Small Business Matters: Five Steps to Marketing Online

Grow Your Business Through the Internet

Ben Straley
Principal, Spring Creek Group
www.springcreekgroup.com/

The Web is a relatively new marketing channel, and many small business owners believe that it is simply too complex or costly to manage. There are, however, several simple things that you can do to build a successful online marketing program.

Step One: Improve Your Web Site-Your Web site is the first exposure that many people have to your business. With this in mind, think about what you want your Web site to do. Do you just want to provide a general overview of your company? List contact information? Enable your customers to purchase products or services? Your Web site design and text should support your goals. Wholesale businesses should provide product and contact information. Retailers should provide their locations or allow direct sales through their sites.

Step Two: Get Discovered-Some 80% of all Web site visits start with a search using one of the major engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Search engine optimization (SEO) can help make your site more discoverable-by the search engines and, subsequently, by potential customers. There are three basic factors that boost your site's visibility in search engine results:

Relevant content in your site text
A simple and easy-to-navigate Web site
A large number of Web sites linking to your site

Step Three: Get People to Visit Your Site-The basic methods to encourage people to visit your site are as follows:

Search engine marketing (SEM)-Advertise next to search results with Google AdWords, Microsoft® adCenter, or Yahoo! Search Marketing services.
Display advertising-Build graphical advertisements for your business and display them across many Web sites using an advertising network (e.g., MSN).
E-mail-Communicate regularly with current and potential customers and utilize one of the many low-cost e-mail marketing services providers.

Step Four: Get People to Take Action-Decide what you want visitors to do on your site (e.g., completing a form, making a reservation, or purchasing a product), and then make it easy for people to do it. Focus on exclusive offers or promotions to motivate people to act.

Step Five: Measure, Test, Repeat-Track which efforts are yielding the most leads or sales online and which are not paying off. Sign up for a free Google Analytics account and review reports on your Web site's traffic, visitors, popular pages, and sales. Refine your ongoing Internet marketing efforts by investing more in activities that yield profitable new customers and less in those that cost you more than they produce in incremental profits.

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