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Is Marketing on the Internet Right for My Small Business?

By Matthew Whitworth

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 22Jul2009
Word count: 476
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You probably already know the answer to this question – based on what you understand about the market in which your business operates. Most businesses these days need an online presence if they are to capitalize on the potential business that can be generated online.

If you are at all unsure, for a simple and quick test, do this: Go to Google, and search for a likely search term that a prospective client might use when trying to find a company such as yours. If you are a localized business such as a pizza restaurant, carpet cleaner etc., you will probably want to add your city name to the search term: ‘pizza restaurant Houston’, ‘carpet cleaning Detroit’ etc.

Take a look at the companies that come up in the search results. Pay attention to those that come up in the ‘sponsored links’ results – usually down the right hand side of the page. These companies should be known competitors to you. These companies are paying for the right to appear on the page in the positions shown.

To do this, these companies are using Google Adwords to set up a pay-per-click (PPC) advertisement for their company. They pay every time someone clicks on their ad. In order to list your company in this section, you will need to set up a Google Adwords campaign.

Now, take a look at the main body of the search page. On the top section of the page, you’ll see a map, on which are listed local businesses. Your company and your competitors should appear here.

You will need to register your company with Google maps, if you have not already done so to appear in this section of the page – this is highly recommended and is free to do so.

If you are not sure if you have registered already, go to http://www.google.com/local/add/ where you can search for your business.

Below the map section are the organic listings – these are listings that Google has selected as being relevant to the search being performed. If your business is not listed here on the first page, you will need to focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you are listed on first page, you will probably want to know how to improve your rankings on this page even further.

A good rule of thumb when considering whether a particular marketing medium is a potential goldmine for your company is whether you see your competition already advertising using this media. If you see multiple competitors using this form of marketing, the chances are you should be too.

Just having a website is only the first step to creating a profitable online presence. You will actually need to take action to get traffic to your site, otherwise your site will be lost in the sea of billions of others sites!

Check out our free video which gives the #1 secret to marketing your small business online - Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets Small Business Internet Marketing Resources

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