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Whether you sell a product or a service, whether your business is conducted exclusively online or only partially over the internet, marketing is essential. After all, just because you can reach millions of people online doesn't mean that you will.

After all, how many businesses similar to yours exist online? Without marketing, how will you set your company apart?

The simple answer is that you won't. Therefore, it's important to understand the ways in which marketing a business online is different from marketing a brick and mortar store in the center of town.

In order to market your business online, you need to understand the importance of original content. Original content - in the form of website pages, blogs and articles that you use to market your site - will be what sets you apart.

When your website is created, it's important to use unique, keyword rich, relevant language. In some cases, your web designer may provide this service, however, if content creation is not a part of their package it may benefit you to hire a content writer to create the text of your website.

Keyword rich, relevant text will help search engine spiders to rank your site. However, it's important in terms of search engine marketing to regularly update your site - to keep it relevant. A blog is an effective tool for keeping the content on your website fresh.

Think about this for a moment: a blog - short for weblog - is unique, keyword rich and relevant content that is updated daily. If offering great content on your site initially improves your search engine ranking, wouldn't it benefit you to have content that updates daily?

That content, however, should not exist solely for the search engine spiders; it should also provide information with your current customers as well as to prospective customers. A blog does just that: it opens a dialog, enabling your business to reach out to your customers and clients and to provide them with the information that they're looking for.

Electronic newsletters work in a similar way: with them, you can reach out to those who are interested in learning more about the products or services that your business offers. You can use a newsletter to provide information about upcoming product releases, to offer tips and tools that will save readers time or money, or even to offer discounts and incentives to your subscribers.

Of course, just as you can create keyword rich, relevant articles that reach out to your newsletter subscribers, you can use article marketing to draw in a wider customer base. By creating articles that focus on keywords and phrases associated with your product or services and publishing those articles in directories online, you will be able to establish your knowledge, experience and expertise in the marketplace.

Those prospective customers who are seeking products and services similar to yours will find you credible and follow links back to your website. They will feel confident that you understand what they are looking for and that your product or service will benefit them.

The important thing to focus on, however, is that your content must be relevant to what current and prospective customers are looking for. Your content must contain the information that these individuals are looking for - and, in order for them to find it, it must be written in a way that draws on your keywords and key phrases.

For many, this seems daunting. Creating fresh, keyword rich, relevant content is not something that everyone is good at - especially when it means creating that content on a regular basis, weekly or daily.