Get an Online Presence

With the surge of businesses having their own Web sites, now is the time to consider putting your own business online.  It can be a relatively inexpensive way of reaching a mass market while at the same time, becoming an effective marketing tool. 

A web site alone will not create customers.  However, you can direct the potential customer to go to your web site for more information or to purchase your products or services.  To accomplish this you need to develop a marketing and sales promotion plan.  This might include presentations to selected groups, running an advertisement in selected publications and distributing printed advertising material.

Did you know that online purchasing has increased by 66% in Australia in recent years – according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/acc2d18cc958bc7bca2568a9001393ae?OpenDocument
moreover, in 2005-06, 60% of Australian households had home Internet access and 70% had access to a home computer.  Is your small business cashing in on this lucrative and rapidly expanding market?

No matter how scary the Internet may seem, as a small business owner you cannot afford to ignore this important medium, which is changing the way we do business forever.  It's no wonder that more and more small businesses are looking at ways that they can take advantage of this huge opportunity to increase sales and profitability.  What you need is accurate and practical advice on how your business can take advantage of what the Internet has to offer.

If you are not already marketing your business online, it is time to start.  Although there are a few exceptions, just about every business can benefit from online marketing.  There are just so many advantages to this type of marketing.  First, it is extremely affordable to market your business online.  Other advantages to marketing your business online include the ability to reach a large target audience, the ability to reach potential customers all over the world and the ability to customize the marketing for different sectors of the target audience.

The affordability of Internet marketing is one of many reasons why business owners are turning to the Internet for advertising.  Advertising online is incredibly affordable especially when you consider how many potential customers a business owner can reach with an online marketing campaign.  Most methods of online advertising are quite affordable and some of them do not have any direct costs.  For example, you may choose to market your business online by posting links to your website whenever it is appropriate to do so.  In this case, the cost of creating and maintaining the website is insignificant in comparison to the number of potential clients you could reach through online marketing.  Additionally, the costs associated with posting links to your website are incidental.  You could consider the cost of having access to the Internet as part of the cost but you most likely require Internet access for other reasons as well, so it is completely worthwhile.

Reaching a large target audience is another very worthwhile reason for marketing your business online.  You may have spent a great deal of time and energy doing market research and determine who your target audience is.  You may have also spent a great deal of time trying to figure out the best way to reach this audience.  This is a very sound marketing principle but as it applies to marketing on local television, radio and print media, it only allows you to reach a limited audience.  However, when you take your marketing to the Internet you automatically drastically increase your potential target audience because you now have the ability to reach members of your target audience around the world.

This ability to reach customers around the world is another major advantage to marketing your business online.  Regardless of where you live and operate your business, you have the ability to reach those who have an interest in the products you sell or the services you provide no matter where they live.  This makes it possible for you to do business with customers around the world.

Likewise, the fact that the Internet is available 24 hours a day is also very beneficial to those who choose to market their products or services online.  Shopping for products and services in person can be very difficult especially for individuals who work long hours or those who work unusual hours.  These working conditions make it difficult for these individuals to do business and make purchases of products and services they need during regular business hours.  However, business owners who have an online presence are much more convenient because unlike stores and call centres, your website never closes.  This convenience gives potential customers the ability to view products and services, compare these products and service to the ones offered by competitors and make a purchase at any hour of any day.

If you are a business owner and you do not already have a b online presence, you need to immediately start learning more about the world of Internet marketing.  This is so important because if your competitors are marketing online, you may find they are gaining a steady advantage and are becoming more appealing to potential customers.  Before too many of your potential customers become loyal customers of the competition, it is time to start figuring out how you can market your business online and keep up with the competition. 

Ideas for Your Web Site

• Have a web site: Use the web site to market your products to potential customers.
• Choose a simple URL that is easy to recall.  Having a good domain name is one of the key ingredients to promoting your products online.  Your domain name should reflect your identity and make it easier for customers to understand the products or services that you sell.  The name should also be simple to spell and recall.
• Search Engine Optimization of your web site: Web sites can be optimized to rank higher in Search Engines using SEO techniques, so that your site is found when a potential customer is looking for your product or service.
• Offline marketing of your web site: Place your website's URL address on all your printed business literature, business cards, brochures, newsletters, letterhead, invoices, ads, etc.  Use E-mail marketing: Email is an effective and economical tool that can be used to promote your products and services over the Internet.  Unlike other types of marketing, customers can be targeted immediately and cost-effectively.  Email ID’s of potential customers can be recorded to announce special deals.  Recipients are often persuaded to forward these emails, a technique called word of mouth or viral marketing.  Emails are also being used to enhance customer service thereby building ber bonds with customers.
• Use Internet Advertising or Pay Per Click ads: Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet marketing method used in advertising networks, websites and search engines.  PPC ads are commonly found advertisements found in the search results page of a search engine.  The advertiser has to pay a small sum when the ad is clicked.  A successful PPC search engine campaign involves multiple tasks such as selecting the most cost-effective keyword phrases, selecting the best PPC programs, writing effective ads, designing and writing effective landing pages.
• Banner ads: Banner advertising is done by identifying web sites that are likely to be visited by the target audience and placing your ad in them.  The purpose of the banner ad is to drive traffic to a particular website by connecting them to the advertiser’s web site.  The banner ad is shown when a web page refers to the banner during a search.  Web banners, much like traditional commercials are designed to educate buyers about products or services and how they are better than those of the competitors.  However, web banners cannot be monitored real time and are not specifically directed at a viewer's interests.

Search Engines

Google is a powerful search engine and has a bhold on the Internet market.  Therefore, many Internet business entrepreneurs look to Google for help in promoting their Internet business.  Google has several features that can be used to your advantage including a Google AdWords Campaign http://adwords.google.com.au/select/Login and increasing your placement in the Google search engine results. 

A Google Adwords campaign is easy to setup.  The key is to set up your Google AdWords account and advertisements properly in order to garner impressions and clicks on your advertisements.  The advertisements you run in your Google AdWords campaign need to be tested and tweaked on a daily or weekly basis. 

Another Google feature is placement in their search engine listings.  One way to improve your placement on the Google search engine results is to link with WebPages that have a high Google page rank.  A webpage with a high Google page rank will have several back links. 

Strive to find a website that has a high number of back links, but not just any back links.  The back links should be to websites that are indexed in Google.  If the back link is not indexed in Google then you will not receive credit for the link.  Google will not recognize the link as being valuable.  Remember, Google looks for valuable back links and the more you have, the higher your placement in the Google search engine results. 

Google also has a great program that can help you track your websites.  The program is called “Google Analytics” at http://www.google.com/analytics Google Analytics is powerful, free, and provides a wealth of information and parameters.  An added bonus is that is easy to set up.