6 Proven Tactics for Small Business Internet Marketing

6 Proven Tactics for
Small Business Internet Marketing
By Nigel Milne

Spectrum Interactive Media, LLC.
419 Lafayette St., 2nd FL
New York, NY 10003

T (888) 234-0118
www.spectrumim.com

Contents

Introduction -
Develop a Tactical Action Plan 1

Tactic 1: Website Design
The Essentials of a Great Small Business Website 4

Tactic 2: Business Listings
The Importance of Local Business Listings & Profiles 6

Tactic 3: Local SEO
Simple Changes Provide Powerful Local Search Results 8

Tactic 4: Paid Search Advertising
Targeted Paid Search Ads are Efficient & Effective 10

Tactic 5: Social Media
Tap Into Social Media for Cutting Edge Marketing 12

Tactic 6: Tracking & Measurement
Keep a Close Rein on Your Internet Marketing with Detailed
Tracking 14

About SIM 17

6 Proven Tactics for Small Business Internet Marketing | www.spectrumim.com
1 © 2010 Spectrum Interactive Media, LLC.

Developing a Tactical Action Plan

The Internet has undeniably become a huge part of every day life.
In light of that fact it’s amazing that only a handful of small local
businesses are taking full advantage of the Internet as a primary
customer acquisition channel. Sure, more and more businesses
are hiring those “don’t ask how, just sign a 12 month contract”
local Internet marketing companies. But at the end of the day (or
contract) these businesses have no sustainable marketing assets
and are not benefiting in the long run.

Today’s consumers want information fast and often while on the
go. That desire together with wireless technology has made
thick, paper phone books a thing of the past. Now when they are
searching for a business name, phone number, location or store
hours, consumers simply search for that business or service online
and all of the information is at their fingertips within a few clicks.
No more flipping pages and choosing eye-catching or sizable ads.
Today it’s about the customer being able to find your business
online and quickly.

To survive in today’s world local small businesses need to
implement a holistic marketing strategy that targets their
customers through the Internet. With planning and specific
tactics, businesses can ensure results, quality leads and even cost
savings over the long term. Many small companies are surprised
to find out the untapped potential out there and are pleased to
learn how straightforward it is to get this marketing plan in place.
As your business grows, your Internet marketing strategy can also
easily grow with it using the tactics outlined here.


There are six proven tactics for turning the Internet into a primary
channel for small business sales and lead generation:

1.  Have A Clean, Intuitive Website - A company’s website is its
storefront to the world and the first impression potential
customers have of the business. A good small business
website should be easy to navigate, have useful information,
communicate professionalism and when necessary, funnel
visitors to complete an action (leads/sale).

2.  Post Business Profiles & Listings - Customers are everywhere
on the Internet and as a result businesses need to be
everywhere. Businesses should ensure they are listed in as
many business directories, local search engines and digital
databases as possible to attract new customers and increase
overall exposure.

3.  Take Advantage of the Power of Local Search Engine
Optimization – By making the necessary on-site SEO
enhancements and embracing a relevant link building strategy,
small businesses can generate a lot of free qualified traffic to
their website.

4.  Leverage Micro Targeted Paid Search Advertising – Pay-per-
click advertising on major search engines is the fastest way to
increase web traffic and grow a business. With accurate
targeting and careful management paid search engine
advertising can quickly become the primary business driver for
a small business.

5.  Establish and Maintain a Strong Social Media Presence - Social
media has become a necessary tool for small business success.
Social media channels provide the opportunity for small
businesses to build relationships with both customers and
prospects. Those relationships can have a direct effect on
sales.


6. Track and Measure Online Performance – By effectively
tracking and measuring website activity and media
performance businesses can continually refine and optimize
their efforts to lower costs and increase conversions.

The effect that the Internet has had on businesses is as limitless as
the Internet itself. An online presence has allowed businesses to
reach larger, global audiences while maintaining relatively low
costs. Businesses that are able to implement the right Internet
strategies and solutions face a much better chance of success.


