How to Advertise a Small Business on the Internet

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Advertising a small business on the Internet can be difficult and expensive, though there are some basic methods to make your company stand out. This article explores low- to no-cost options to build a strong search-engine-optimization (SEO) program. Be prepared to take the time to research the keywords, learn what content gets the highest views, and blog consistently on related topics to the business.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Computer with high-speed Internet access
• Typing skills
• Writing skills
• Research skills

Being Consistent and Savvy Online

1. Take time to research. Make an effort to see what keywords work to get the best results in views. For instance, you can use spacky.com to get quick feedback. This should take a couple hours to complete thoroughly.

2. Place yourself in general directories and on industry sites. This can take time, so it may be better to hire an expert to handle this task. Favorites include local.com, as well as matchpoint.com and yelp.com, which are becoming popular places because they feature user-generated reviews and are therefore considered reliable and useful.

3. Content is king and quality content is supreme. This is what makes a company stand out, so the more that is available, the better for leads. Customers want good products and services, but they must know more about the company. Give some history of the company to attract more revenue.

4. See what others are writing about on industry sites or blogs. Try to become an expert on the subject specific to your industry, as greater knowledge will lead to increased trust from your customers and, ultimately, to more sales.

5. Start a blog with regularly updated information and consider using Twitter to keep up a constant rapport with potential customers. Write at least one regular blog entry every month and make sure the blog is linked to the company Web site. Also, all updates should automatically be sent with each Twitter widget. All of these measures can be done without any cost.

6. Join an authority blogging site to promote the company, such as ehow.com, bukisa.com, associatedcontent.com or digitaljournal.com. These widgets can be added to the blog, as well. Blogger.com and wordpress.com work well when updating and adding outside widgets.

7. Add photos and reviews whenever possible. Submit your blog and Web site to Google URL. This will help you get ranked by Google and seen by other search engines. To maintain or increase rank, provide well-written content consistently.

Tips & Warnings

• Know your industry Know the purpose of your business and have a prepared description ready for easy submission

• Never lie in advertisements

References

• Yelp
• Matchpoint
• Google

Resources

• Spacky
• Local