It’s no secret that the internet is a driving force in the gaming and sports sales market. Most consumers will research their purchases online before actually going to a store, so that they understand gaming and sports product specs and use requirements before having to deal with a live salesperson. “I prefer to take my time and read about it all online first,” said Glish Pitassi, a recent customer of the Batten Abalos Chain Outlets, “I’m not a high pressure sales type, and rather just go to the store and check out sas soon as possible.” Without a doubt, in the pre-internet marketing days, most gaming and sports resellers only used the internet as a means to communicate via email with current customers. “Things in the industry really turned a corner when people began to acquire, not maintain customers online,” said Elise Schexnayder, a noted internet marketer and web designer. “When acquisiton via online services got big, companies in the gaming and sports sector finally woke up to the idea that the information super highway was here to stay - in a very big way.” “With internet gaming and sports sales booming, we may have to cut back on in person sales teams,” said Theroux Swagger, director of Human Resources for Shirley Lamana INC, “mainly because we are losing money in that operational area. As we move forward, we’ll give those employees new job opportunities in our gaming and sports company before we actually lay them off, so that they can continue to grow with our company if they so desire.” Looking to the future, many gaming and sports companies may opt to be based entirely online. This minimizes human capital and budget requirements, and can drive a more efficient business model. Stadel Geddings CEO of a local gaming and sports company, has already pledged to do this, with a major shift in the business planned in the next 6 months. “I forsee us going entirely online,” said Stadel Geddings, “because people hardly come to our stores in person anymore. As a result, why should we keep these facilities open if we can do just as well online’” “After starting an internet gaming and sports sales division in 2003, we saw our sales increase three-fold,” said Kyla Kilgour, director of marketing and sales for Wilma Holbrooks and Devane Seiber Associates, “and this resulted in the creation of more jobs and employment opportunities in our company. Our number of employees has doubled, and our number of IT staff has quadrupled in a year’s time.” And, as internet sales in the gaming and sports industry explode, parallel growth is being noted in the internet marketing field, particularly search engine and affiliate marketing. “Search engines and affiliates have doubled our numbers,” said Garmany Priestley, director of marketing for Corina Neonakis INC., “and where there was once one or two big internet marketing firms, now there are well over ten in our industry. This growth speaks to the power of the information super high way.” Marketing online, however, is not as easy as it looks. Thousands of websites compete for top positioning in the search engines, and, as search algorithms change and top search engines create new market areas, some websites can lose out. One day, you might be number one for “buy gaming and sports”, a week later, number 100. The difference between these positions is obvious: no one wades through 100 results for a gaming and sports product unless the first 99 are extremely poor. In general, most competitive industries online rely on top 10 placement, because of the reality of how web surfers behave. “When we added a website and shopping cart system, our numbers went through the roof,” cried Avelina Youngs, Sales Director for Bunny Lyken Corp, a gaming and sports manufacturing company, “this, teamed with high positioning in the major search engines really created a whole new market for us that was never expected.”