1.  The Essentials of a Great Small Business Website

As the first of our Six Proven Tactics for Small Business Marketing,
having an impressive and easy to use website is essential. Not
only is it often the best chance your business has to make a good
first impression, it’s also a major online gateway. You need to
make the experience a pleasant, helpful and memorable one.

The Internet is quickly becoming the consumer’s method of
choice for researching, shopping and even communicating with
local businesses. Consider your website to be your online
storefront. It must have all of the features and details that the
ideal physical storefront would have. And with today’s technology
and a well thought out plan, your business can have the best
online storefront possible for a relatively low cost.

Simple Navigation

Browsers who make their way to your website are generally there
for a reason. Even if they simply stumble on your site, it’s
important to have well laid out information that is easy to
navigate through.

Clear instructions, a logical order and links that lead to useful
information are all necessary elements to good navigation. Can
your potential customers find their way around the site and gather
the information they need to make a sale or initiate further
contact? Or will they encounter dead ends and get lost in a maze
of useless links? A site map and search functions are both handy
tools to include.

Make sure your small business website includes simple navigation,
encouraging your customers to visit again and again.

Helpful Information

All data, pictures, facts and figures on your website should be as
up to date and accurate as possible. Decide the information that
will be relevant to the browsing customer and make sure that is
front and center on the page.

Include sub-topic pages with clear links so that customers can dig
deeper. Prices, stats, testimonials and accreditations are all useful
to have on a small business website. Don’t forget the essential
information such as your address, phone number, email contact
address and store hours.

Geographical details like your service area or range of shipping
are helpful in two different ways. Not only will it inform your
customer, but it may also help to drive local searches to your
website.

Professional Appearance

You can communicate a lot to your customers by the lay out and
appearance of your website. Even if you have a fun and light-
hearted business, your site should communicate a professional
attitude.

Choosing a theme and carrying that through the site creates
recognition and a uniform impression for the browser. All images
and graphics should be high resolution and the fonts, headlines
and links should be clear and readable.

Make sure any links and downloadable content are secure. If
there are payment features on your site, such as an online
shopping cart, be sure to have a verifiable connection with a
reputable online payment company.

Generate Action

Small businesses invest in their website to generate revenue and
make sales. Be sure to include a call to action on your site,
transforming browsers into leads and customers. Avoid being
pushy or seeming like spam and think about the best approach
for your specific market.

When businesses leave out this important feature they are letting
customers loose without taking advantage of a prime opportunity.
It is like allowing your customer to leave the store without asking


if they need help or preparing a delicious sample without giving
them a taste. If it is at all applicable with your business, include
that call to action on your site.

With these elements, your small business website is well on the
way to generating leads and making sales. The Internet is full of
potential and your business deserves to get in on it.

2. The Importance of Local Business Listings & Profiles

Getting people to your website is easier if that site is in the places
where people are looking. Online local business listings are
quickly becoming the go to place for information, putting
everything at the public’s fingertips in a few seconds. The days of
flipping through an annual book of listings are disappearing and
the Internet’s speed and interactive delivery are now the
mainstream. Can your small business afford to be left out of the
major online listings in your area?

Go Global or Stay Close By?

Most people use one of the major search engines to find a
business. But there are also many local business listings and
search engines that can put you on the top of their list while
boosting your ranking on the major players as well.

Some local listings are industry specific, others are geographical
focused. It’s important to be included in the ones that can do
your business the most good. They are all striving to make a mark
and you can do much to boost traffic on your website by being
there when they do.

Many Different Benefits

Small businesses are often dependent on local customers.
Restaurants, personal services and contractors all need to be
available when the nearby consumers are looking for a place to
find what they need.


Having your business profile in local listings and digital databases
will put your website directly in their path.

Not only will more customers find your site, but many of the
listings have interactive features that make your company more
attractive and give you an edge.

Post office or store hours and contact info in the profile. Some
sites allow you to list special offers, sales and other timely
information. Others will give you space for a portfolio of pictures,
providing customers with a visual teaser of your company.

Detailed maps and road level photographic views help browsers
to find your location easily. The major listing sites are competing
to offer Internet users new and ingenious ways to connect the
virtual and physical world. Make sure your business is there as the
latest features are added and more people discover the benefits
of them.

