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Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas
The Internet offers a wealth of possibilities when it comes to low-cost, effective advertising. Gone are the days when small business owners have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on purchasing a billboard or paying for a television commercial. Below are several ways any small business can use the advantages of the web to generate leads and create interest in its products and services.
In This Post:
1. Use Social Media
The cheapest way to advertise online is by opening accounts in the business’s name on major social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. While it may be difficult to achieve widespread visibility using this method, by targeting posts to groups read by potential clients and customers in your area, a small business can begin to build an online presence that might supply the foothold it needs to branch out into other methods of advertising. Social media can be a great way to get your name out there when used properly.
2. Create a Website
The Internet has been around for several decades, but many small businesses continue to overlook the importance of setting up a website devoted to selling themselves and their offerings. Even a modest two or three page site gives a small business a platform to discuss current products and services and a means of allowing potential clients to contact the company directly through the site.
3. Write a Blog
A tactic that goes hand-in-hand with creating a dedicated website is starting a blog to provide more detailed information about what the business does. Search engine optimization, or SEO, incorporates keywords commonly used during Internet searches to make a blog more visible. A small business unfamiliar with SEO should consider hiring a blog writer that offers SEO services, to get the traffic that is needed to make an impact.
4. Purchase Online Advertising
Few types of advertising beat the visibility of purchasing ad space on the web. In fact, major web powerhouses like Google and Facebook derive most of their profits from online advertising because it’s so effective. Internet advertising packages are available in a variety of price ranges to accommodate any size of business. This is a great addition to your social media marketing, but of course it will cost you.
5. Direct Emailing
Businesses of yesteryear often relied on mass mailings as a way to sell their products and services. Emailing allows this same concept to be applied by a new generation of small businesses. Mass emailing requires far less effort than a hard mail out, but the technique can be effective at producing leads. Even if only one percent of potential clients responds to a 1000-recipient mass email, the company gains 10 new clients with a push of the send button.
From online ads to emailing to SEO content, the Internet offers nearly limitless possibilities to the modern small business owner. For best results, a business owner should utilize as many of these techniques as the company’s advertising budget allows.
