I remember clearly in days gone by that if you wanted to promote your business you really only had a few options to choose from. The local paper, the main city paper, the yellow pages or if you had a huge marketing budget, TV.
In fact I can still see the drained look on my in-laws faces when it was ‘yellow pages’ time, this form of advertising cost their small business many thousands of dollars every year, but for them it was a necessary expense as it was for many other businesses because if you were not in the yellow pages you could really expect a massive loss in turnover.
Times have changed thankfully.
No longer is it essential or even necessary to spend many thousands of dollars on effectively marketing your business. In fact if done effectively most advertising will cost you very little especially if you have a small business and a niche market.
The internet is fundamentally changing the way people conduct their business, in fact most people I know do not even own a yellow pages anymore and they only prefer to ‘let their fingers do the walking’ when they are on a computer keyboard.
Goods and services can be bought and sold online at rapid speed and from anywhere and not only can business be conducted; a consumer can read reviews and profiles and even engage in conversation with only a few clicks of a mouse.
Even Yellow Pages have noticed the shift in what the public wants and have also ensured they have a web service available.
It is quite clear every business today needs some form of online presence. However to grow your business online you will need to understand how to effectively market your business online.
It’s still very common for many small businesses to slap a poorly designed website online, hoping that somehow people will find it and this in turn will create new clients.
There are still many opportunities for individuals and small businesses to create websites with impact and purpose and if done correctly it could be the best marketing tool for your business, the one that brings you the most clients.
How do I know this, well my research clearly supports this but I have seen it first hand. A website I have built which has recently undergone a huge facelift (I designed the original 4 years ago) operates entirely online, there is no shop front and no contact phone number and yet this business has gone from strength to strength, recently adding a blog to their website and their already successful online forum. They are also ranked number one on Google in their required field.
This business shows just how effective building an online community can be and what an effective website and other supporting marketing tools can do for your business.
It also shows what can be achieved with very little financial outlay, which is what every business today strives for.