In some locations, there are also areas for listing site users to
leave comments, ratings and reviews for your company. Keeping
tabs on these notes left by your customers (or anyone else) is a
smart move and allows you to be proactive if any trouble arises.

Management Is Also Important

Getting on the local and global listings is only the first step. Once
there, you’ll need to practice good management of your profile.
Making sure the information is up to date will give you proper
exposure and allow potential customers to find your business
quickly. Any changes need to be made everywhere your profile is
listed.

The good news is that the major listings will update for changes
within a reasonable time. The local listings might even be instant.
Other times, an update can take weeks and should be tackled by
your company right away to minimize the effect of incorrect
information.


At times it may be necessary to delete your profile. Having a
constant watch on these listings will allow you to handle that
eventuality efficiently.

Make sure your Internet marketing strategy includes building and
managing profiles in local listings and search engines. Be where
your customers are looking, take advantage of advanced,
interactive features and keep your information instantly up to
date. These steps are essential for your business’s online
marketing success.

3. Simple Changes Provide Powerful Local Search
Results

Besides being user friendly, it’s important that your small business
site be designed with the major search engines in mind. Content
is king. And with simple changes, the words and terms included
in your content can drive traffic to your site.

Your local customers are online right now searching for
information regarding your product or service. Sophisticated
search engines filter their results based on the location of that
customer’s computer, placing local and relevant listings at the top.
Put your business on the first page by practicing local search
engine optimization.

It’s a Matter of Words

The service area of your business should be prominently
displayed on your website. Maps and visual icons are good for
the browsing customer. But text that includes the specific local
areas needs to be there as well in order to garner more attention
from the search engines.

Tying your geographical information to your keywords is best. For
instance, a home builder in Dallas can put those two terms
together in a keyword phrase to be ranked well for both local and
industry optimization. The term “Dallas home builder” will bring
many more qualified visitors to their website.

Simple enhancements can be made to your website that will result
in heavy traffic. Having a qualified professional look over your site
to make changes and recommendations is well worth the effort
and expense. By altering the coding and layout, as well as the
sitemap and content, a consultation can tone up your website for
maximum local effect.

Find out why the search engines may be missing your site. Look
after details such as meta-tags and search engine submissions.
Make the changes and cash in on free traffic through local search
engine optimization on your site.

Link-Building for Support

It isn’t just the content on your website that drives you onto the
first page of the search engines. Smart and relevant link-building
campaigns will do wonders for your ranking. There are two major
factors in link-building that make the effort worthwhile. The first is
the keywords or anchor text used and the second is the relevancy
of the pages your link is placed on.

You want those links to include your local focused keyword
phrases more often than not. That means our Dallas home
builder would want that phrase and others like it to be used in the
links. Having your chosen keywords in the anchor text will cleanly
link that phrase back to your website and catch the attention of
the search engines.

Natural, SEO friendly articles are another way to build a quality
link-back system. With blogs, social media and article directories,
your information and expertise can be easily found and help
direct customers back to your website for more. Make sure this
outside content includes the same locally optimized keywords and
clear links to your site.

Choose the location of your links well, paying attention to the
page ranking and audience of those sites. Network with other
businesses in your industry or in complimentary industries to build
links. Find out which social media platforms your target market is


using and put your business there. Ensure the sites that include
your links are well laid out and search engine friendly, making it
more probable that your link will be found. Being associated with
high ranking sites allows your site to improve in the eyes of the
search engines.

Your Internet marketing strategy can be strengthened and given a
boost with local SEO on site and off. A professional consultation
and direction is a smart investment to make in the long term
success of your online marketing plan.

4. Targeted Paid Search Ads are Efficient & Effective

Small businesses are constantly on the lookout for effective
methods of marketing that can be accurately tracked. If those
methods can also be easily managed and draw customers fast,
they have even more value. Internet marketing has brought all
these features together in one product. Sponsored search ads on
the major search engines will deliver great value and efficiency for
your advertising dollar.

