Simple Guide For Small Businesses & Internet Marketing

Category: Blog

Written by Estevan Montoya

There are many people out there today that make thousands of dollars every days selling e-book about "selling e-books" to get rich. They make money by teaching people how to "make money". Before you through stones, please understand that I once bought into that group. Though I didn't make it big, I learned a few things about internet marketing. Though most of those people make money from half decent products, I found a few people were genuine and basically offered content for free, as they taught what they did and how they did it. Well, I'm not gonna teach about making thousands of dollars per day, but I want to help your business website take advantage of marketing online.

See, the trend today is affiliate marketing, which is a form of internet marketing. It is when you create a website with blog posts to get better ranking in search engines, and find ways to monetize your website with products that other people make and you receive a commission on the sale. There is nothing wrong with that model. In fact, in one week I made $1,000, then google shut down my campaign! That's now what I'm talking about in regard to internet marketing. I am talking about ways for a business to take their marketing online.

So, How Can I Market My Business Online?

Must Have A Good Website

This is a must for any business that wants to take advantage of the internet. I have seen GREAT "mom & pop" or "brick & mortar" businesses lose to the young vibrant competition due to a sloppy outdated website. As mentioned in our previous article "What Makes A Good Website", you need a clean and fresh look on your website. I'm not gonna take too much time here, but please take a look at your website, and compare to others in your industry. It's a lot easier to get a good website today when compared to a few years ago. With the advent of Content Management Systems, You can have a clean website in a few hours. If you are not able to make one or don't have them time, then we can help. We have full CMS based website system that is perfect for business to get a good website in a matter of a few days. Check out LEXY Sites, our affordable website system.

Submit Site To Search Engines

This the next step in getting your business online. Once you have a website, you need to get it in front of people. Why have a website that can't be found. As for where to get your website, you must get them in the following search engines: Google, Yahoo!, Bing, & DMOZ. These are the Kings of the web. Yes you can place your website on other search engines, and it does help with page rank, but those search engines are where most of your organic traffic will come from. Just in case you don't know how to submit your website to a sreach engine, we have created an article to help you submit your website to search engines.

Write Blog Posts

Once you have built a website and have submitted it to search engines, you then need to start getting content on your website. This will help your business in two ways in the online marketing realm:

Establishes You As An Authority In Your Field: When a person comes to a website that has not been updated in a while, people start to wonder in your business still exists. This is becoming more of an issue because blogs are becoming an industry standard in nearly every industry. When you have blog posts on a weekly basis, people know that your business is alive and well and that people are coming to you. As you know, people follow people, so you become a leader because they see others following your business.

You can also use your blog as method of support for your clients. You can have guides and tips for your products and services. If a person has a need, then can easily find the answer in your blog. This keeps support costs down. It also show new visitors that you know what you are doing, thus making you an authority in the industry.
Helps SEO: As you submit articles to your blog, it will eventually get crawled by the search engines. As your website grows, and people like your content, they too will link to it from their websites or social media. This helps the search engines recognize that you are an authority in your industry. This brings in more traffic, and the cycle repeats, leaving you with people that are interested in your services and products.

Just in case you don't know much about writing a blog post, I have two articles that will help you in this area: How To Write A Blog Post Part 1 and How To Write A Blog Post Part 2. Each of these articles teach about writing blogs that help your readers.

Comment On Other Blogs In Your Industry

So, you a website, it's in the search engines, you are adding content regularly, so you now have following. Why not get involved with other people in your industry? The best way is to leave comments on their blogs that have actual value. This will let them know that you are out there. It will let them know that you are interested. It will create a link back to your website. If you a relationship develops, then you have gained a partner, and have got backlinks to you website which will help your SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Pay For Traffic

This is kind of a last resort, but it should not be neglected. The reason people look down on this is because if the previous tools are implemented, then you should start getting organic/natural traffic in a few months. My question is, do you sit around and wait until you start ranking in the search engines? Well, I don't want to wait to see if I rank well? What if I don't rank well or what if that particular market is competitive? There are many places to advertise online, such as google adwords and the other search engines as well. One thing to consider is that you want to advertise for your local market if your business is bound by your location. What good is it for someone to click your link in New York when your business is based in California? You wasted a click. So study your demographics and advertise in places where your services are maintainable. To learn more about SEO and PPC, read one of our previous articles here.