10 Minutes To Small Business Website Marketing

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Small business website marketing is an absolutely essential part of your business—but if you take just 10 minutes and use the tips in this article to set up your marketing correctly, your marketing will practically run itself. Website marketing is never the same for any business as you might have a bricks and mortar business to market, or maybe an Internet only website business. These are two very different businesses and you will have to pick out the best marketing ideas to suit your business.

Think Before You Act

The number one problem I see with small businesses on the Internet is that their founders started the business without any clear marketing goals. This is very easy to do—business founders very often fall in love with their product. They know the product is good, so they assume people will come to their website to get it.

But people won’t look for something they don’t know exists. Marketing has to be part of your total business plan, so please take a moment and think about how you can use the following techniques to integrate marketing into your website.

Buying Advertisements

This does not mean plastering advertising on your website, it means advertising on other websites to market yours.

The easiest way to advertise your website is by buying advertisements—but for most businesses this is a very cost-ineffective way to attract website visitors.

Advertisement effectiveness can be calculated using a very simple formula. First look at your accounting records to figure out your website’s net income. Then use your website statistics program to figure out how many people have visited your website. Divide the net income by the number of visitors. For example: $1,000 net income divided by 10,000 visitors = $0.10 net income per visitor.

Following the example above, if you pay more than a dime per click in a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertisement program, you’re going to lose money.

Using Ads to Test Small Business Website Marketing

But if advertisements are not cost effective small business website marketing tools on their own, they can help you quickly and cheaply test several marketing strategies on your website.

First, you need a goal—an action you want your website customers to take. This can be buying a product, signing up for a mailing list, leaving a comment, or anything else which you can use to make money.

Second, you need a way to track over short periods of time how many people see your marketing and how many people take your goal action. Most websites I work with use Google Analytics Goals for this.

Third, you need the marketing you want to test. We’ll discuss marketing ideas in the next section.

Finally, you need to create advertisements which direct visitors to your marketing. When the visitors read the marketing, they’ll either perform the goal action or they’ll go to some other site.

If a large percentage of your visitors perform the goal action after reading a particular piece of marketing, then you know that marketing technique is successful for your business and you can start using it to promote your business. On the flip side, if the marketing doesn’t work, you can dump it immediately without wasting more resources on it.

6 Specific Small Business Website Marketing Ideas

1.   Guest posts: a lot of small businesses write guest blog posts to increase their page rank, but a guest post can also drive traffic to your site. To test whether guest posts are effective at attracting traffic, create an advertisement to the guest post and track how many clicks the advertisement gets versus how many people click through the guest post to your site.

2.   Quality content: write a super-high quality blog post or article for your site and, at the bottom, ask people to rate the post. (You may want to try several different post rating systems—in my experience, some of them get more clicks than others.) Use your website statistics program to track whether or not people who rate the post highly are likely to visit other articles on your site and whether they’re likely to come back the next day or week. For rapid testing, create an advertisement which drives people to that high-quality article on your site.

3.   Local vs. Global: see which geographic regions make you the most money. Create a squeeze page—a page that sells a particular product or encourages people to sign up for a mailing list—and then place an advertisement which is shown to just a particular geographic region. When you find which region makes you the most money, direct the rest of your marketing efforts at attracting traffic from that region.

4.   Keyword testing: before you choose site keywords, see whether you can convert the traffic they attract by placing an advertisement using the keyword phrase which points to your squeeze page. Test several related keywords and focus your site on the keyword which gets the most sales or sign-ups on your squeeze page.

5.   Premium testing: one of the best ways to get people to sign up for a free newsletter or other subscription is by offering them a premium (free) report or ebook, but it makes a big difference what title you choose for your report—some report titles will get more sign-ups than others. Before you pay someone hundreds of dollars to write your report (or before you spend dozens of hours writing it yourself), create five or ten different squeeze pages each for a different report, even though none of the reports exist. Use advertisements to direct traffic at those squeeze pages to see which report gets the most sign-ups. When someone signs up for any of the reports, print a brief error message explaining that you’re having the report rewritten and that you’ll email it to them as soon as it’s finished—and then, when you have your report written, follow up by sending them the report under the most successful title.

I do this kind of testing all the time as it puts you on the spot. One time I added for videos as a bonus to a product that I was selling. I just wanted to test if the bonus would make the product sell more. Well it did and I was rushing around trying to create for videos for the bonus. It was quite funny but it worked! There is nothing like putting your foot in it first to get the job done.

6.   Customer stealing: look at the advertisements on your competitors’ websites and create advertisements with the same keywords which direct to your website. These are the perfect customers for you—not only do they read your type of website, but they’re willing to click on advertisements (which most people on the Web rarely do). Work really hard to make these people recurring customers by, for example, signing them up to your mailing list.

Conclusion

None of the ideas in this article take more than 10 minutes to set up, but they can all quickly help you build great small business website marketing.

33 Comments

1. 

