Resolve to Get Online

If you haven’t taken your business online yet, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. The Internet is one of the best things ever to happen to small businesses, as it gives businesses regardless of their size a virtual storefront that can easily compete with big business on a level playing field. No matter what the focus of your business is, there is a place and a market for it on the Web. Quite simply, consumers are looking for you online – either to research your business or even to purchase goods or services online – and if you’re not there, they’ll find someone else. In 2007, make sure you’re there right next to your competition – or better yet, be above them!

If you are already on the Web, Resolve to Develop Your Online Presence

If your business has already moved into the online marketplace, congratulations! You’ve taken a great first step. Now, it’s time to make sure your online presence is effective. Many small to medium sized businesses have very basic websites that act as simple online brochures. For 2007, decide for yourself that an e-brochure just isn’t enough for you, and resolve to move your website forward. Effective sites today are interactive and tailored to meet the needs of visitors to the site. In the new year, do some research and find out what your customers want out of a website – (e-business functionality? Downloadable white papers? Product photo galleries?) and make sure your website delivers on their needs.

And, make it fresh!

If you haven’t updated your website in a while, start the year out by adding fresh content to your site. Your visitors and customers will appreciate it, and so will the search engines.

Resolve to Reach Your Target Market

Can your target market find you in the major search engines? If you’ve never thought about this or defined keywords to organically optimize your website, it’s definitely time to start.

If you have optimized your site but are still not easily found, maybe you need to start the new year by researching new keywords. Have you used words or phrases that your customers would actually search for, or have you used potentially obscure ‘catch phrases’ taken from your company’s mission statement? Many businesses make this mistake, not recognizing that how they define their business is not necessarily how their customers would search for them. If you’re unsure of how to select your keywords or what words and phrases are right for your business, there is a wide variety of online tools that can help you (www.searchmarketing.yahoo.com, http://adwords.google.com, and www.webmaster-toolkit.com, just to name a few).

Getting your site found through search engines isn’t the only way you can reach your market in 2007. Why not take your business a step further by initiating an Internet marketing campaign to really reach out and get your business noticed?

Try email marketing, place an online banner ad, join a reciprocal link program to build traffic to your site, develop a public relations plan and get your press releases published online and in local print media. All of these tactics can help you make 2007 a benchmark year for your business. Push yourself and your business beyond what you ever thought possible.

Say ‘farewell’ to 2006, and ‘hello’ to the possibilities that 2007 can hold for you and your business. As the year winds on, take some time to plan the year to come, and resolve to make 2007 the year your business profits online – a year to remember!

Get some help making your Online New Year’s Resolutions today by contacting your local WSI Internet Marketing Consultant Gordon Diffey at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 01572 495007.

Start 2007 off on the right track!