Getting your small, local business found on the world wide web can be a challenge, and most small business owners jut don t have the time to research what works, or the money to pay someone else to figure it out for them.
To get you started, here are five techniques you can use today to start seeing results tomorrow.
Blogging. Simply buy a domain name, secure a hosting service, and install Wordpress. For less than $20 and an hour of your time, you can get a blog up and running.
Why blogging works: Google (and other search engines) loves fresh content. If you re choice is between a static catalog type page and a blog, go with a blog every time. The more you update, the more Google will crawl your site, and the more Google crawls your site, the easier it will be for potential customers to find your site and your business.
Pay Per Click advertising. If you want to guarantee search engine placement, pay per click is the way to go. Those results that show at the very top of the search results page in Google? Those are paid for by businesses just like yours who don t want to wait for their rankings to rise naturally. By bidding on certain keywords, they essentially are buying placement in the search results.
Why pay per click works: The average Internet user doesn t distinguish between paid results and natural results. If the link matches her inquiry, she will follow it, regardless of how it got there.
Forum posting. Forum posting is about helping your potential customers with their problems. Simply join the conversation on relevant forums and provide thoughtful advice, and you ll find clients following you back to your site to see what else you have to say about the subject.
Why forum posting works: People like to do business with people, not corporations. By offering advice on forums, you are reminding customers that there is a real person behind your small business.
Article marketing. Article marketing is the placement of useful, relevant articles in article directories across the web. It s another way of getting your business in front of potential customers, again by offering advice they are looking for.
Why article marketing works: The purpose of article marketing is twofold. First, article directories likely rank higher in search results than your company s site, making it easier to get your name in front of potential customers. Second, article marketing produces valuable back links to your company s site, which improves your own search engine ranking.
Banner advertisements. Banner advertisements are those graphic ads you see all over the web. They can be nearly any size, but most typical are 125 x 125 pixels, 468 x 60 pixels, or 160 x 600 pixels. Typically, merchants pay advertising networks to place banner ads on websites, rather than dealing directly with site owners.
Why banner advertising works: People rarely click banner ads, and when they do, they generally don t buy. So why bother? Brand recognition. If you own a florist shop on a street full of florists, how do you get people to stop in your shop instead of your neighbor s? By getting your brand in front of them. They might not click on your ad on the Internet, but they will recognize your shop if they ve seen it on line, and they will choose the shop they recognize over the one they don t every time.
Author Resource:
Getting noticed on line doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. At http://InAreaCode.com , we take care of all the details of Small Business Internet Advertising so you can get on with the business of running your business.
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