   Nadia Barbara

   January 30, 2013 at 7:43 am

   I agree that is essential to think before you act when doing a website marketing for your business. Before you start implementing your web marketing strategies it is crucial that you have already identified your goals and objectives. This will help you determine the necessary measures to undertake in order to accomplish your desired results.
   Nadia Barbara recently posted..SEO Tip: Google Analytics

   Reply
2. 

   Sagar nandwani

   January 24, 2013 at 11:15 am

   well mam as in field i am from technology and under graduating B.tech in CS Engineer but i am also having a small scale business of event management can you give some ideas that how can i promote my event company on web world..
   If you want you can mail me also… please help me if you can.

   Reply
3. 

   Purnima

   January 11, 2013 at 6:46 am

   Well said.
   Business founders mostly fall in love with their product and start business without any clear marketing goals. Keyword testing and guest posts bolster traffic and it further improves visibility and credibility .Great advice.

   Reply
4. 

   Pamela Philips

   January 2, 2013 at 6:38 am

   Hi there! Online marketing, also known as online advertisement, internet marketing, online marketing or e-marketing, is the marketing and promotion of products or services over the Internet. Thanks
   Pamela Philips recently posted..High PR Backlinks – Getting Them

   Reply
5. 

   Daniel

   December 17, 2012 at 9:26 am

   Well done,

   Everything in this resources page is specifically for small businesses. inbound marketing can help you manage expenses, increase your marketing reach and make sure your customers can find your products and services.
   Daniel recently posted..Bad Links – How to Tackle this Problem

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6. 

   Ed

   December 14, 2012 at 10:13 am

   All useful information in this post.
   I think quality content is always going to be useful in driving people to your site and encouraging them to return.
   That should be quality content in your blog, in your guest posts and in your free report that you give away.

   Reply
7. 

   Werry Adnan

   December 8, 2012 at 8:47 am

   Quality content is one of my favorite strategy to develop my small business. I believed that content is the king. If we have great quality content that are suitable with costumer needs, our website become trusted by consumer.

   Thanks mitz for sharing. I will try your points above
   Werry Adnan recently posted..Jual Penambah Berat Badan

   Reply
   • 

     mitz

     December 23, 2012 at 1:13 am

     Yes content is important in every way. Without it there is no value in your website.:)
     mitz recently posted..Website Traffic Checklist – 25 Concrete Ways to Get Website Traffic (dofollow)

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8. 

   Maja

   December 6, 2012 at 1:34 pm

   For any successful business plan plays vital role. Guest post is one of the main tool to get traffic,to promote the product and to enlist the site in organic searches.
   Maja recently posted..Reasons for Short Haircuts

   Reply
9. 

   CJ

   December 6, 2012 at 6:39 am

   Great tips, Mitz! Have you read The 4-hour Work Week by Tim Ferris? He’s a big proponent of testing with PPC before rolling out your ideas full scale. If you haven’t read it, I recommend picking up a copy. I’m building a small site right now where I will run a PPC campaign to determine if I should move forward with a physical product production. If I can “close” enough sales I’ll know I have a good product on my hands. Cheers!
   CJ recently posted..A Quick Excel Trick All Marketers Should Know (dofollow)

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   • 

     mitz

     December 8, 2012 at 10:03 am

     Yes I have read that book. Great read. I agree PPC works well too see if a niche is viable.. I studied this in the early days..Now I use my niche to find products that are needed.. For example I have one article on a site that never stops with traffic..I then turn that article topic into a product. These opportunities come up all the time when you have huge websites…

     Reply
10. 

    Mehedi

    December 4, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    I agree about having a plan when you start a business or website. If you don’t have specific goals, If not they will leave in 3 seconds. As you said, 10-15 minutes are enough for each idea.
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    Mehedi recently posted..Oxyelite Pro Reviews updated Sat Dec 1 2012 10:23 am EST

    Reply
11. 

    aayna

    December 1, 2012 at 1:11 am

    Hi Mitz,
    A successful online business depends to a large extent on the content and the right keyword selection. If these aspects along with the ones mentioned in this post are done honestly and seriously, success will automatically come. Thanks for the share.
    aayna recently posted..Network Letter Bin

    Reply
    • 

      mitz

      December 23, 2012 at 1:16 am

      I agree AAyna. Success is not far away when you try to do things the right way. Having the right keywords and content is a great start.

      Reply
12. 

    Martin

    November 30, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Hi, your post is very well specified and I agree with you. But according to my experience the key to success is analyze the kind of final costumers and whole the marketing shall be based on this result. I know its not only for a online marketing, but mainly in this sort there is hundreds of advertising options and if you don’t know your costumers platform, it can happen you don’t even reach them. Anyway thanks for sharing your ideas.

    Reply
13. 

    cutekavya

    November 29, 2012 at 6:33 am

    Everything in this resources page is specifically for small businesses. inbound marketing can help you manage expenses, increase your marketing reach and make sure your customers can find your products and services.

    Reply
14. 

