As a result of the internet allowing online retailers to reach a virtually limitless customer base, more and more entrepreneurs are setting up online shops and taking advantage of the opportunities in electronic commerce. Due to many factors, not the least of which is the issue of rising rent on storefront space, some retailers are moving online exclusively, hiring the best designers to build and maintain online browsing and shopping carts for their businesses. However, all the design in the world won't get web traffic to the page, so companies are looking to maximize the hits on their sites using optimal techniques in internet marketing and website promotion.

The term internet marketing refers to using the internet to advertise and sell products and services. Retailers design their sites to reflect internet marketing techniques that are proven to bring the most traffic to their sites. Internet marketing techniques commonly used include:

1. Banner advertising
2. Pay-per-click advertising
3. Email marketing
4. Search engine marketing
5. Search engine optimization
6. Electronic press releases
7. Blog marketing

Internet marketing can also be used for website promotion. Just marketing a site isn't enough to get a large amount of traffic - active website promotion, through search engine optimization and other techniques, is necessary to ensure a large number of people visit a site. Some website promotion techniques include:

1. Search engine optimization - get backlinks, create and publish keyword-heavy documents, optimize the meta tags and link text with important keywords
2. Submit the website to major search engines - in order to get optimal traffic, the site needs to be listed on major search engines. The most widely used search engines are Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search.
3. Include the site URL in all press releases or internet marketing media released, so readers can follow it back to the site.
4. Use pay-per-click search engines, which gets the site listed higher in search engine results.
5. Include the site URL in email and forum signatures

Internet marketing and website promotion has had a very large impact on offline commerce, as customers are now able to shop online for virtually anything, from concert tickets to antiques and collectibles to music. Internet marketing makes it possible for a person to find information about a product at any time and comparison shop, choose, and make a purchase from the comfort of home. Many websites also allow users to pay bills online. Internet marketing and website promotion also help the retailer save money by limiting or eliminating the need for a storefront, staff, or other expenses that are incurred in the practice of running a business, and the global aspect of the internet gives a much larger consumer base the opportunity buy from even a small-town business. Online commerce is fast becoming the wave of the future, and utilizing the benefits of internet marketing, website promotion, and search engine optimization will help even the small fish feel like the proverbial pond is big enough for everyone.