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Small Business Marketing

A Level Playing Field
Small and medium sized companies especially stand to benefit from the ability of the Web to level the playing field and allow them to stand side by side with the big guys regardless of physical size.

While your firm may not have the wealth of resources, large expense accounts and high-powered executives that large conglomerates possess, you still can tap into your online presence to find an angle that differentiates your company in a way that others cannot. You can offer a higher quality of specialized, personal service to your customers by educating them about your company and communicating with them on the Web.

In addition to educating your clients on your firm´s background, clients, services and experience, you can use the Web to offer personal attention. Technology can help you build customer profiles and remember names, business details, vacations, kids, etc. prior to a client´s visit to surpass the level of personal service provided in the past--attentiveness that before would have to be handled by memory.

The Internet is a powerful tool that can pay for itself many times over by offering the opportunity to interact with potential customers and clients and show more involvement in processing transactions through simple tactics such as including a note that reminds the client of their upcoming appointment or providing updates and tips on tax preparation, posting considerations for the new tax season, etc.

Making Your Site Successful
Critical to any business Web site, however, are two key elements:
(1) that the site look professional, and
(2) that surfers can find it online. Without these two attributes, you may do more damage than good for your company with a presence that is not reflective of the solid, professional business that you are running or a hard-to-find site that ranks your company below other less experienced and knowledgeable businesses in the area.

While this article will focus primarily on marketing your Web site to ensure that prospects can find you, there are several key points to keep in mind to ensure that your Web site maintains a professional image and is "marketable" in the first place.

Getting to Know You

If you are selling a service, consider that prospects´ visits to your Web site will be personal in nature. Seldom do people come to a Web site to "buy" a personal service without getting to know the person or having been recommended to them.

Prospects will most likely use your Web site to validate a recommendation or support their decisions to go with you before or after having met with you personally. Your site should provide background information about your experience and perhaps include your biography to support why prospects should hire you in the first place.

In turn, you can use your site to reinforce your business efforts by suggesting that individuals email you with questions or visit your Web site, where they can leisurely browse information about the services you provide. Offering this information at the close of your meeting can be comforting to prospects.

But before you refer your prospects, you will want to ensure that your site portrays a professional image.

Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Inexpensive sites do not have to look that way as long as you keep the layout clean and focused and provide pertinent contact information and other general details within reach for which customers and potential clients are likely to be looking. Avoid the urge to use flashy, glaring stock graphics if you cannot afford professionally developed images.

Keep your site simple, focused and personal, to ensure that it is reflective of your physical business. Avoid the urge to mislead visitors that your firm is larger than in reality, because eventually the client will walk in the door and feel betrayed.

Treat your site like it was representing you at business events. Avoid using superlatives or knocking competitors. Scan the text carefully; little things like typos can make a bad lasting impression.

www.WHERE?
Even more important than investing several thousands of dollars on a sleek site with high-powered images and streaming video is that potential customers and clients can find you in the first place.

How can you ensure that your users will be able track down your business from the millions of other sites in cyberspace?

The first step is, of course, telling people. Put your Web site on business cards, bills, flyers, stationary to make customers aware of where they can find you. Notify your current customers of your new site.

Use "visit our Web site at: (your site here)" on your advertisements and publicity materials. Refer to it on mailers and promotions to drive your current customers (or referrals) to your Web site for discounts and other information. Use a "signature" listing your Web site URL on all email correspondence.

Making Friends with Search Engines
Unfortunately, there is no true "Times Square" on the Internet for outsiders that do not already get these types of materials with your Web site on them. But, there are hubs of information - search engines are one source, as are directories.

In addition to choosing an obvious URL, such as your company name—assuming that it is available— you should also register with the major search engines to make sure that your company appears in searches on Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo and others.

Search engines and directories can be valuable ways to drive traffic to your Web site. It is important for your site to be found on search engines when people are searching on your name (at the very least) or your category (tax preparation, home builders, plastics, whatever you sell or do) and location (city, state).

If you do a search on your name on the Internet and your Web site does not come up, then you should speak with a professional to find out why. At times, it can be as simple as submitting your Web site to the search engine and requesting them to index you.

Other times it may be more complicated, such as removing frames on your site to allow the text to be more easily read and categorized by the search engine, or your site having been "black-listed" for violating listing rules and guidelines set forth by a specific engine. Each search engine has their own guidelines for ranking web sites by search words.

Many rely on the use of metatags or embedded text classifying your site; some charge for the top positions. The vast and varying number of rules from each provider can make optimization a daunting, but not impossible, task for a novice, which is why you many want to consult an expert if your site is not ranked highly.

You Have Mail
Email is a powerful tool to drive traffic to your Web site. A regular newsletter can help to ensure top of mind awareness about your firm, especially before peak seasons, such as tax time, holidays or change of seasons.

Provide an easy way to sign up for this newsletter. Initially, ask for permission to send this out to your existing client base. Make sure you get the information you need to follow up with people (name, email, etc.), but don´t ask too much information to turn people off.

Then, as you meet people and network, ask them if they would like to be included too.

To prevent from harassing your prospects, make sure the information is valuable and useful and do not abuse the privilege – do not send out more than one email blast per month or any less than once a quarter, for the opposite effect.

Maintain a consistent schedule and try to provide information that will make your readers say, "Wow, I didn´t know that." Keep the content of email newsletters short, sweet and simple -- people don´t like to read through gobs of information anyway.

Offer tidbits, links to interesting resources and news and little-known-facts. Then, provide functionality that allows them to forward that newsletter to friends, family and colleagues and, if possible, provide a link, or another method, for these individuals to also subscribe.

Many prospects will appreciate email reminders such as "it´s time for an oil change," "new products that you requested are in," or a heads up on other services that you can provide to help them. People will come back if they feel you will treat them better than other firms. Email reminders can automate the process. An incentive to return to your storefront or business should be included in the message.

What Have You Done for Me Lately
Another great way to market your Web site is to offer useful, related services online, such as a home payment calculator or a list of common questions and answers. This positions your company as an expert and makes it more memorable.

It may also get people to recommend your Web site to friends. Consider making somewhat frequent changes to your site (once a quarter) and providing updates on seasonal tax information or services, reflective of your email newsletters, to encourage visitors to come back repeatedly.

Any tools or information that you offer on your site should be closely related to your business to prevent from detracting from who you are and what you can do to help your customers.

Back Scratching and Other Methods to Increase Traffic
Online links and referrals can be a great source of traffic to your web site. Aim to be visible in the places where people look for your services or products. Link to sites that list similar businesses or purchase pop up ads on appropriate Web sites (such as the business section of your online newspaper) that will link to your site.

Then, ask non-competing companies to link to you and reciprocate. The best referrals are complementary Web sites, such as relevant organizations and business sites. But, you have to provide excellent service and build partnerships to gain those referrals.

Be forthcoming with information, advice and appropriate links from your site (scratch others´ backs). This will get people to come to your site and, hopefully, remember it and you. Even in cyberspace, every good business operates off of referrals. Your Web site will have increased traffic if other Web sites refer traffic to you.

In Summary
Ensuring and promoting a professional Internet presence is a necessity today that may take some time and effort on your part or the part of a consultant. However, your online presence can provide benefits many times over that of your investment.

By keeping your site simple and focused and providing valuable information to your clients and prospects, you can put individuals´ minds at ease and offer a more interactive relationship-building experience.

You may be surprised at the benefits you find.