How to Market a Business Online

Creating an online presence is a necessity when starting a new business. Marketing your business online through a business Web site and online advertisements will help your brand recognition and business growth. With a little research and ingenuity, marketing your business online will not be a difficult task.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet access
• Capital for advertising
• Web designer and Web host

1. Check out the competition. Visit the Web sites of some of your competitors. Learn what you like and do not like about their company sites. Take notes on how you can utilize some of their methods and note things to avoid.

2. Register a domain name. Recognizing your brand and company name, register a domain name for your business Web site. To register a domain name, you pay an annual fee to a domain registrar. Call GoDaddy at [phone] to register your domain at an economical price.

3. Design a high quality Web site. Hire a web designer and work with him/her to develop a top-notch site. It does not have to be elaborate, but it definitely needs to be aesthetically pleasing and functional. With your design, develop a company logo and work to make a comprehensive Web site that is easy to navigate.

4. Write your Web content keeping search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. The key to getting traffic to your Web site is to get high placement in search engines. To do that, you need to write your web content with SEO in mind, using popularly searched keywords. Use keyword tools to discover which keywords are most searched in relation to your business. Then use the keywords throughout the pages of your business Web site in the meta titles, text and links.

5. Host your Web site with a reliable web hosting company. Nothing is more frustrating than visiting Web site that is slow or constantly going offline. Research on the Internet to find web hosts with high customer satisfaction ratings.

6. Purchase display advertising. Buy ad space for your banner advertisement on a popular Web site that you believe caters toward your target audience. Banner ads are a very good way to draw people to your Web site.

7. Create a newsletter. Place a link on your site asking visitors to sign-up for your free e-mail newsletter. Send out the newsletters regularly, highlighting the content of your Web site with considerable attention promotions and special offers.

Tips & Warnings

• Purchase ad space a month at a time in case you find it isn't worthwhile.
• Market yourself. Tell everyone you know about your new business Web site. Send out emails to friends and families.
• Visit forums related to your business and put a link to your business Web site in your signature.
• Do not be afraid to self-promote. If you do not believe in your business, who will?

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[jull14]

on 7/12/2009 Excellent article and very helpful for many here at ehow. Thanks for sharing with us, keep up the good work. I really love your articles, they are very helpful and provide easy steps to follow.