The Internet is an amazing, and most free, way to market your business. Here's my list of the best small business tools for marketing on the web, and tools on the web that help with your marketing.
Website: Before you get a good website, just get a website. It's your placeholder on the web. Customers first turn to the web to get information about a company and a website allows you to be found by search engines. Use a content management system like WordPress and keep control of your own website. Check out my three-part tutorial on setting up a WordPress website for your small business.
Local search: Claim your local listing on Google, Bing and Yahoo. The major search engines allow you to edit your listing, add important details, even post pictures and video.
Blog: Blogs establish your credibility and give you authority in your industry. And search engines love them. Start a blog on your website, update it frequently and it watch your search engine traffic increase.
Tip: Include local, geographic keywords in your blog articles. (Your hometown or surrounding communities)
Video Camera and a YouTube Channel: Make your business personal and more approachable with video. Do a video greeting from the owner on the home page, add a tour of your store, do product demonstrations, answer customer questions. Set up a YouTube Channel and get started.
Craigslist: Free ads, lots of eyeballs. I've heard small business owners say they get much better response from a free Craigslist ad than paid Google Adwords. Set up your business account on your local Craigslist and start posting. Under the "Post to Classifieds" section, click on "services offered."
Email: Collect an email address from every customer that lets you and send out regular email updates to your customers. Customers won't mind an occasional update; once or twice a month, especially if it has useful information. Link back to your website for the information to build your web traffic.
crowdSPRING: An amazing resource for small business logos. I have now down 7 client logos using crowdSPRING and am working on two more. You can get a good logo for as little as $200. Check out my guide to using crowdSPRING to get a good logo. (note: I am not an affiliate, nor do I have any business relationship with crowdSPRING)
Analytics: Website analytics give you valuable information about how people visit your website, where they came from, what pages they visit, and in some cases, who exactly visited. The information is invaluable if you take your website or blog seriously. Google analytics is a good, free option. But I also recommend a more detailed package like the one I use from Visistat, which offers a free trial. (Note: I am an unpaid affiliate)
Facebook Page: Set up a free Facebook page and use it to socialize with, and engage, customers. Be warned though, don't use Facebook unless you are naturally social. Here's how to Use Facebook for business.
What would you add to this list?
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2 comments:
Jay,
I would add GMail, Google Alerts, and Google Reader to set up a Listening Station as Chris Brogan calls it.
This gives the small business owner the tools to monitor conversations about his business, industry, and competition... and provides the information and research to generate content for blogs.
Walt
Jay,
Thanks for compiling this list. It is a great checklist to give to a company and say, "here, do you have all of these things? If not, you know what your next step might be.
Great post
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