This strategy for effective internet marketing has many different
benefits.

Customized and Specific

Sponsored search ad campaigns are tailor made for your
business. Geographical filters allow for more qualified leads. Eye
catching placement on the major search engines will draw
attention. And industry specific keywords put your ad right where
potential customers are looking.

Although the Internet is an enormous platform, there are ways to
make your website stand out. With professional and
knowledgeable guidance, your sponsored search ads will be
targeted directly to your clients and bring in qualified customers
that are ready to buy.


Speedy Outcome

Organic search engine results take time. With content changes
and link-building campaigns, your business will climb up the
rankings and get to the first page after about 4 to 6 months.
Sponsored search ads put you there instantly and will bring in
traffic right away.

Once your ad has been created, it will go live within hours and the
traffic can begin. The search engines are busy 24 hours a day and
seven days a week, which means they can put your ad to work at
any time. Using this tactic together with local search engine
optimization gives your business the best of both worlds and will
boost sales to your goals and beyond.

Cost Control

One of the biggest attractions to pay-per-click advertising is the
ability to control costs. Once you set a budget, the campaign will
fit within that amount and draw in the traffic pertaining to it.
Since you’ll only pay for clicks through to your site (and not for
impressions), the cost is directly related to the number of qualified
leads you receive.

There are sponsored search packages available that include
keyword research, ad development and management for one low
monthly price. This allows you to guarantee a certain amount of
clicks every month while keeping the costs well within your
budget. Full service packages from industry professionals also
offer to handle the cost-per-click bidding on major sites and
deliver comprehensive reports on traffic.

All of this adds up to good business sense and a well managed
marketing budget.

Detailed Tracking

Business managers need to have a record of how their
investments and campaigns are performing. With a sponsored


search ad strategy, you can have reports that display real-time
results and allow you to make wise decisions about your
marketing tactics.

You can tweak the ads, change your budget and increase or
decrease the frequency as desired. With accurate, detailed
reports it is much easier to make smart decisions and drive your
Internet marketing strategy in the right direction.

It’s more than worth it to invest even a small amount per month
into a targeted sponsored search ad campaign. Small businesses
across the globe are utilizing this tool and seeing stellar results.
You will feel the swell and growth of your sales right away and will
be amazed at the success of this strategy.

5. Tap Into Social Media For Cutting Edge Marketing

The explosion of social media continues to shape our culture and
your small business needs to get on board. There is incredible
potential for generating leads, building customer relationships
and gaining exposure through all the popular social media
platforms. Your Internet marketing strategy should include a well
thought out and executed plan for joining the social media
sphere.

Not a Waste of Time

Put aside any notion you have that social sites are a waste of time.
If you think they’re populated by only teens and young people,
think again. Whatever your target market, they are likely involved
in social media in some way and your small business website can
gain a distinct advantage by finding them there.

Building relationships with your current clients and potential
customers is never a waste. Not only will it increase recognition
and give you another platform to promote your products and
services, these sites will also give your business a human side.
They will open up a 2 way conversation that can go beyond


traditional forms of marketing and actually save you time and
money in the end.

Market Research

Social media sites are invaluable for informal market research.
Ask questions, browse and listen to what the public is saying
about your industry, your company and their world in general.
Gather information and make contacts without ever having to
leave your office. Some have compared social media to a
gigantic conference or convention where every industry can
interact and build on each other at the same time.

Having a familiar presence on these sites make it much more likely
that your target market will open up and be honest with you. The
Internet allows anonymity and encourages people to speak their
minds, letting your business stay on the cutting edge of trends,
opinions and market changes.

Local in a Global World

Social media sites can also be used effectively in a local sense.
With the guidance of a skilled online marketing professional, small
businesses can connect with the nearby market and place
themselves in areas where they will be recognized and found.

Get in on the latest buzz. Set up a Facebook fan page and
manage it well. Tweet and retweet to connect with customers,
associates and suppliers. Social media has geographical
information stored in profiles and that information can help you to
focus on a closer group of people.