    Rajkumar Jonnala

    November 28, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    hi,
    great helpful ideas . I really like your post and your way to describe it. Explore the ideas is to explore the world business. Keep it Up
    ..
    Rajkumar Jonnala recently posted..Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Phones

    Reply
15. 

    Julia Spencer

    November 28, 2012 at 11:58 am

    I guess that the last point about Customer stealing is a dishonest way….but it’s business, so it can be probably suitable

    Julia Spencer’s recent post.. 25 Standout Drupal Templates by ThemeForest Authors

    Reply
16. 

    Jakes

    November 28, 2012 at 8:59 am

    For an online business, one needs to do some research. Identify the keywords and so on. And, if you are going for an advertising campaign, like you pointed out, it’s always good to geographical area where the potential is high. After this research, write accordingly.

    It was good tips. Nice post
    Jakes recently posted..Gmail to incorporate Google Drive to allow 10GB attachment

    Reply
17. 

    Jon

    November 27, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    If you run a small local business, consider advertising in hyperlocal websites. These can be a goldmine. For example, I do some marketing for a few local businesses and found a hyperlocal website that receives 30,000 unique visitors per month … 85% of them local. The ad rates were extremely reasonable. I’m presently working on setting up a featured article for the site. It doesn’t get more focused than this (other than paying for Adwords).
    Jon recently posted..This Agency Theme Review Reveals Non-Obvious Features that Make this Theme So Great

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    • 

      Mitz

      November 28, 2012 at 7:36 am

      I have a few locally based sites that have highly targeted traffic. Advertising there works well as the followers are interested in anything in their area.

      Reply
18. 

    Ali zia

    November 27, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Very useful tips are give here. Before launching any of your product you must have a strong marketing campaign and also a back up plan if you have these two then apply the above methods given in the post then definitely you would be successful.
    Ali zia recently posted..Three tips to write impressive articles in no time

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19. 

    Marc

    November 27, 2012 at 1:47 pm

    I think quality content is the most important thing before all others. Readers will see amazing article on my site and will be satisfied. If not they will leave in 3 seconds. As you said, 10-15 minutes are enough for each idea.
    Marc recently posted..Teeth Bleaching Trays (dofollow)

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20. 

    Googma Sansar

    November 27, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Wow thank your for your best ideas. small business websites do not have huge money for promotional activities but your ideas help to get promotional activities.
    Googma Sansar recently posted..Social Media campaign of Barack Obama in Presidential Election 2012

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21. 

    angelina dom

    November 27, 2012 at 6:18 am

    I agreed. some of the above points are very important there. i’ll go with content i must say because content is very important for each post as that is king for me.

    Reply
22. 

    Sai Krishna

    November 27, 2012 at 4:06 am

    Guest posting in related niche blogs always helps to improve our business via blog, recently because of guest posts I got 2 clients for link building. My business is seo, so all your tips very important and useful for me. Thanks for sharing.
    Sai Krishna recently posted..Top 5 Best Omegle.com Like Alternatives Websites

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23. 

    Lance

    November 26, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    I agree about having a plan when you start a business or website. If you don’t have specific goals, your outcome will really be ineffective. It looks like this site has a major goal of getting subscribers and is executing it well!
    Lance recently posted..How Much Can I Spend on a House Calculator List

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24. 

    Elena

    November 26, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    Great list of marketing ideas! I think some of them might take more than 10 minutes though. I guess it depends on your level of proficiency with websites and software. I really like your squeeze page idea!
    Elena recently posted..Best Money Saving Tips in Retirement

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25. 

    Julian King

    November 26, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    There are many techniques that can be used to attract customers, but from my experience, guest posting on related sites works best. If we are good writers and tackle an interesting subject, we can enhance the value of the brand we are promoting.
    Julian King recently posted..Utility Shed Plans (dofollow)

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26. 

    Dave Lawson

    November 26, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    Wow Mitz, that’s a great lot of useful tips. Some are unique , never heard of them before.
    I’ll be coming back for more later..
    Dave Lawson recently posted..zirconia rings

    Reply
27. 

    Swet

    November 26, 2012 at 9:57 am

    Online marketing is the game of keywords If your keyword collection is correct the no one can stop you to become the winner of this game.And also with this Email and social media also plays a vital part in the online marketing process.
    Swet recently posted..Resources

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28. 

    Santosh

    November 26, 2012 at 7:18 am

    Great and very important post. Think of your website as your store front online. But rather than having maybe a few hundred or thousand people walk or drive by each day, there are literally millions of people searching for what you have to offer, pretty much looking for you online.
    Santosh recently posted..Bayside Water Taxi Miami Beach – BiscaynExpress.Com

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29. 

    Aasma

    November 26, 2012 at 6:47 am

    Online Marketing success depends upon choosing the right keywords, so you need to decide your keywords after doing proper research. Email and Social Media Marketing play crucial part for your online marketing process, so you should consider them seriously.
    Aasma recently posted..MLM Software Developers (dofollow)

    Reply

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