Building a Small Business Website
Even if your business is run completely from a store front and doesn’t handle any operations online, a website is a very important tool for easy and effective marketing. You can add your site to local business directories to be easily found by new customers and you can put your web address on business cards and brochures to give potential clients an easy way to look up more information. Here’s a great video on how to build a small business website from how2buildawebsite.com.
Enjoy:
Video: How to Build a Small Business Website
Real Article Marketing for Small Business
Real Article Marketing
In the world of online marketing, there are a number of internet marketing tips that companies are employing to drive more web traffic. One of the most popular is article marketing. Marketers post thousands of articles to blogs and websites across the internet and include links back to the site they are trying to grow. This practice tends to litter the internet with worthless redundancy because the articles are usually just reworded copies of one original message (writing thousands of articles would be cost prohibitive but identical articles could get deleted or blocked).
This kind of article marketing is essentially a trick to make it appear that your website has gotten more incoming links than it really has. Google views links from other sites as an indication that your site is relevant to other users but these articles are anything but relevant. There is, however, a way to legitimately increase your web traffic with articles. We’ll call this “real article marketing.”
Article Marketing the Right Way
Real article marketing is based on posting to blogs and website with articles that actually add value to the site and provide readers with useful information. Not only will they appreciate the article and start to view you as an authority in your field, they will also be more likely to actually click your link and become part of your new web traffic. This is in addition to the credit Google will give you for an incoming link, which in this case is actually a sign of being useful to users.
If you aren’t comfortable writing your own articles – or if you just don’t have time to do it yourself – you can outsource this work to freelance writers. Just remember that you get what you pay for. Most low pay writers write poor quality articles which require you to proofread and edit. Once you build a relationship with a quality writer, you can post new articles on a regular basis and start to grow genuine web traffic based on real people who appreciate your expertise.
Small Business Social Media to Grow a Real Customer Base
Using Social Media to Grow a Real Customer Base
Thousands of small businesses and organizations are realizing that the internet is the best way to reach new prospects and keep in touch with their existing client base. Not only are they using traditional websites to promote themselves, they are starting to delve into social media channels like blogs, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. These online communities can be a great way to market yourself and communicate to your followers, but, like any tool, there is a right and wrong way to use social media.
Social Media Mistakes to Avoid
One of the easiest social media mistakes to make is getting too casual in your approach and failing to communicate. In a world of text messages, tweets and thread comments, not everything is communicated clearly. These sites become one big message scrawled on a paper airplane and thrown across the room. Sure, we can send our words to someone, but do we effectively communicate our message?
Because these social media sites are so informal, many people ignore spelling, punctuation and grammar entirely. This is fine for a message to your friends – until we all forget how to spell completely – but it sends the wrong message for a business. There is a fine line between casual and sloppy. The key is to find a friendly tone while still sending your message in a way that reflects well on your image.
The other mistake that seems most common is using social media only for blatant advertising. Many small businesses are tempted to do this because it’s an opportunity for free marketing. Of course, free advertising doesn’t pay off if it alienates your customers and that’s what happens when you make this mistake. People visit social media sites to meet people, share interests and see what’s new on topics they care about. If your Youtube channel, Facebook page or Twitter feed is filled with you trying to sell something, people will go elsewhere.
Social Media Success
The trick to success in social media is building relationships. It can become a great branding tool that builds customers’ loyalty and makes them feel more connected with your company and product. This is a huge benefit, even if you never market a single product through these sites.
Some of the best uses of social media for relationship building include contests and events that are available online for followers of your social media and offering specials and coupons to people who follow you. These specials make people feel like part of something and that promotes more purchases from your company. You can also benefit from videos, stories and short articles that share your company’s personality and show how you are actively engaging your community and customers outside of store walls. These kinds of stories tap into the human element that brings people to social media sites in the first place.
Small Business Marketing Basics -Online Marketing
For a small business or large corporation, diversity on the web is key to a successful business. Market yourself on your own website, various blogs, social networking sites and any other outlet you can find. Also, cross reference things like your company’s website and your company’s Facebook page. This will increase your web traffic and your business, overall.
Have a website! This may seem like the most obvious idea on the planet, but there are some small businesses that attempt to market online without ever setting one up. Even if you only sell your products in-store, internet marketing is best successful when you have a website. You can use it to tell people what you do sell in your company, and entice them into visiting you in person.
To best market your small business on the Internet, be sure you have a plan of action first. Why have you set up your website? What goals should it help you achieve? Be clear about what you hope to achieve and how you plan to achieve it, and have a way to keep track of your progress towards your goals.
Make sure to evaluate the content of your website. Know what your website says, what the goals of the site are, and get a gauge on how useful the content is. A well-defined site is sure to attract more traffic. Increased traffic is key to maintaining a successful site.
If you have compiled a list of email addresses and profiles for your customers, ensure your customers that you will keep their information private. Customers dislike any businesses that resell their personal information to a third party. When your customers trust that you will keep their information private, they will remain loyal.
Using the Internet to Market Your Small Business
The new world of online business has pros and cons for people looking to start their own small business. On one hand, there is a huge amount of competition and a lot of noise that makes it hard for consumers to find your business. On the other hand, there are thousands of tools that are available to make your small business run more like a big company without losing the personal touch.
Finding New Customers
One of the biggest benefits of using the internet for your small business is the ability to communicate to your potential customers and make it easy for them to find you. The majority of people in our society report using the internet to find and research products and services before they make a purchase. That means that you have the opportunity to use inexpensive or even free marketing methods to reach people. It also means that you’ll be targeting customers who are actively looking for you and ready to buy rather than marketing to everyone and trying to warm them up to your offer.
Free Marketing
Some examples of free marketing include writing articles, blogging, sharing links with other businesses and joining directories like Google Places and Yahoo Local. Most of these will take some time and effort from you but that can be an advantage. Many companies are unwilling to take the time and choose to spend more money on marketing instead. This can leave you with a clear playing field to get your prospects attention.
E-Commerce
Another way you can take advantage of the internet is to actually do business online. The tools are available to take orders, accept credit card payments and conduct most of your business transactions over the internet, as long as your type of business can be done this way. Many consumers are more willing to buy this way because it’s fast, easy and convenient.
If you make proper use of the internet for your venture, you can spend less on marketing and operations and earn more new business. A little time investment can go a long way toward improving your bottom line. For small businesses, the internet is a win-win.