What makes a good online marketing strategy

Web marketing is a constantly evolving discipline and never has this been more obvious than now with the rise of social media and user generated content. I've worked in the online marketing/SEO industry for more than 7 years now and I still learn something new every day.
I worked on the online marketing strategy for my company the other day and thought I'd share what I think are fundamentals in any good strategy:

Search engine marketing

• Search engine optimisation:
  - on the page (metadata, content, alt tags, H tags, internal linking, keyword density, technical analysis) never forget that content is king!
  - off the page (link building, link baiting)
• Social media strategy:
  - Blogs/ forums
  - RSS feeds, social bookmarks, content aggregation sites
  - Social networking / microblogging (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn....)
  - Online reputation management
  
• Paid search:
  - Pay per click campaigns (Adwords, Yahoo search marketing, MSN)

Email marketing / Advertising

• internal campaigns for retention (existing customers, prospects/leads, lifecycle emails)
• Display advertising for acquisition (banners, sponsored emails, solus emails/3rd party emails)
• List rental for acquisition (targeted emails to key decision makers/ key sectors)

Web development

• Usability / User experience
• Copywriting
• Regular design review
• other business relevant projects (product launches, special offers....)
• Technical infrastructure
  

All of the above elements will only be effective if used in an integrated manner and as part of an overall marketing strategy.
And of course, I cannot finish this post without mentioning web analytics, the key to success for any marketeer! The strategy has to be implemented based on measurable business objectives and targets.
Well, that was a long post so hopefully somebody will read it and maybe benefit from it. Contact me if you would like to know more, I'm always happy to help.

Is Google's monopoly making life easier for internet marketers?

I was thinking this morning (yes, it happens!)...is Google's monopoly on the SE market such a bad thing? I've got to admit that it is sometimes frustrating as an online marketer to have only one point of reference for SEO, Google! That means that if you dont get your optimisation right, you could be missing out on 90% of potential traffic and business on your website.
However, from a reporting/tracking standpoint, this supremacy makes life a whole lot easier. I'm quite keen on web analytics, and I've got to say that having google as a benchmark for all marketing activities allows you to focus more.
This of course doesn't mean that you should neglect the other SE players such as Yahoo, Live (now Bing), Ask and others, as genuine business may come out of them, but Google always leads the way. I dont know of any business owner who would complain for his website not doing well in Yahoo...however, not seeing a website on the first SERP in google is a major drama in many companies.
I still hope though that the times when you had to understand several search engine algorithms come back as it would secure our jobs!

A new Wave

Yes, you've guessed it, we're talking about Google Wave...
and yes, Google has done it again. how do they manage to generate so much buzz each time they launch a new product? Reminds me of Apple each time they launch a new gadget. Let's hope they don't disappoint and give us something that can be useful in an online marketing environment