When Digital Marketing Started

You can reach a wider audience in a shorter period of time. You are able to target your audience, ensuring you reach the right people, while technological advances have made it easier to reach your audience across multiple devices.

When Digital Marketing Started

The term “digital marketing” was used for the very first time in the 1990s. The digital age started to soar with the introduction of the internet and the development of Web 1.0 platform, which allowed users to find information. At the time you were not able to share the information you found. Marketers were unsure on whether digital marketing was going to be a success, or that their strategies would achieve results. 

The first clickable banner went live in 1993. HotWired bought a number of banner ads for their advertising, being the beginning of the digital era in marketing. It wasn't a quick shift, in fact it was very gradual, though by 1994 new technologies were entering the marketplace. Yahoo was also launched in 1993.

Yahoo receive almost one million hits in their first year, changing more people to focus on digital marketing. Companies started optimising their websites, helping them improve in rankings. In 1996, more search engines were introduced, including LookSmart and Alexa.

Google and Microsoft are Launched

Google and Microsoft launched in 1998. Microsoft launched MSN search engine, while Yahoo introduced Yahoo web search to the market. Two years later, smaller search engines had fallen by the wayside, leaving room for the giants to grow. The digital marketing world saw a surge in demand in 2006, where search engine traffic grew to close to 6.4 billion searches in one month. At the same time, MSN launched Live Search, competing with Yahoo and Google, leading MSN on the back burner.

Web 2.0 was introduced, which saw people becoming more active participants. It enabled users to interact with others, along with interacting with businesses. Channels used by digital marketers started growing. In 2004 digital marketing and advertising brought in close to $3 billion.

Social Networking Joins

Social networking sites started emerging, such as MySpace, which was the first social networking site, followed by Facebook. Companies saw these sites as opportunities to marketing their products and services. It provided fresh opportunities for businesses.

Conclusion

Digital marketing has been around for close to thirty four years. Over this time it has evolved exponentially. Today, digital marketing is something every business should focus on to reach their target audience, drive quality traffic to their website, and improve their conversion rates.