of the company. In an e-business model it is very important to know the value chain one is talking about. Many business models have come up in the field of e- business although some of them are more widely in practice. It is now apparent that Internet commerce today is bringing in additional revenues for companies. Earlier, auction models were popular, and targeted at a wide array of goods and services. A firm may not use only one type of model, but opt for a combination of many models, if found appropriate for e-business revenue generation.

Online Marketing Techniques:

Marketers have used the Internet for various marketing activities. Some of the activities which can be of help in marketing through the Internet are explained as follows:

1.Tracking and analysis of Website traffic

Traffic analysis data are crucial in measuring the effectiveness of Internet marketing techniques and the performance of Websites. Some questions for the same could be whether:

(a) there are many clients browsing one particular page.

(b) any changes required to capture the customer’s interest? These bits of information available could help in managing traffic and judging how long visitors are staying on a particular Website.

2.Upload links to companies related to your industry

Adding links to related product could help in increasing prestige of a business. For example, a person visits the Asian Paints Website, he can find addresses and contact details of Asian Paints dealers across India. The Website also provides innovative services like interior decorators or painter contractors, which could be an added advantage to the customer.

3.Informative articles and publications

A company can put informative articles on the Website, which could create a good image of the company in the eyes of the customers. Press releases and updates on rising share prices could also help in effective promotion of the company.

4.Miscellaneous activities like payments

Websites could also be used for miscellaneous activities like payments and queries. Some Websites have an active chat enabled, wherein customers can chat with an executive of the company directly.