From eTrade:

A great web design is not a guarantee that your online business will survive. The key to survival is the ability of customers to find your website in the first place. Online businesses require traffic for survival. Driving traffic to your website, though easier said than done, is nevertheless doable.

Like most aspects of marketing, generating traffic requires a certain amount of planning. Here are a few effective internet marketing methods that will drive traffic to your website:

1. Always promote your website by traditional means. This includes anything where you use your business name, i.e., print ads, business cards, flyers, TV and radio spots, billboards etc.

2. Search engines cannot find your site unless you submit your site’s information to them. You should submit your information to search engines on an individual basis, but this can be time consuming!

3. Post articles on various article distribution sites. By writing a review, a tip or a how-to article and then submitting them to these sites, you can generate traffic when visitors read your article and then link back to your site. Make sure to add a hypertext link at the end of the article.

4. One big boost for your website is to get noticed amongst the millions of websites. Search engine optimization (SEO) can dramatically improve the page ranking of your website. This will in turn increase traffic to your site.

5. Add a “Recommend This Site” script to your site. This feature will e-mail a link to a recipient if someone visits your website, loves it, and wants to share it with others who will also appreciate it.

Implementation of these steps will increase the traffic flow to your website. The more visitors, the more chances you have at selling your products and services! Daunted by the prospect of doing all this yourself? Then why not let Advertising Different LLC do it for you. We are at your service! www.addifferent.com

There are plenty of right and wrong ways to do things and small business owners can have a hard time finding the right ways to market their products and services. Here’s a brief overview of 5 common marketing mistakes and how to avoid them when marketing your small business:

Mistake #1: Not researching your product or service needs 

Many business owners have a wonderful idea of a product or service that is needed in the marketplace, and then spend all their money creating it. Before you spend money on your product or service, you need to research the market first to make sure there isn’t a similar product or service out there already, and to determine if there is even a need for your product or service. You must conduct market research, hold focus groups and test your target market with a small run of your product and service. This can save you a lot of money and heartache in the long run.

Mistake #2: Thinking that the product or service will market itself 

Many small business owners think their product or service is so great that it will sell itself. Unfortunately, thinking that if you build it they will come doesn’t really work. How can people flock to something they’ve never even heard of? You must consistently market your product, which means you need to create a marketing plan.  

Mistake #3: Preparing and then not taking action 

Many business owners have a fear of failing. Actually, who doesn’t have this fear? But instead of trying to prevent it, you need to follow through with your marketing plan and, as in the slogan of Nike, “Just Do It”. It’s hard at first, but you have to take the first step to travel a mile. If you fail, evaluate what went wrong, change it and try again. Thomas A. Edison said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” If he had given up, we would be in the dark right now. 

Mistake #4: Constantly changing your marketing campaign 

This happens a lot - the business owner and employees see their marketing materials day in and day out and get tired of them. Who wants to see that same old marketing campaign after six months? Your potential customers do, that’s who. Just because you’ve seen your logo a million times doesn’t mean everyone else has. If your marketing campaign is working just fine, don’t change it for the sake of change. Change your marketing campaign when it stops bringing in customers.

Mistake #5: Don’t play follow the leader with your competitors 

Yes, you should know what your competitors are doing, but you shouldn’t copy them just because it’s working for them. For instance, if your competitors are known as “low price leaders”, then don’t try to beat them out of that title - choose another like “highest quality at the lowest prices”. Find the missing quality that your competitors aren’t giving to your shared target market. Stick to your strengths in order to exploit their weaknesses. 

The best form of advertising is word-of-mouth. Yes, word-of-mouth. Your customer talks to their friends and family and those friends and family talk to their friends and family and the process continuous. 

Here is an example: ABC Store is having a 50% off sale on socks. A customer comes in and buys some socks that customer calls a couple of friends about the great sale. Those friends comes in and buys some socks and they call some friends. The process continuous. From that first customer ABC Store made at least five or more additional sales and may have have gain one or more repeat customers. 

That’s the power of word-of-mouth. Which brings us back to the advertising dilemma; How do you get that one customer into your doors in the first place to start the “word-of-mouth” process. Well the answer is simple, advertise but the process of advertising is a little bit more complicated. Where do you advertise; TV, radio, newspaper, flyers, signs, billboards, web, promotional items, cards, newsletter and printed ads?  You may say “all of it” and that would be great if you had an advertising budget of a Fortune 500 company. Then comes the question when and how? Don’t be overwhelmed about the different ways to advertise let Advertising Different help you. We’ll not only help you get the first customer through your doors but we will identify your target customer, implement marketing plan and then take action.