I've been active in Internet marketing since 1996, including working with several businesses that acquire customers solely over the Web. Not long ago, while assisting a client who markets specifically to seniors, I had the biggest surprise of my life!

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Selling to the over-65 market has traditionally involved print, direct mail and TV as primary media. Everyone kept telling me, "seniors are a very small market on the Internet and besides, they're not surfing and buying products." Convinced by those words of wisdom, I decided to promote their business in the traditional manner.

LAUNCHING A ROCKET
Six months into the campaign the acquisition costs were running triple our projections. Discouraged, we decided to give the Internet a try - "why not, we've tried everything else." I created the Web site's keywords, titles, and descriptions, and placed them to ensure the top three listings on Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, and other popular search engines. Within a few hours of our listings going live, the phone calls and e-mail inquiries were rocking like never before. Our client closed more business in the first two weeks of this campaign then they had in the previous three months combined! More than a year later, this momentum continues, unabated.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
When something appears too good to be true, you naturally assume that it isn't! After the first month of Internet marketing, we evaluated the number of new acquisitions and the cost to acquire each - and we were stunned! So we figured that it couldn't continue - it was simply a quirk, a random aberration. We rationalized that the costs would eventually rise to a level compatible with traditional media. Wrong again. It has been more than a year since we launched this astonishing Internet marketing campaign, and I'm happy to report that none of our old hypotheses have materialized. The number of acquisitions per month has steadily increased while our cost per acquisition has progressively decreased. Sometimes it's nice to miss your mark by a mile!

THE REST IS HISTORY
Not surprisingly, our client has significantly scaled up their Internet advertising. Now we know that seniors are one of the fastest growing segments on the Web. According to Jupiter Research, the online population for the over-65 demographic segment was estimated at 4.4 million in 2001, 6.1 million in 2002, 7.6 million in 2003, and is expected to surge to 16.3 million by 2007. Seniors are a substantial -- and profitable -- market. They are surfing, buying and using e-mail extensively, and I have the numbers to prove it! Now, when people ask me if seniors are really buying on the Internet, I just smile :).

MINING THE GOLD
Our success is being replicated throughout the Internet, although it is still the best-kept secret in most segments. But today there is an opening - just a crack - and a few entrepreneurs are beginning to take advantage of it. Many early entrants are using their head start position to "lock up territory" and secure their future. These visionaries know that the gold rush will not last forever. When the initial scrambling is over, they'll own the mines and will be cashing on the gold for years to come.

Neal Lebar answers Internet Marketing and Pay-Per-Click Questions: Click Here For Free Answer