Internet marketing emerged as a viable means for promoting products and services in the mid-to-late 1990s, coinciding with the widespread adoption of the internet among businesses and consumers.

While rudimentary forms of online marketing existed prior to this period, it was during the late ’90s and early 2000s that internet usage became more widespread and accessible, leading to the growth of various online marketing strategies.

During this time, through various methods such as affiliate programs, traffic exchanges, and gamified membership sites business social networks started leveraging both individuals and marketing agencies into joining their programs or platforms as a means of promoting content, products or services or generating income.

Here is a brief breakdown of the more notable early methods used for generating income or extending reach:

a. Affiliate Programs: Platforms provide opportunities for marketers to promote products from various vendors and earn commissions on sales. By offering a wide range of products and a simple affiliate system, these programs attracted both marketers seeking products to promote and vendors looking to expand their reach.

b. Traffic Exchanges: These platforms allowed users to exchange website traffic with one another, typically on a credit-based system. Marketers could earn credits by viewing other members’ websites and then use those credits to have their own sites displayed to other users. This method aims to increase website traffic and visibility at a lower cost than traditional advertising methods.

c. Business networks with gamified strategies: Membership employs gamification techniques to incentivize users to share their business products and content in exchange for credits or rewards. By gamifying the promotion process, these platforms encouraged active participation and engagement while offering users cheaper advertising and marketing alternatives.

The First Search Advertising Experience.

Of course it wasn’t until 1998 when Google launched (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google#:~:text=Google was founded on September,power through super-voting stock.) that digital marketing and advertising started to really take shape, while search advertising became a prominent means for spreading the word and in turn, generating income. This emergence also herald the rise of search engines like Yahoo!

Before this, advertising was primarily focused on direct mail and print media. With the introduction of search engines, businesses could target specific audiences based on their search behavior, leading to the development of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and other forms of search advertising.

However, search advertising was not considered affordable by especially the small individual marketers with side hustles and other independent projects. And so alternative marketing strategies where developed among small cliques of individuals a

Businesses and individuals promote their products and services using a variety of internet marketing techniques, leveraging the vast reach and accessibility of online platforms.

Some common methods include:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing website content to rank higher in search engine results, thus increasing visibility and organic traffic.
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: Placing ads on search engines or social media platforms and paying only when users click on them.
• Content Marketing: Creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a target audience, ultimately driving profitable customer action.