I’m really excited by the opportunities the Internet offers small business. What’s changed in the last decade? It’s the ease with which we can now offer goods and services to broader markets. What’s changed just in the last few years? Well, the investment required has dropped, and is now easily within reach.

So many small businesses have responded to the opportunity by getting out onto the web. But what are the results? Effective marketing has such an influence on ANY business. So if the results from a web presence aren’t strong enough, sooner or later the conversation turns to … online marketing.

Marketing online is similar to marketing ‘offline’ in some ways, and very different in others. One familiar truth remains - there are a seemingly endless variety of marketing strategies and tactics that can part you from your cash (at an alarming rate).

For example, could your business gain from effective use of … pay per click advertising, search engine optimisation and organic search rankings, link-building, email autoresponders, web copywriters, affiliates, keyword analysis, content marketing? The list goes on, and you can spend a lot of time just trying to figure out what is involved, let alone how much it costs and what benefits it might offer you.

Its not even a case of some marketing approaches are better than others - like any marketing, it depends on what you want to achieve and how you go about it. There is also a strong element of personal choice. For example, some business owners instinctively avoid the more direct forms of marketing, and prefer to focus on permission based marketing or influencing based strategies.

Whatever your personal preferences and circumstances, small business owners are going to benefit if they can sift through the options and identify what will work most effectively for them. The good news is, just because you are online you don’t need to be a technical guru, and you don’t need to learn everything at once.

Overall I’m asking you to consider this question - are you marketing effectively online? If not, could you benefit by learning more and applying specific strategies and tactics to improve your business? My take is that as the Internet continues to mature, the businesses that are good at online marketing will reap substantial benefits. So its worth putting in some effort in this area.

No doubt you’d like to be inspired rather than confused. To understand complex areas, I always find it useful to have a strong framework to organise my thoughts. So for online marketing, I propose this framework to you:

Presence	Optimise your presence on the Internet.
Traffic	Build traffic for your web presence.
Interest	Interest your prospects and engage with their buying process.
Conversion	Convert interest into sales.
Follow Up	Follow up your customers and prospects appropriately.

You won’t find this approach in any marketing text books. I’ve developed it because it helps a small business owner to look at their business online, while mapping strongly to the way ‘offline’ business works.

For example, your business will have some kind of presence (such as retail premises, office or physical catalog), and you need traffic. Once potential customers express interest in your product or service, you need to respond with appropriate information to help them decide. At some point, you succeed in converting interest to a purchase. Following up includes both customers (for after sale service or referrals) and prospects (who may still be interested in your products). The same model is very useful for an online business, although the strategies and tactics at each stage may vary substantially.

I’ll be posting more about online marketing for small business, using this 5 part model to put it all in context. Perhaps you will be inspired to step back and update/develop your Online Marketing Plan (or e-Marketing Plan). Or perhaps you’ll identify a few tactics you want to start with right away.

For those interested in going into this in more detail, I’m cross-posting to my blog at PublicityShip. At some stage I plan to offer an email based course for small business owners - if you have ideas on what you’d like to see covered, please leave a comment or send me an email.

You’ve probably come across eBooks on many occasions. Have you considered how they could be used to help market your business?

I’m currently working with a few clients on eBook related projects, and its really interesting the number of different ways they can be put to use. Here are two to get you thinking right now.

eBooks to generate traffic to your website
If you operate a website and want do drive more traffic, publishing an eBook can be a great way to attract the attention of a niche audience. Most small businesses aren’t after huge volumes of traffic - what we want are visitors to our sites that are interested in something specifically relevant to us. So publishing an eBook on a niche topic can be a way to get yourself noticed to a very specific audience.

Once people notice your eBook and want to download it, its a good time to ask for an email address and if they want to opt in to receive further information on this topic.

eBooks to generate revenue
Even though I’ve known about the strong case for eBooks for some time, I was blown away by 37 Signals and Getting Real. Their book is great, but what was really fascinating was their comparison with another book they had published previously (and sold 8,000 copies, a very successful book). Bottom line, by the time they had about 10,000 people pay for the book online (and about 10% paid for a ‘10 copy’ licence), they had made over $200,000 in profit from Getting Real, compared to $11,000 profit from Defensive Design (their prior book).

