By Chad Buckendahl

The Internet is still a relatively new medium. In 1994, spending on Internet marketing tactics was hardly worth mentioning, however in 1995, spend increased to over $300 million. Now, a little more than a decade later, Internet marketing spending is predicted to reach $77 billion by 2016 according to Forrester’s latest research . That’s significant, but what Internet marketing tactics are marketers using to drive traffic and revenue to their Web sites?

"I have a Web site and budget to spend on Internet marketing. Now what?”

Actually building a Web site is a relatively straight forward process and most companies have a Web site but there are still a lot of companies that still don’t market their Web site like they would with any other medium. It astonishes me that companies put good money into their Web site builds and then don’t properly invest in the marketing of the new Web site to generate sales.

From the many conversations with people over the last 17 years, I’ve learned that the primary reason decision makers at companies don’t put a significant budget toward online marketing is that they have a lack of understanding of the tactics in the Internet marketing quiver. I see the eye’s fogging over when tactics start being discussed. "Affiliate program… Lead Gen… Social Media… Mobile Marketing…”

Often times, decision makers are not properly informed about the tactics and as a result have very little confidence in the said tactics ability to generate a profitable ROI and make a single threaded decision to "try” paid search marketing because they are familiar with paid search as they see ads everyday when they search on Google.

I’m here to tell you that there is much, much more one can do to promote their online business well beyond paid search. This article goes beyond the most obvious tactic and provides a taste of each tactic available in the Internet marketing quiver.

New Internet marketing tactics pop up regularly and either evolves and withstands the test of marketer’s quest for ROI or fizzles and become the latest fad. Next week, I’ll provide a matrix with 15+ Internet marketing tactics that are no longer unknowns in my book because they have met my very own profitability test. I have personally seen each of these tactics produce a positive ROI for one or more company that I have worked with.

Each of these tactics works in the appropriate situation. I’ve identified the "Use” or the purpose (i.e. customer acquisition, retention or both) that my independent ROI experiences involved. I encourage you to gather more information on the tactics that look relevant to your business and test them yourself to see if they have a positive ROI for your business.

Remember, test small and make sure that you learn something from each dollar you spend. Get the appropriate reports in place so you can walk away knowing whether a tactic worked or did not work but also knowing why it worked or did not work. Just because something works once, doesn’t mean that it will work a second time or just because a tactic does not work the first test, doesn’t mean that you can’t make adjustments and get it to work the next time you test. Give your online marketing endeavor a chance and allocate budget to testing the tactics that best fit your business.

Next week: A handy summary of these Internet Marketing tactics…..

About the Author: Chad Buckendahl is the Director of Marketing for 2Chads Consulting. He oversees strategy and partnerships with leading media and Internet companies. He leverages his industry knowledge and business network to help develop companies by launching them into new distribution channels.

Before joining 2Chads Consulting, he launched the first Internet-based marketing programs for some notable companies such as New York Life Insurance Company ®, Whole Foods Market ®, OxiClean ® and Video Professor ®, where he held senior level positions. Learn more at www.2chads.com.