tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17750717148954066092024-03-05T14:18:42.210-08:00Internet Marketing for Small BusinessesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10390865840596692667noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775071714895406609.post-10592379576923629642013-01-29T07:31:00.001-08:002013-01-29T07:31:17.282-08:00Navigating the Waters of Internet Marketing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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PPC, SEO, SEM, CPC, CPM... what do all of these terms mean and how am I, as a small business owner, supposed to find <i>time</i> to engage in online marketing? Advertising and marketing online can be <b>challenging</b> and even <b>intimidating</b>; but, if you can spend a little bit of time studying and trying to get a better understanding of the different methods to discover which ones may work for your small business, it can be <b><i>very</i></b> rewarding.<br />
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Where To Begin</h3>
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The first thing you should consider when starting your first online marketing campaign is <i>your budget;</i> this is important because if you only have a small budget to work with, you will want to <b>be careful to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck</b> and don't blow through your budget too quickly.</div>
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<b>I cannot stress this enough, if you have never done any online marketing before, stick to a small budget at first just to get your feet wet and figure out what works for your business.</b> You must walk before you run, because it is easy to spend a lot of money very quickly if you aren't careful!</div>
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PPC (Pay Per Click) Marketing</h3>
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Now that you have a number in mind for your budget, you are ready to start driving traffic to your website. The fastest (and most expensive) way to start getting traffic is through <b>pay per click marketing</b>, or PPC for short. Google has a <i>great service</i> for small business owners and million-dollar corporations the same called <b>Google AdWords</b>; this service is how businesses get their ads in the <i>"sponsored links"</i> section of Google's search engine results pages <i>(the section at the top and on the right side)</i>.</div>
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Google AdWords is a great service, but it requires a <b>certain amount of expertise</b> to make money with it because you are paying for <i>every click</i> on your ads. <u>Before you create your first campaign</u> in AdWords, I suggest that you study up on it a good bit. Google has all kinds of resources to help first-time advertisers <b>understand how to effectively utilize their service</b>. I am not going to go into any detail in this post, but you can visit their <a href="https://support.google.com/adwords/certification/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=2799681&path=2799680&ctx=topmenu" target="_blank">knowledge center</a> and start educating yourself on AdWords.</div>
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SEO (Search Engine Optimization)</h3>
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Search engine optimization is a much longer process and requires <b>time, patience, and a lot of work</b> to achieve good rankings in the search engines; however, it is <i>much more rewarding</i> in the end because you will get a lot of <b>free</b>, <i>"organic"</i> traffic to your site.</div>
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The problem that many small business owners run into with SEO is the amount of time, knowledge and expertise it takes to get a site ranked on the <i>first page</i> of Google. The key to success is to <b>remember that SEO is a long term project </b>and will not happen overnight. There are a lot of companies in the world that will try to dupe you into purchasing their link-building services that <i>"guarantee"</i> first page rankings in a short amount of time. <b>Be VERY wary of these companies</b>, Google has made it a <b>big priority</b> to stop these <i>spammy link-building methods.</i> You could get your website <i>penalized,</i> or even <b>completely removed from Google's search engine results </b>if you hire the wrong person to do SEO for your company.</div>
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Continuing Education</h3>
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I hope that this first blog post has given you a <i>better idea</i> of where to start with online marketing. I created this blog because I have been doing <b>internet marketing for small businesses</b> for <i>5 years</i> now, and I am always <i>surprised</i> at <b>how few small business owners are actually effective</b> with their internet marketing campaigns, or have <b>never even tried to market their business online.</b></div>
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I love internet marketing, and I want to share my passion and success with others by educating and giving my advice. <b>Be sure to follow this blog!</b> Next week, I will be posting about how to use social media to engage your customers and gain a bigger online presence.</div>
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