As they say, a great set of numbers.

Now 37 Signals are a high profile company and great marketers, and 10,000 online transactions might not be everyone’s target. But the profitability is around 20x greater, and that alone makes it worth considering how you might generate revenue from eBooks.

The mechanics of selling an eBook online aren’t that complicated. If you need some ideas, get in touch.

… or is it?

Looking from the outside in, it seems easy. All you have to do is make your product or service look appealing, advertise in the right places and there you have it.

At least, so I thought a few months ago. But I have to admit to being wrong.

Marketing is hard.

Take online marketing - something I’ve been trying to get my head around over the past few weeks.

My expertise lies in producing effective content and publishing, or getting it published. This works fine when I’m talking to editors, journalists, and face to face with potential clients.

Our website is starting to look pretty sharp and our blog’s going pretty well, attracting links and comments.

Site visitors and blog subscribers are on the up.

But it ain’t that simple. Window-shoppers are one thing - converted customers come much harder.

Taking those window-shoppers by the hand, drawing them through your site on a journey of discovery and convincing them to click that order button - now that’s the art of online marketing.

Then there’s SEO and a whole world of analytics to help you optimise these opportunities - that’s the science of online marketing.

From there you might move into pay-per-click advertising, managing databases and auto-response emailing (we use aweber.com), e-newsletters, reciprocal linking, online referral programs, creating and distributing effective offers.

Then you remember that there’s a real world out there too - working with the media remains important, as do opportunities for networking, joint marketing initiatives, giving presentations.

You can do it all yourself. Here’s one lady who is - and this is one of many blogs that can help you do it.

But if you’re exhausted by just reading this, don’t be too proud to ask for help.

A good story isn’t enough - it’s how you tell it.

It’s well known in psychology circles that you need to say something three times for the other person to get it.

So when you’re marketing your wares, telling someone once isn’t going to be enough. Telling them twice might not be enough either (although it can work). But tell them three times and you have a pretty good chance.

This doesn’t mean saying exactly the same things three times in a row. You need to communicate your message three times in a different way each time.

So the first contact with a prospect might be during a presentation you’re giving on “How to …”

The second time would be a follow-up email to your presentation participants offering a special deal on your services.

The third time could be any number of things - another special offer, or a news story about you which you can copy and distribute to your list, or a competition for your prospects to enter and win, or a newsletter with a discount for referrals.

We saw this in action recently when we received an enquiry from a potential client who had first experienced our workshop for small business - then received our special offer - and finally seen information on our new Awards for tourism operators.
However you decide to do it - saying something three times in different ways to the same person will bring results. Twice might do it but three times increases your chances exponentially.

The message is, don’t give up.

As a small businessperson, the question of size will be central to your life.

I’m around five feet two, which makes me a small businessperson in more ways than one and means that smallness has always been an issue for me.

When you’re small, it seems as if the big guys are always looking down on you. Some will look right over your head. And others will find it hard to take you seriously.

Those who have achieved height might be inclined to take you under their wing, to patronise, nurture or control you. They may assume that smallness implies immaturity, naivety, perhaps even weakness.

But in reality, being small - whether as a person or a business - often means that what you lack in size you make up for in personality.

I’ve learned to overcome the challenges of smallness by:

• understanding that personality is more important than size
• putting my hand up or raising my voice (literally and metaphorically) to be noticed in a crowd
• building resilience against those who try to control, patronise or cut me out of the picture altogether

In a business context, if a bigger businessperson tells you your business model can’t work, it’s most likely because your smallness is threatening to them.
If this happens to you - which it most likely will at some time in your small business career - remember the rules of rocket science: stick your hand in the air, dazzle them with your personality, and show them not only that it can be done, but exactly how to do it.

