| By :
Steve Shaw
Maybe you’ve been in business for many years, or perhaps you’re just getting started--in either case you need to have a website. You already know the obvious reason’s why: *A website gives your business credibility--when a potential customer is considering using your services, they can be reassured to your professionalism, your experience, and your ability to do whatever they need by looking at your website. *A website works in conjunction with other marketing tools, such as newspaper, the telephone book, radio and television. But did you know that having and marketing a website can actually draw in more customers on its own? Your website can bring in customers who don’t even know who you are. These are people who are in desperate need of your services who have no idea that you are the one that they are looking for. How do these potential customers find you if they don’t know who you are? Well, they will go to Google and type in their location and their need (Miami dry cleaner, London bakery, etc). Then they are greeted with a list of websites that satisfy their search. Most of the time a person will look at the websites that are at the top of the results list, and consequently the websites at the top will receive more visitors and more customers. Makes you want to be at the top of Google’s list, doesn’t it? You did a great thing by creating a website, and now your job is to market your site so that it rises up Google’s list so that your target customers can find you when they search online. Sound technical? Do you feel like this is starting to get over your head? Actually, you are much more familiar with this concept than your realize. When you started your local business, you carefully chose your location, right? If you’re situated at a busy intersection with people bustling right outside your door everyday, you will get more customers. But if you’ve set up shop in an isolated area, the only people who will find you are the ones who already know you are there. There is not a great chance for growth if your business is in an isolated area. Why? Because where business is concerned, location is everything. The same is true of your website on the internet. Just like you want your real life business to be located on the busy street corner, so you want your website to be prominently located on the busiest street corner in town. Google is that busy corner. Being positioned at the #1 spot (or even the front page) of Google when people type in “London bakery” (or whatever your business and location are) is like having a commercial air during the Super Bowl or the World Cup. Everybody is watching, so it’s a business owner’s dream to have a commercial run during an extremely popular event. The bright side of marketing on the internet is that the costs are minimal, if not free. Yes, if you choose the right marketing tool, you can actually market your site yourself on a shoestring budget and watch your website rise up the rankings in Google. For local business owners, the most popular and effective marketing tool is called Article Marketing. With Article Marketing you will write articles on your subject of expertise, submit them to publishers, and then the publishers will post your articles on their websites. Each article that you write will include what is called a resource box--a brief author bio that tells a little about you and your business and gives a link to your website. In the resource box, your website address forms a clickable link that readers of your article can use to easily reach your website. The link in your resource box also serves the purpose of influencing your website’s ranking in Google--this is what you’re after! Do you have a new appreciation for how your website can bring you more customers? Are you ready to start marketing your own website with Article Marketing?
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