subject: Networking Your Small Business Online [print this page] Networking Your Small Business Online Networking Your Small Business Online
It wasn't too long ago, that when a small business was established, all it had to depend on was its storefront and word-of-mouth publicity. Maybe there was a little ad in the local newspaper or on the radio, but both those advertising mediums are expensive, and their effect difficult to measure. Nowadays, most companies, no matter how small, have a website, where visitors can learn about what they do, when they're open and how to get in touch. And with simple metrics tools such as Google Analytics, company owners are able to see how many people visited their site, which pages they visited, when they visited, how long they stayed on the site for, how many pages they viewed while there, and how quickly they left.In the world of internet marketing, clicks are thought of as mini-commitments. If a customer is engaged, by your content or your offering, they will continue to click through. Typically, the more they click, the closer they are to taking some sort of action, calling, purchasing, or enquiring. This is precisely why it is critical that every page of a website have a clear sales objective and an obvious call-to-action. Having a website has become somewhat of a necessity for companies. Even if you have a small business and rely mostly on word-of-mouth referrals, you should still offer new clients a place to see what you're about. Moreover, you should share achievements, new services, products and company information in one place, easily accessible by everyone. Of course, just having a website doesn't necessarily mean people are going to visit it. You have to drive them there, and to do that you have to engage in online marketing. That might mean optimising keywords that research shows your prospective clients will be searching, it might mean writing paid-ads for major search engines, or it might mean engaging with your clients via the various social media channels available, after all, word-of-mouth marketing, now takes place online. The best part is, these services are not expensive or complicated. Some people, mostly independent business owners on a tight budget, will start doing a lot of the work themselves. Of course, like anything done properly, internet marketing takes time, which is why most companies will hire internet marketing specialists to do it for them. Not only do internet marketing specialists have the time, but they have the expertise. They are up-to-date on trends and familiar with industry best practices.