According to The Australian (Oct 28, Jeni Harvie, “Why Sellling Onlie is Taking Off”), its the “age of ecommerce and its booming”.

She reports ACNielsen estimates that the Australian online shopping market totalled over $7B, growing at 40% per annum and with Australia in the top 15 countries in the world for online buying.

Her report quotes instances of Australians buying a 36m motor yacht for $37million and luxury world cruises for $253,000.

Food for thought … are you looking at eCommerce?

Every entrepreneur (in fact every employer) should read this post, which is far more upbeat than the title suggests. It needs no further comment:

Knocking the Exuberance out of Employees

While surfing my Google Alerts and newsreader, looking for new small business content, I came across two useful new business blogs: Small Business Blogging Scout by self-made blogging ‘infopreneur’ Hendry Lee, and The Zone Read, which I like as much for the design as the content.

They both blog pragmatically about business blogging, and include posts on the challenge of finding time to blog - which is probably what attracted me to them, having realised my last post for Small Business Inspiration was 12 days ago.

This isn’t for lack of inspiration, but lack of time. Yet how many other things do I manage to fit into my day, combining our small business with studying and bringing up children? It’s not as if I’m not used to juggling lots of small tasks.

I suspect one of the reasons many small business operators place blogging low on their priority list is because we still view this form of communication as a hobby rather than a business strategy - a personal indulgence instead of a marketing tool.

But scanning the web over the past few days has revealed several examples of the continuing exponential rise in awareness of the benefits blogging for small businesses - not just here in Australia, but most notably in India and the US.

No small business serious about growth can afford to place blogging at the bottom of its ‘to do’ list any longer, much less ignore it altogether.

Hendry Lee’s blog includes a list of Business Blogging Myths that are a useful reference for those who are still in doubt about the blogging commitment. And his post, What to Blog on Slow Days, is handy to keep nearby when blog-fade hits.

So get out your diary, find a half-hour slot and write down ‘Time to Blog’!

An article in the Desert Sun - a Palm Springs, California paper - attracted my attention recently. Small Business Finds Profit Internationally is the story of one small US company that set up a European base by working remotely with an employee.

The article aims to show how easily a small company can set up physical offices in other parts of the world. More importantly, it shows how small businesses are realising how Internet media can enable them to think globally.

If we can employ staff at a distance, we can use the same technology to work with clients or customers anywhere in the world.

The beauty of small businesses is that they are perfectly poised to make the Internet work for them. Choose a niche product or service that can be shipped or supplied nationally or globally, and you’re in business. Leverage Internet options to market effectively online, and you’re likely to stay in business.
Boston Globe columnist, Penelope Trunk, recently enthused about the benefits of virtual companies: low overheads enable start-ups to get going faster, working online allows small businesses to compete on a level playing field, and the joys of working remotely are clear.

The Palm Springs employee decided to telecommute from Dublin and it worked. Now start imagining your ideal place to live …

How we do it
Measured in terms of number of employees, our business is small - very small. And yet I take great pride in describing PublicityShip as a national company. Because we are. Not only that but we also have the potential to ‘go global’ without setting up any physical offices.

Interesting though when my listener asks - so where are you based? This always throws me because, while it’s a natural question to ask, in virtual reality, it isn’t relevant.

Our geographical office is a place for Glenn, Julia, Shane and I to keep our computers so we don’t clutter up our houses. It’s where we get together to brainstorm and celebrate. But our journalists all have their own independent bases, and as far as clients go, all these physical locations are pretty much off the radar.

This is because we’re an online, or virtual, company - like so many other small businesses springing up all over the web. But being an online company doesn’t just mean having a website.
All our services are offered and conducted online or by phone conference - leading to time and cost savings that ultimately benefit our clients. This works particularly well for a service company like ours. But businesses selling physical products can have an online store with payment facilities. Even perishable produce can be frozen and transported - almost anything is possible.