Sponsored and Focused Ads

Facebook also has pay-per-click advertising campaigns that can
be targeted and formatted to suit your market. Just as with other
pay-per-click strategies, you can control the costs of your
Facebook ad and improve it regularly to keep it relevant and
effective.


Your business can also establish a fan base that opens up more
features and a better ranking, as well as the ability to instantly
update that group.

Good Relationships Make For Better Sales

Keeping in contact with your target market in an unobtrusive way
is made simple with social media. Building good relationships
with past, current and prospective customers will translate into
qualified leads and more sales. Having a strong social media
presence as part of your Internet marketing strategy is a must for
today’s small business.

6. Keep a Close Rein on Your Internet Marketing With
Detailed Tracking

The beauty of harnessing the Internet for your small business
marketing is how simple it is to track and measure success. With
tools designed to track clicks, length of stay, repeat visits and
even the location of the visitor, you can get a detailed picture of
how consumers are responding to your online marketing.

Perhaps the most important data available is where the visitors
came from. Whether it’s through organic search engine listings,
sponsored search ads or incoming links from other sites and
directories, reports are available that will show which methods of
attracting traffic are working and which are falling flat.

On the Go Improvements

Because Internet marketing is in real-time and doesn’t usually
require a long waiting period for updates, small businesses can
make changes and tweaks almost any time for little to no cost.
That means you can take action right away based on the
information acquired in weekly, monthly and quarterly reports.
And it also means the action that you take won’t cost you a
fortune.


For many small business owners and managers, this flexibility
allows them to try new marketing tactics out with very little risk.

This is contrary to many traditional marketing methods, such as
print, TV or radio ads. In those cases you spend the money,
produce the ad and put it out there. Generally, there is no way to
accurately track the response of the ad without undertaking a
thorough customer survey yourself. And if negative results come
back, there isn’t much to be done about it. The money is already
spent.
With Internet marketing strategies and detailed analytical
reporting you will have a good idea of how customers are
responding to your ad today. And if the results aren’t what you
expected, changes can be made almost instantly to improve
them.

Not only do you have better control of the costs, but you can
actually see the return on your investment in black and white.

Planning For the Future

These detailed reports can be kept on hand for planning
purposes, laying out an accurate road map of how well your
internet marketing strategies are doing. Allocate your marketing
budget for the next few years better by examining trends,
seasonal changes and the success of each tactic covered in this
series.

Reviewing the reports may convince you that certain online
marketing methods really do work or that you still need to focus
on others. Just as the market is always changing, your marketing
strategies should be changing as well, keeping up with your
customers and competition.

Boost Your Conversions

All of the work done to get traffic to your site is worth very little if
those visitors are not converting to buyers at an acceptable rate.
Through targeted campaigns and comprehensive reporting, your


sales will blossom and profits will grow. With professional local
online marketing advice and direction, your conversion rates can
be up to 10 times higher within months.

Running a small business in our current economy is challenging.
Marketing that small business to a fast-paced, savvy public is even
more challenging. Using tactics proven to make the Internet work
hard for your business and tracking the results carefully, you are
well on your way to the growth and success you’ve worked so
hard for.


About SIM

Spectrum Interactive Media provides proven Internet advertising
solutions that deliver new customers to businesses like yours.
Whether you need to drive traffic to your website, increase
customer phone calls or convert more of your website visitors, we
have a simple, proven low cost solution to meet your business
needs. For a nominal monthly investment we can significantly
improve your business performance.

We specialize in micro-targeted search engine advertising,
website conversion optimization, local search engine
optimization, social media campaign management and marketing
performance analytics.

With over fifteen years of Internet experience marketing large
consumer brands, our team brings their results-proven approach
to all our clients. In short, our clients benefit from our vast
experience without having to pay for the extensive testing and
optimization. Our long tenure in the online marketing industry
includes working for clients such as Dell, Philips Electronics, MCI
WorldCom, InFocus, Corinthian Colleges, Sun Microsystems, Intel,
Agilent Technologies, JP Morgan, Microsoft, Burger King and
Oppenheimer Funds.

Contact Us
(888) 234-0118
info@spectrumim.com
www.spectrumim.com


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