Five Online Marketing Tips for the Small Business Owner

As a small business owner, your budget for marketing is probably small as well. One of the best ways, as well as least expensive, to put your hard earned cash to work, is to invest in online marketing. From search engine optimization to social media marketing, there is a lot that can be done on the web to market your business. Here are five excellent online marketing tips for the small business owner.

1. Constant Content is Necessary – Many years ago, you could spend a long time working on a fabulous website, load it with original thoughtful content and then just sit back and wait to rise to the top of your search engine (probably “Ask Jeeves.”) Those days are now a thing of the past. With not only an overwhelmingly large amount of websites, but an overwhelming large amount in any given industry, you have to do a lot more to stand out. Hire a Content Specialist to blog and handle your social media if you can, if not just be sure to keep on top of it yourself.

2. Choose Your Audience Wisely & Stick to It – The online world is full of judgmental people and you cannot please them all. Make sure that before you begin any marketing campaign, you understand what you want to represent in your business and stand by that ideal.

3. Engage Your Company in Social Media – Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites are the hub of how people define what companies and products they enjoy. A lack of presence on these sites immediately puts you behind the times.

4. Spend Time on Social Bookmarking Sites – websites like Digg and Reddit are excellent resources for small business owners looking to create a stronger online presence. Once you have a solid blog going, you can share your articles on social bookmarking sites. These links will send potential customers to your website and help spark their interest in what you have to offer.

5. Stay away from “Flash” – Flash websites are becoming extinct. There was a time when bouncing animations and ever-changing bright colors were the norm, but now we know that it completely takes away from SEO, which is what brings sites to the top of Goggle.

Are you a small business owner that had had great success (or failure) with online marketing? Join the conversation by commenting below!

 

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