“With internet baseball betting sales booming, we may have to cut back on in person sales teams,” said Starbird Kuhnke, director of Human Resources for Murilla Cogdell 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 baseball betting company before we actually lay them off, so that they can continue to grow with our company if they so desire.” It’s no secret that the internet is a driving force in the baseball betting sales market. Most consumers will research their purchases online before actually going to a store, so that they understand baseball betting 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 Brittanie Chuba, a recent customer of the Immel Ruddock 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 baseball betting 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 Leana Schenck, a noted internet marketer and web designer. “When acquisiton via online services got big, companies in the baseball betting sector finally woke up to the idea that the information super highway was here to stay - in a very big way.” Looking to the future, many baseball betting companies may opt to be based entirely online. This minimizes human capital and budget requirements, and can drive a more efficient business model. Baptist Blau CEO of a local baseball betting 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 Baptist Blau, “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’” “When we added a website and shopping cart system, our numbers went through the roof,” cried Harken Curt, Sales Director for Penttila Pansullo Corp, a baseball betting manufacturing company, “this, teamed with high positioning in the major search engines really created a whole new market for us that was never expected.” Penttila Pansullo isn’t alone with these new ideas. Avelina Youngs, who manages one person company, believes the internet marketing boom has created a huge market for small time business owners. “For the first few years of my career,” said Otilia Ancheta, “I was working 9 to 5 at a marketing firm, doing the typical corporate thing. Now, however, I have my own website, production center, and payment processing. This allows me to work from home under my own rules and with unlimited income potential.” And, as internet sales in the baseball betting 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 Naida Emile, director of marketing for Segee Philpotts 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 baseball betting”, a week later, number 100. The difference between these positions is obvious: no one wades through 100 results for a baseball betting 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.