Internet Marketing for Small Business Owners: a Beginner’s Guide to Selling Online

By Claire Bullerwell

A small business may not have the manpower or resources as a large corporation but with current technology and a broadband internet access, a small business owner can scale up and play with the big boys.  Internet marketing for a small business can be affordable and reach the right type of prospects.

The bare minimum for any small business is internet presence via a website.A well presented website shows what the business can offer, easily loads and is easily navigable.The website colors should be easy on the eye, and does not interfere with the text on the page.  The aim is to inform the internet user about the business and what it offers.The web site should sell the business but also itself, making the interested visitor to keep coming back to the page.

A website address should also be easy to remember, as well as easy to find.There are many imaginative ways to name a website, but it still should sound like the business name.Finding the web site from scratch needs sound search engine optimization. 

Depending on the services or merchandise being offered, a shopping cart may or may not be added to the site.E-commerce payments would include bank transfers, postal money orders, checks or credit card payments.  For these, there are third-party plug-ins from the internet.

When a buyer searches the internet for a product, he uses a search engine like Google or Yahoo!  Search engine optimization is a process where the website is developed and prepared in order to have good web-site search results.

A more interactive internet marketing tool is a blog.  A blog (short for “web log”) gives the blogger and small business owner a promotional venue for products and services.It can also show the small business owner’s technical skill on the business.  Or be a marketing tool describing the latest specials or promotional offers.

PPC search engine internet marketing (ppc=pay per click) is a very favorable form of advertising for small and large businesses wanting to advertise online.It is very cost-effective and you can test your marketing advertisements out for little money.

Podcasting is a relatively small niche which the small business owner can avail of.  However, not all businesses are a good fit for podcasting.  A travel agency, a flower shop, or a bookstore podcast would entice the listeners to availing of the services the business offers.  A podcast on a specific topic would help market technical consultant services.

An affiliate network is a more advanced form of marketing tool for a small business.An affiliate network gives the small business a relatively quick way of growing reach and acquiring website traffic.  In it’s simplest form, affiliate network is a form of commission based selling.The affiliate earns by either sending internet users (also called “traffic”) to the business web-site.There are numerous forms of commission-based schemes based on clicks, page views and actual sales. 

Another advantage of this tool is that the business owner does not have to manage the affiliates, aside from writing commission checks.The affiliate signs up on their own and can then place the ads and banners to their websites.  There are third-party sites which do the tracking for affiliate networks which cater to specific products and services.

However, there are so many affiliate programs on the Net today, affiliates are getting very choosey when deciding on the best affiliate programs to join in order to receive the best commission available.

It would then be up to the affiliate to promote and advertise the small business’ products/service.  One popular method is affiliate article marketing which is really taking off at the moment.  This is where affiliates write and distribute articles to advertise and promote the merchants’ products.

Although the methods and tools for internet marketing may have varying degrees of technical expertise needed, these tools are available.  The small business owner can choose which tool is appropriate for his business in terms of reach, target market and internet presence.  The small business owner is not limited to the immediate community and dependent on traditional methods of reaching out to the market.