Here at Eckweb, we specialize in working with small businesses as well as home based businesses. So, that means we usually get to deal directly with the business owners. We love that! After all, who’s more passionate about their business than the owner? (Answer – no one!) This relationship allows us to tap into the visions and dreams the owner has for his/her small business which in turn helps us with marketing their website(s). After all, Internet Marketing is NOT something you just hand over to an agency. Just like websites themselves, Internet Marketing is an interactive activity.
In our conversations and emails with these small business owners we find ourselves constantly listing valuable internet marketing tips for small businesses. We’d like to share these with you.
3 Valueable Internet Marketing Tips For Small Businesses
1) Long Tail Marketing – this is simply marketing keyword phrases on your website that are popular yet not so popular that the competition is very stiff. The best way to implement the long tail marketing strategy is to add as many pages as possible to your website, each one targeting 1-2 long tail keyword phrases. Let me give you an example of how this works.
Website One:
Has 10 pages – each one targeting a keyword phrase that has a high competition number. In other words, there is a huge number of websites out there marketing the same keyword phrase. As a result this website is having difficulty getting onto the first page of Google for these keyword phrases and as a result the number of visitors to the website is very low.
Website Two:
Has 30 pages – each one targeting a keyword phrase that has a low competition number (these are long tail keyword phrases). As a result this website is on the first page of Google for all of the keyword phrases they are marketing. Although the number of people searching for these keyword phrases is lower (than the number of people searching for the phrases in Website One) – because this website is on the first page of Google, and because it has 3 times the number of pages (thus marketing more keyword phrases) – the number of visitors and sales to this website is very high.
For small businesses, it may seem extremely expensive to create a large website (one with more pages) but the truth is, in the long run, it’s the KEY that helps you to get into the top of the search engines.
Here’s a real life example:
We’re working hard to get one of our clients, “Name-Tags.net” into the first page of Google for the phrase “name tags“. But while we’re doing that, we still want him to get business through his website (after all, what’s the point of a business website if it doesn’t bring in business?). Anyway, we optimized his website pages for keyword phrases like “custom name tags” and “window name tags“. Although these phrases are not as “popular” as the phrase, “name tags”, they are extremely profitable. According to our client, “…business has not slowed down, like it normally does during the summer.”
2) Template Websites – I know, it’s extremely tempting to use one of those template websites that you can make yourself and host yourself and change yourself. The problem with these types of websites is that because everything is “do it yourself” – it doesn’t allow anyone else to go in and make the kind of custom changes that need to be made in order to market the website. In order for that template program to be able to give you the tools to create it and change it, there needs to be alot of extra coding and programming that is placed on these website pages. Search engines don’t “see” websites like you and I do on the Internet. Just check out SEO-Browser.com and type in your website address, you’ll see what the search engines see.
In order for them to get to those “words” on your website, they have to go through all that coding. The more coding, the less words they get to display.
So, yes, financially, it’s very tempting to use a template website. But if you’re serious about marketing your business on the Internet, don’t be tempted. Get a custom website. Better yet, get a custom website from an SEO friendly web designer. That way you won’t have to pay the designer to create the site and then pay the SEO firm to clean up the site!
3) Write, Write, Write, Write, Write!!! – I know, I hear alot of sighs out there! Internet marketing is all about “words”. Why? Because search engines are just machines and they are programmed to find “words”. People type in “words” into search engines and they in turn search for those same and similar “words” so that the user finds what they’re looking for.
So, your website needs pages, and those pages need words. In addition, your website also needs incoming links and those links need to be the words that you are marketing.
How do you achieve this? Well, you can write in a blog, you can post your thoughts, ideas, etc. on social marketing venues such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. You can submit articles to article submission sites and you can also submit press releases. You can comment on other blogs and forums. I know, you’re probably saying “All of that takes too much time.” – Well, yes, it does take time. But when you join the chamber of commerce and you get up early on Wednesday mornings (or whatever morning your chamber meets) and you get in your car and go to a meeting and spend 1-2 hours at the meeting and talk with people you know and people you don’t know, doesn’t that take alot of time?
You are doing essentially the very same thing at Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media marketing sites. You are networking. You are showcasing your expertise. You are not only selling your services and products, you are selling your passion about your business. And you can do it in your pajamas, with your own fresh cup of coffee, just the way you like it.
BUT, there are times when keeping up or participating in all these venues is just TOO much. We understand that and we offer social media marketing for our clients. So, if you absolutely cannot do this type of work for yourself, then hire someone to do it for you.
There is no doubt in my mind, and after 8 years of this SEO business I can safely say, that if you follow these 3 Internet marketing tips for small businesses that I’ve listed above, your website and your business will benefit from all that the Internet has to offer.
What are you waiting for! Get started!
Backlinks – how many more websites are linking to you this month than last month? What websites? What anchor text linking are they using? A very important website metric to know.
