How can small and medium businesses use the Internet for marketing and increasing their sales?

[T D S]

Can you give me ideas about the different online marketing options that are available to small and medium sized businesses. Can you share your experience if you have used any of these methods for your business. How successful was the campaign? Do you think that the returns from online marketing is worth the effort?

[Cecilia]

You can get plenty of ideas on various online marketing options available to small and medium sized businesses at:

http://takealeaf.com

How successful each type of online marketing will be really depends upon the type of business.

One of the most important things to do though is to build an email marketing list so that you can continue to market to your existing customers. Relationship-based marketing works extremely well for almost every business with an online presence.

Social media marketing is an inexpensive option that can be incredibly effective for all kinds of businesses, so it's well worth exploring too.

[Cashgifting Vip]

Without getting to technical, writing articles on your core subject is vital. Getting to know your customers is very important because no one trust anyone anymore so you will have to be more transparent.

[Paul]

Hello TDS,

There are a lot of strategies/facilities/ways of promoting,
getting leads available to You as Brick & mortar business
wanting an efficient online promotional presence.

I have been through Your dilemma during the last many years
and understand it. At the beginning I used many co's and
systems, but there was always something missing and
success was sparse. Many were outright rip offs.

When I started out I paid out over £700 to a company that
promised promotion, SEO, all sorts of marketing and a flow
of leads. I got next to nothing and lost the money. Then spent
the next 5yrs studying all that so I do not have to rely on or trust
anybody.

As I am sure You are aware, or will become aware, a massive
investment of time and money is required, much of it wasted
on big let downs, & finding out how much badness there is
but there when trying to find reliable people.

A Real, Honest, Reliable company to handle the promotion for
You is almost impossible to find .

Now I could refer You to many companies that are relatively
good, but struggle to refer a few that "tick all the boxes".

Having said all that, and if You are still with Me, there is
absolutely no substitute for having the knowledge Yourself.
You can then outsource it, but if You do not get at least a
descent grounding Yourself You will never get what You want.

You will find that if You get good quality economical training
on the online promotion of Your business, after a while You
will start to see how easy and incredibly valuable it can be,
and never look back.

You will then hold an incredibly lucrative power. You will save
Yourself years of wasted money, heart and brain ache.

If for any reason You feel that You absolutely cannot do it
Yourself, then I would suggest getting a member of Your
family, staff, or a friend etc to do the learning for You. They
will then hold a very valuable power to help You and
themselves.

Sorry to go on, but I know how important it is, and how
people tend to want to put blinkers on and throw money
to make the problem go away and the customers come in.

Unless You, or someone You trust gets the basic knowledge
first, and Then You outsource it with power that insider
knowledge gives You, I believe You will lose.

Social Media Marketing such as FaceBook is The Now and The
Future of Online/Internet Marketing, it is massive, along with
many other strategies like using ClickBank affiliates, obviously
email marketing etc .

I really do wish You the best of outcome,

Paul.