Understand how the online marketing environment is different from traditional marketing environments. At the center of the Internet is the community of users - everyone talks to everyone, but people relate to other people with similar interests. The next circle is that of free information. Built on a gift economy, the Internet offers a vast amount of free information and software. Moving outward, the next circle is subscriptions, filtering, translation tools and search engines.
People are willing to pay something to get less material that is more targeted to their interests.
The farthest circle is online transactions, where people buy merchandise online by credit card. According to Seltzer, the gravitational pull of the Internet is towards the center - toward users interacting with one another around common interests and the rich resources of free information. Don t believe those naysayers who claim that no one is making any money on the Web right now. According a recent study of online commerce by ActiveMedia entitled Trends in the World Wide Web Marketplace, commercial Web sites are earning their keep, with overall Web revenues being nearly four times expenditures for Web site development and maintenance costs . However, average sales revenues per Web site are not expected to grow significantly until after 1998.