Posted on November 24, 2008 by admin

Are you a small business owner looking to create an online presence? Maybe you own a jewelry store, an electronics store, or work as a child carer from home? Whatever type of business you have, if you are wondering in what way you can use the Internet to increase your business presence and gain more customers, then peruse through this article before you go out and spend money on a web designer to put together a site for you.

Although it may not be your core business, it pays to educate yourself a little bit first before you invest any $$. This article will give you a grip on the basics of web marketing before you go out and hire someone to put together a website for you so that you are not flying blind. It will also educate you about a number of things you can do yourself, which you may choose to do on your own to save you the cost of outsourcing.

Some Facts About Blogs

If you don’t mind providing regular updates and news relating to your business, you could consider installing a blog in lieu of a website. A blog works like a diary. Each entry is time and date stamped. Here is a blog about finance as an example. See how each post is dated and note the optional corner peel ad in the top right hand corner. You don’t need to know any html or programming to use a blog. Once installed, you just login to a control panel, type what you want to say into a box, and click “Publish”.

Blogs are also very easy to setup. You might even try your hand at creating one yourself. You can get very affordable cPanel webhosting these days beginning at $4.95 per month. cPanel hosting comes with a feature called Fantastico, which enables you to install a blog with a few clicks of a mouse. A decent hosting provider will be able to assist you to install your blog as well, even if you have very limited knowledge. After all, it’s in their interest to secure your business.

Web 2.0 Websites

Another way to get the word out about your business without creating a website, is to put together a free page on one of the many Web 2.0 content sites such as Squidoo.com and Hubpages.com. The following is an example Squidoo lens review of Success University. These are even easier to setup than a blog as they don’t require any technical know-how at all, leaving you to focus on your content and writing whatever it is you wish to write to your chosen audience. Pages on Web 2.0 sites also frequently appear very high in the search engine results pages, enhancing even further the means by which greater numbers of people can find out about your business and what you have to offer.

Social Networking Websites

MySpace, Facebook and Linked In are amongst the three most trafficked social networking websites. As with the Web 2.0 websites, social networking websites also work on pre-coded styles and templates, removing the need to have any html knowledge and allowing you to save the funds you might have otherwise spent on a web designer and invest that elsewhere.

Search Engine Optimization

Once you have setup either a blog, Web2.0 or Social Networking page, you will want to ensure that your page obtains a high profile in search engine results, thereby delivering more traffic and awareness of your business. This is where Search Engine Optimization, comes in. Don’t be daunted. You can learn about search engine optimization by taking a loan of a book from your local public library or spending a bit of time researching it online. There are a plethora of free websites containing information on search engine optimization, as well as paid membership sites such as PortalFeeder that will assign a mentor to you to assist you in your search engine optimization knowledge and website creation efforts. There are some really simple things you can do that will boost the presence of your website and drive traffic to it.