Today's businesses are faced with endless options for executing an online marketing campaign. Business owners have to place a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure their marketing campaign doesn't result in over inflated budgets and nonperforming strategies. The online arena of marketing, unlike other media outlets, have tons of cheap and quick marketing tools that could tempt business owners on a shoe-string to use untested strategies without a formal plan. The seemingly low-cost options could eventually lead to unexpected budget problems.

The best way is to incorporate a specialized plan into a traditional marketing plan. This is called an online or Internet marketing plan. Like a typical marketing plan, an online marketing plan is meant to formalize a business owner's planned efforts of positioning his product or service in a specific business environment. In addition, an online marketing plan may include estimated marketing costs and how various marketing tools that will be used. Unlike a traditional marketing plan, an online marketing plan specifically deals with the unique problems of the Internet and the various marketing methods available online. An Internet marketing plan can exist within a complete marketing plan.

Below are key sections to include in your online marketing plan. Although this covers most important sections, you may find as you grow, you need to include additional sections.

• Objective - What is your site meant to accomplish? You can have several objectives but for the sake of simplicity try narrowing your list and make sure you prioritize and plan accordingly.

• Strategy - What do customers need to know before purchasing? What sort of features will include on your site to exceed visitors' expectations?

• Pricing Policy - Be sure to conduct solid research regarding your product pricing. Compare to other sites that offer similar products or services. Include details regarding shipping and handling. Be sure to state how you derived at your final price.

• Submissions/Linking - What sites will you link to? How will you manage an affiliate program? How will you maintain your listing on top search engines? Will you submit free versions or products to community web sites for increased visibility? List all pertinent information, including e-mail and web addresses of your link network.

• Reports - How will your track your ad performance and profile your customers? List the type of technology you will use and exactly what information it collects. You can also describe how this information will impact future decisions.

• Ordering - What system will you use to allow for ordering on your site? Describe the process and the benefits of using the system you've chosen. Include any links to any companies that facilitates your ability to process orders such as merchant account providers and banks.

• Security - What security system will you use to protect your customers' information? Include what statement you will place on your site to notify your customers of your security precautions.

• Capture Contact Information - How will you obtain contact information from people visiting you site? Include any incentives you will offer to persuade people to log on to your site.

• Content - What useful information can you provide your visitors to ensure their return? List any sources for free articles, downloads you'll provide, links, and other information.

• Maintenance - Avoid making superfluous changes. Improve your site by listening to your visitors and reviewing sites statistics. List what technology you have in place to facilitate basic changes.

• Action Items - List all the steps you must take in order to execute your online marketing plan.

The key to a successful online marketing plan is consistency coupled with an organized and targeted plan. Evaluating your online marketing strategies now will save you time and money in the long run. Once you have everything written out use the action item section to execute you plan over an established period of time for maximum results.