Internet marketing is the use of the Internet to advertise and sell goods and services. Internet Marketing includes pay-per-click advertising, banner ads, email marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), blog marketing, and article marketing.

Internet marketing is a component of electronic commerce. Internet marketing can include information management, public relations, customer service, and sales. Electronic commerce and Internet marketing have become popular as Internet access is becoming more widely available and used. Well over 1/3 of consumers who have Internet access in their homes report using the Internet to make purchases.

Internet marketing first began in the early 1990’s as simple, text-based websites that offered product information. It then evolved into advertisements complete with graphics. The most recent step in this evolution was the creation of complete online businesses that use the Internet to promote and sell their services and goods.

Internet marketing is associated with several business models. The main models include business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). B2B consists of companies doing business with each other, whereas B2C involves selling directly to the end consumer. When Internet marketing first began, the B2C model was first to emerge. B2B transactions were more complex and came about later. A third, less common business model is people-to-people (P2P), where individuals exchange goods between themselves. An example of P2P is Napster, which is built upon individuals sharing files.