Internet marketing for small business can be a complicated and expensive endeavor. I’ll simplify it for you today.
You can get all the customers you need right online, if you know where and how to get them. I’d like to show you a simple formula for doing that effectively and inexpensively.
The sad fact is, most small business owners have no idea where to even start when it comes to marketing on the Internet. That’s because most small businesses do not have a marketing department or even a marketing manager at their disposal.
They are basically winging it.
They know they need to promote their business online but they are so overwhelmed by the prospect that they usually suffer paralysis by analysis and end up doing little to nothing.
But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here is the basic formula you need to follow if you want to get more customers from the Internet, and turn those customers into more revenue for your business:
PPC Advertising + Website Traffic + Email List Building + Social Media = $$
Did you follow that? If not, don’t worry. It is easier than it looks. Here’s a breakdown…
PPC Advertising stands for Pay Per Click. You can get this advertising pretty inexpensively via Google Adwords or Microsoft Bing Search Ads. I suggest you start with Google as they have the highest traffic of all search engines.
You’ve probably received a postcard or two in the mail from Google offering you free advertising. This is a great way to test the waters without spending much money. Setting up a Google Adwords campaign is easier than it sounds and they offer lots of tools to make it as painless a process as possible.
If your business is a local business serving clients in a specific geographic region, Google lets you target a certain area in and around your business location with your ads. That way you are not wasting money showing ads to people outside your area. Advertising online doesn’t get any more targeted that that!
If you want some tips on Adwords, you can ask a question below and I’ll be happy to help. I’ve set up Adwords campaigns for local clients that have brought them thousands of dollars in revenue within days.
Once you have your PPC campaign set up you’ll start generating website traffic. What you do with that traffic is the key to successful Internet marketing. Naturally you want your website to show info about your location, your best reviews, your products and services and gift card sales.
But the real secret to success is using your website traffic for email list building. Building an email list is almost always something the average small business owner overlooks in their business. Yet it is the biggest income booster you’ll ever experience.
Remember the days when small businesses used to spend thousands a month in yellow page ads and postcard mailing? Well email list marketing is 10X more effective than those strategies combined, and it is virtually free. Yet nearly every small business sends out just one or two emails every few weeks or months. If they mailed 2-3 times a week instead, they would see 2-3 times the profits they are currently experiencing!
OK, next we have Social Media. When you add social media marketing to the mix you start to complete the small business Internet marketing equation. That means you absolutely must have a Google Local account as well as a Facebook account for your business. You can also add a Twitter account while you’re at it. Oh, and a Youtube account for posting videos about your business.
Once you have these social media accounts setup, be sure to link to the profiles from your website. Then post to the accounts regularly even if you have to hire someone to do it for you. (You can get a Virtual Assistant at Fiverr.com who can do this for you if you don’t have the time or inclination.)
OK, that wraps up your crash course. Now that you know where to start, what are you waiting for. If you are starting a new business venture, you now have a roadmap for marketing your small business on the Internet.
If you have an existing small business that needs more customers, look through this entire post and see which if any of the components are missing from your existing business. Implement them right away. If you stay actively involved in all these tasks, you may be pleasantly surprised at just how effective this basic strategy is!