So, where are we based? At the risk of sounding facetious, my answer is now simply:
www.publicityship.com.au

For those businesses that use a blogsite or website to derive revenue, looking at different sources of web traffic - and how to build build it profitably - is worth analysing.

Small business websites don’t need lots of traffic for it to be profitable. If you are selling a real product or service and not just worried about flashing as many ads at people as possible, you are probably interested in attracting quality rather than quantity. Buyers rather than tyre kickers. New clients rather than just ‘eyeballs’.

So, lets have a look at four sources of traffic for your product/service oriented website, and see if this triggers ideas for you in how to make your own blogsite/website more profitable. By the way, a blogsite is an integrated blog/website. The blog component is useful for acquiring new prospects, and for building trust to maximise conversion to clients. The website is for describing your products/services, providing testimonials and letting your clients buy from you.

Publicity (in the real world). This is easy to understand - get your web address out to people in the real world. If you established a new store or service delivery centre, you would make sure you publicised it. So think of your web presence the same way. Get the web address out to people on your business cards, in letters, on postcards, and in directories (ever think of the Yellow Pages as just a big list of links, sorted by category?).

Better still, get publicity for your website wherever you can. Have you officially launched your website? Does your website do something unique? Let your local newspapers know, at the very least. If your website doesn’t currently act as an additional sales outlet, why not figure out how to adapt your product/service so you can open a new storefront for all of Australia?

Advertising. There are no doubt very many different ways to advertise on the Internet. But only one that matters for small business. Google AdWords. Just go to www.adwords.google.com.au, sign up, and start advertising. There is a useful guide to help you understand the concepts at Perry Marshall’s website (sign up for the 5 day guide). While I’m not a big fan of advertising overall, there is no doubt AdWords give you a quick and inexpensive way to find out whether Internet advertising will drive effective traffic for you. In terms of serious magazine/broadcast advertising - if you’ve got the budget for it, no problems, go knock yourself out. But typically small business finds it hard to benefit from branding style advertising, as it requires such a major investment.

Search Engines. Someone is searching for widgets .. you sell widgets … they find you on Google … and click through to your site! Fantastic dream, not always feasible for small business. But nevertheless, there are a range of things you can do to help get your share of search engine traffic. There are a lot of people who can advise you on SEO (or Search Engine Optimization … and I use the American spelling because … they usually are!). You will of course make up your own mind. A good site to get a feel for what the SEO crew do is the Wikipedia/seo page.

Personally, I am a believer in 80:20. That is, 80% of search engine results will come from focussing on 20% of the right things … namely, produce good content (blogs are ideal for this) and make sure you are talking about the right topics (aka keywords). Think about this for a moment, as the ‘right topics’ for you aren’t necessarily just the most popular ones. If you select keywords that everyone else uses … that is good, but you have tough competition before the search engines find you. If you find more precise topics, you have less competition, but possibly find that the people who do find you (less of them) are more valuable to you (because they are more relevant to you). I like placing a bet each way here, and developing a strategy based on the popular keywords for your product/service, as well as some very specific/unique keywords that may appeal to a very select audience. Maybe you can pay an SEO consultant to find a better approach than this .. if you do, please let me know. Until then, I think there is a reasonable body of evidence to support this 80:20 approach to SEO.

Links. This is quite possibly the hardest category to crack, but the most rewarding. If you create good, relevant content, you will start to interest other bloggers and website authors, and they will link to you. This is a powerful way for people to find out about you. Easy to say, hard to do for small business. Particularly as its quality, not quantity that matters. Building a strong base of quality inbound links is a substantial task.

Because the rules of the game here aren’t to build traffic or build page rank. If all you do is try to make money via ads, that might make sense. But if you are in the business of selling products/services, you need quality links that have a high chance of converting into new clients. So think carefully about what sites you would like to link to you. If you are regularly focussing on developing a small number of high quality links that are designed to bring you revenue, then you will be way ahead.

So there it is. Four sources of traffic to think about - are they relevant for your business? I’m sure there are more you have thought of, so drop me an email, I’m interested in your opinion!