Small Business Marketing on the Internet

June 3rd, 2008 by

Getting found on the Internet is one of the most cost effective mechanisms for finding new business, yet many business owners don’t have the time to figure it all out or the budget to hire someone to do it for them. Using the Internet to market your business has its complexities like all marketing strategies, but understanding the basics can go a long way towards having new customers find you when they are in need of your services.

There are two valuable avenues available for marketing on the Internet – Internet marketing and social media marketing. These are two different, but very related and overlapping strategies.

Internet marketing is using online media to execute more traditional marketing techniques such as advertising, direct marketing, and public relations. Social media marketing uses the Internet to create relationships via conversations, networking and word of mouth marketing techniques. One could say that Internet marketing uses “push” marketing and social media marketing uses “pull”.

Using the Internet to Get Clients

To start down the path of Internet marketing for your business, you need to understand what you want to accomplish with marketing on the Internet. Just like all other marketing programs, before you decide that you want to “do” Internet marketing, you need a plan. And, like any marketing program, if not planned properly, you can spend a lot of money with little result. Figure out what you want to accomplish with Internet marketing and if your target audience is using the Web to find the services you offer.

The following simple diagram gives you a roadmap to help you implement these strategies without becoming overwhelmed.

Small Business Internet Marketing

Develop Your Web Presence

The first thing to do is to invest in a good web site or blog optimized for search engines. You may be thinking, “Well duh”, but I still speak with many business owners who really don’t have a web property of any kind. And if they do, their web site was created by a friend and has not been touched for a few years. The following tips will help you get started:

  • Regardless of whether you choose a web site or a blog, consider having it created in WordPress. In the past year, I have been converting the web sites of most of my clients to WordPress. Even if they don’t need a blog right now, they still have a flexible site where they can manage the content for themselves. In a very timely post, Shama Hyder lists the top 10 reasons for using WordPress for your web site.
  • Get a great design that is easy to navigate and consistent with your brand.
  • Build your web site and continue to work the content so that it reaches your ideal clients with the precise message that resonates with them.
  • Write regularly on your blog with content that appeals to your target audience. A blog without regular posts lose its readers quickly.
  • Purchase the domain name for your company name and your personal name. You will take control of your complete online reputation. Both domains can be pointed to the same site or blog initially. Matt Dickman has a post on Owning Your Digital Identity that suggests you not only get your domain name, but secure your ID as soon as possible for all social media sites now.

These are only basic tips to get started. If you are not sure how to proceed, get help from someone who understands this space and can mentor you through the process. In addition, this is only the first in a series of posts about marketing your business using the Internet. There’s a lot more coming in future posts that cover many of the topics in the diagram.

Posted in Small Business Marketing | Permalink | 8 Comments »
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  • http://epurplemedia.blogspot.com/ Epurplemedia – online marketing news

    In todays era internet marketing is the best way to promote your business and build your brand. Many top industries jumped into this field like microsoft etc

  • http://www.oms3.com/ george

    Very informative blog. The picture alone only resembles the tactics in the search engine.

  • http://curtisbingham.com Curtis N. Bingham

    Debra,
    Nice post! I’m very comfortable with the left side of your diagram and am just getting started on the right side. I’d love to see future blog posts on how best to use social network profiles to drive a personal brand.

  • http://insidemarketing.blogspot.com Blaz Banic

    Great post!

    Creating and maintaining relationships with your (potential) clients is getting more and more important in today’s business world. It’s important to get your picture (or company logo) associated with consistent high quality and feelings of trust and desire for your products/services.

    This is something that most Internet marketers still forget nowadays and thus miss on a huge flood of traffic as well as high conversions.

    On another note, interestingly enough, I’ve had much more success with SEO by using Blogger blogs over WordPress. For some reason Google loves my Blogger blogs and not so much my WordPress blogs even though I use them in the same niche with similar high-quality unique articles…

    Again, a very nice article.

    Take care.

  • http://technomarketer.typepad.com Matt Dickman

    Debra — I’m glad you liked the post on owning your identity. I appreciate the diagram that you put together as well as the list of how to get up and running. It puts tactics into perspective and shows how they should impact the bottom line in the end.

  • http://masterful-marketing.com Debra

    Wow – thanks for the lively comments everyone.

    Lalita – very true. Small businesses can do very well with a quality Internet marketing plan that develops their personal brand and attracts their ideal clients.

    George – I’m not sure what you mean by “The picture alone only resembles the tactics in the search engine.” There’s lots of marketing activity that goes along with each of the tactics listed.

    Curtis – glad you have the Internet marketing side of it in your marketing plan. The social media side is missing from a lot of plans I would suspect. These posts will be coming.

    Blaz – agreed. Internet marketers need to understand how to integrate social media into their plans. When you’ve built a reputation on quality and trust, your Internet marketing activities get that much easier!

    Matt – Thanks. I had the post written and was purusing my feeds when I saw your timely post. I had the domain part in but you reminded me of the social media IDs.

  • Pingback: Small Business Internet Marketing - Part 2 | Masterful Marketing: 8 Steps to Marketing Success

  • http://www.christine.biz Christine

    Great graph. Now in 2011…you can add Teleseminars and Webinars to it!