The power of Online Marketing in expanding revenues and reaping higher profit margins has been proven time and again. Successful companies like Amazon.com, Priceline.com and Ebay epitomize the new breed of businesses.

Online marketing is not only for the big companies. On the contrary, it is considered as the ideal channel for startup and small businesses irrespective if you have a brick-and-mortar firm. Indeed, venturing into internet marketing is inevitable to survival and growth of your small business.

Indisputable Reasons Why You Need Internet Marketing for Small Business

• People factor. Most people prefer to search goods or services via Internet instead of using the slow, age-old yellow pages. Moreover, brick-and-mortar companies are bounded by its location while Internet provides broader reach and vast potential for expansion. The best part: you can expand globally without incurring hefty investments.

• Cost effective advertising. Promoting your products through the Internet is virtually free. No need to pay expensive fees for newspapers and phonebooks just to get catch your target market’s attention. Enjoy free placement in Internet directories like Internet Directory.com and set up free links with other Web sites directing them to your homepage.

• Others are doing it! Most of your competitors, regardless of your industry, are already thriving in the online market and expanding to other strategic locations. Don’t be left behind! Start your own Internet marketing campaign and switch consumers to patronize your products.

Starting Point: Good, Relevant Domain Name

The first critical step in Internet marketing is finding a relevant domain name for your Web site. This refers to your internet address like www.google.com or www.myspace.com. The difficulty lies in finding the right domain considering that most of the good names are already taken.

Ideally, your domain name must capture the essence of your business. Nothing is more appropriate than using your own company name as your domain name. It will strengthen your brand image and help people remember your superb products or services. Preferably, choose domain names with extension “.com” or “.net” and very easy to spell.

You can purchase a domain name for only $10. Check out Yahoo! Small Business and choose domains in their Yahoo! Domains. Other popular sites offering domain names for fee include Godaddy.com and Register.com. If you want free Web sites, you can check out Freewebs.com.

Create A User-friendly, Professional-looking Website

In any presentation, form is equally important together with your content. Keep in mind that your homepage is the extension of your business. Keep it as professional-looking as possible. The key is not dazzling colors and abstract designs but SIMPLICITY.

Most Internet surfers rely on first impressions and visual appeal. Hence, you need to capture their imagination and answer their concerns through your relevant product offerings, designs, and highly appropriate contents.

The concept of professional-looking web designs is always variable and dependent on your industry. The best way to gauge the professional appeal is to spy on your competitors and identify their strong and weak side. Also, you can check out websites like Free Website Templates that offer web templates for free or with very minimal fees.

The ideal site must always be easy to navigate – no maze and no confusion! Try to be direct to the point all the time by minimizing layers in your site. Always remember that consumers nowadays are very impatient. If they cannot find what they are looking for quickly, they will find a better site to explore. Search toolbars or navigation bars are tremendous help in enhancing navigation.

Another very important aspect of your website is the Shopping Cart and credit card processing. In a brick-and-mortar business, it is your cash register – the bottom line of every business! Similar to your shopping, you do not want to wait in line for a long period of time.

The same concept applies with your online Shopping Cart. Payment processing must be efficient and more importantly, secure.

Websites with complicated Shopping cart lost numerous buyers due to frustration over payment processing.

Security is one of the biggest concerns of online shoppers given the increasing rate of hacking worldwide. If you want your business to grow then put priority system on top of your priority list. There are different companies like Yahoo! Small Business that you can partner with to bring the most efficient and most secure Shopping Cart.

The Selling Part

The biggest question: How do I sell my products through the Internet?

The simplest and cost-effective option for startup businesses is E-mail marketing. It is basically free! Ask every visitor to join your group for free by signing up in your site and providing their e-mail addresses. The name of the game is patience. Most customers will not usually buy during their first visits to an online store. More importantly, you have to convince these potential buyers to give their e-mail address to you.

How? Offer something hard to resist like discounts on their first purchase, ask them to join a game and win major prizes, or make them part of your free newsletters via their e-mails. The tactic “refer-a-friend” is also recognized as a good way to capture potential buyers. In case you do not have enough resources, I suggest you take the e-mail newsletters tactic.

E-mail newsletters contain updates on your company, new product offerings, marketing promotions, and relevant articles consumers find very helpful in their buying decisions.

For instance, a company selling food supplement can include in its newsletters articles about aging, keeping cholesterol low, simple daily exercises, and other health concerns.

Keep in mind some pointers to make your newsletters drive sales to your business. Try to make it short and sweet so as not to bore your audience. Moreover, focus on visual appeal by including pictures and videos if possible. Very basic but often ignored, grammar and spelling must be correct all the time!

If you have some budget, try to buy banner ads or “a graphic image which acts as an advertisement to entice site visitors to 'click through' to obtain further information” as defined by Wiredmedia.co.uk. This will help you increase traffic to your site and enhance your presence over the net.

Be Customer-driven 24/7

The cliché holds true: Take Care of Your Customers and They Will Take Care of You!

The inherent downside of Internet marketing is intense competition. A company based in El Paso, TX is no longer competing in that particular area but to the whole world! It simply means you are competing with different online stores across continents!

It also means that consumers are given numerous options nowadays, making it easy for them to switch brands and stores in seconds. The key is to keep your customers satisfied with your products and supplement that with strong after-sales customer service. Moreover, keeping them delighted will make them your number 1marketing or PR agent. Their word-of-mouth influence is very powerful and their networks or connections are extensive.

How do you make them happy? There are thousands of options available! Some companies offer freebies or discounts to loyal customers while others simply send personalized thank you cards to let each customer knows you care.