Internet Marketing for Small BusinessInternet marketing for small business focuses on generating sales leads for your business. Whether you are a professional (lawyer, doctor, dentist, veterinarian), service provider (realtor, interior designer, lawn care, etc) or small business, the internet is a great tool that will help you advertise your business and bring in new customers and clients for a very small cost compared to traditional advertising. Sign up for the Internet Strategies Hot List. Get tips on hot products that will help you build your online business plus a bonus download in every issue! Is Your Website Built to Work for You?The mistake that most people make when they start internet marketing for small business is to put up a “brochure” web site. Basically, it amounts to nothing more than the name of their business, address and phone number. Some might go as far as writing a few words about what their business is about or what they provide. Nothing special and the search engines don’t even list these types of web sites. If this is how your website is built, the only way people will find it is when they see the url on your business card. It’s a total waste of money and resources. When building a small business website ,focus on making it active, rather than passive. Start building a relationship with the visitor by providing the information they are looking for and focusing on serving their needs. This strategy helps you establish trust and credibility with your web site visitor. You need to go beyond their expectations in providing them with the knowledge they need to make an informed decision about where and with whom they are going to spend their money. In a nutshell, solve their problem and they will naturally choose to do business with you rather than have to be convinced through sales copy.
A Case Study: Internet Marketing for Law FirmsLet’s take the example of someone who needs a lawyer to do some simple estate planning. When someone is ready to spend a lot of money on a product or service, they will most likely go online to research the topic first so they are informed about the topic before making their final decision. So this potential client goes online and inputs “estate planning lawyer”. What comes up are mainly directories of lawyers with some generic content about law topics. If they’re looking for a local lawyer, the results that pop up are local law offices and upon closer examination, those sites are mainly about the firm’s history, the attorney’s who practice there and very little information that gives the potential client a feel for the topic of estate planning. A better way to approach online marketing for professionals and other types of small businesses is to provide value to the visitor. No matter what type of business it is, a visitor wants to see what kind of value they will be getting before they spend their money. But let’s get back to our example. The most effective law firm website will provide solid, easy to understand information about the types of law practiced at this law firm and how it applies to the visitor’s needs. Remember we want to go above and beyond the visitor's expectations so perhaps the website has an offer for a free report, such as “Top 10 Things to Do Before Consulting an Estate Planning Attorney”. In that report, the website provides answers to the most frequently asked questions. The visitor has to fill out a contact form to get the information they need. Once that is done, the law firm has established a relationship with the visitor. Maybe the visitor has shared their mailing address through the contact form, too. This information can be used to send out whatever marketing materials that law practice sends out to advertise their services. Guiding Principle of Internet Marketing for Small BusinessRemember this principle of internet marketing for small business can be applied to any professional, service provider or small business.The goal of your website must always be to provide value go above and beyond visitor's expectations persuade visitors to “opt-in” by providing their contact information. Once value has been provided and contact has been established, you’ve begun a relationship with this person. They will recognize the name of your business, how you provide value and customer service to clients and ultimately, they’ll see you as their “go to” person when they need your service or business.
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