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YOUR ROAD MAP to BUSINESS SUCCESS From the editors of Entrepreneur magazine, this bestselling business startup book has helped hundreds of thousands of readers start their own businesses. Revised, expanded and updated, the 4th edition will help you save time and money, minimize mistakes and maximize profits. Our practical, easy-to-follow advice takes you step by step through the startup journey and guides you through the first three years of bus... More >> Start Your Own Business

Our whole lives revolve around money. Owning your own business, having profits and generating income through your own efforts is something that we strive for. With the development of the internet, owning your own profitable business has never been easier.All you need to do is have a website, something that you can create on your own or solicit the services of another company to do it for you. You can do anything over the internet and if you have the inspiration to speculate what people want, you are one step closer to achieving your dream - becoming financially independent and being your own boss.Outsourcing is the activity of appealing to the services of a third party to do something that would be too complicated for you - just like paying others to create your website. You should consider this as one of the main activities if you want your business to thrive over the internet. One aspect you should really consider letting others handle is online business advertising.The third parties I am talking about are companies and teams that do the things you want on a daily basis, therefore they have greater experience in the field than you. If you want to start online business advertising for your company you might hit a dead end, but they can provide solutions for every situation. Online business advertising involves lots of methods like banners on various websites, text advertisements, video advertisements, blogs and autoresponders. You are probably scratching you head about some of these terms because you don't know what they mean, but they are proven to be some of the most effective methods to get your business known over the internet.If you want to know where to find a reliable provider of online business advertising services, be sure to visit the website primerealadstate.com. This is one of the fastest growing communities of online marketing because of its unique ways of operation. The best way to describe it in just a few words would be as an online advertising network. Lots of people are connected with each other, trying to get the traffic they want on their websites, trying to evolve and become a better player online.Let me try to describe how this online advertising network works. First of all, signing up to enter this community is free of charge. The first step after registering is to get your own apartment as it is called. After that all you need to do is thrive.An apartment on this online advertising network is a website where you can post all kinds of messages, ads and other information about your business. For users that have been around the internet it is similar to a MySpace page. You have a lot of interesting options like chat rooms and blogs to let the world know what you are about.There are a huge number of other users that have similar apartments on this online advertising network. You can ask them to visit yours or you can go to their place and earn extra hits, which mean more possibilities. For more information visit the website primerealadstate.com.

Marketing your business online is all about showing that you have something to offer your visitors that your competitors do not have. Marketing your small business online means reaching out to your current customers as well as prospective customers and setting yourself apart.

Successful small business Internet marketing is all about establishing relationships. Just as customers in your brick and mortar store have a chance to come in and get to know you, online customers need to be given the chance to learn more about what you do and to decide that they want to do business with you.

This is where the concept of your small biz online marketing funnel comes in. Your small biz online marketing funnel is a means by which you can - over time - find new customers and increase your small business sales.

Your small biz online marketing funnel is not unlike the local small business marketing that you undertook when you first opened your business in its physical location. First you needed to choose a location and to get that location ready. You ordered the supplies you needed. Then you started advertising. On opening day, it's likely that you had a product giveaway - a keychain, a coffee mug or maybe even a t-shirt - as well as a coupon giveaway, something that would entice your customer to come back.

Your small biz online marketing funnel works in much the same way: you choose a domain name and build your website, or have your website built for you. You'll get everything that you need in order - including a free or low-cost giveaway. And then you will begin marketing your small business online.

It is important to remember that your website is your virtual business. All of the Internet ads that you place will bring traffic to your page, so be sure to use the page wisely.

Use your homepage to tell prospective customers about your business - share your mission statement, share customer compliments. Use a page of your website to let your current and prospective customers know more about who you are and what you believe in. Focus both on your business and on establishing a relationship with your customer.

Drawing prospective customers in to your website brings them into the widest part of your small biz online marketing funnel; allowing them the opportunity to get to know you begins to draw them down into the funnel.

However, you do not want them to make it to the second level of the funnel and stay there, just as you do not want customers at your physical location to walk in and walk back out again. This is why you should plan - as part of your small business Internet marketing campaign - to draw them into the next smallest area of your small biz online marketing funnel.

You do not need to offer a physical giveaway. Instead, continue to build relationships with your site visitors by offering them something of value. Offer them free articles about products and services that your small business offers. Set up a newsletter that will allow you to communicate valuable information (as well as special offers) to them at specified intervals.

Doing so allows you to take an important step towards increasing sales: it allows you to establish a relationship. By consistently providing your subscribers with information or coupons that are valuable to them, they will begin to recognize you and your company as a company that they want to do business with, and they will look forward to hearing from you.

You will be able to encourage them to do business with you by promoting low-cost front-end products. Now, rather than a free article that gives your prospective customers a little bit of information, turn them into your new customers by offering low-cost products. Low-cost front-end products such as e-books that provide useful information about important topics within your industry - and further establish your credibility and the customers' trust - will help to draw those customers down to the smallest level of your small biz online marketing funnel.

For instance, let's say you own and operate a local floral shop. A perfect low-cost front-end information product that you could offer to your customers to draw them further into your sales funnel would be an e-book with planting tips for growing flowers in your local area. Customers who purchase your low-cost e-book will find value in the information, increasing the likelihood that they will purchase additional, higher priced products from you as well.

The last level of your small biz online marketing funnel is the place that you want your new customers to be: it's the stage where your free and low-cost front-end items, along with your newsletters and other marketing, will increase sales of your high-cost, back-end products and services.

This is the goal of your small business Internet marketing: to find prospective customers, establish a relationship and increase sales. To recap, your small biz online marketing funnel works like this:

• Build and Market Your Website to Draw in Prospective Customers
• Engage the Prospective Customer
• Establish Trust with a Giveaway
• Establish a relationship using a newsletter and special offers
• Encourage small, low-cost front-end sales
• Make the big-ticket sales of your products and services


Through this process, and by continuing to market your site to new prospective customers, you will find that the small biz online marketing funnel is a technique that allows you to consistently and reliably get new customers and increase sales for your small business.

What is consistently rated as one of the most effective small business target marketing strategies? Without a doubt it is the Joint Venture (JV), also known as a strategic alliance. Target, or niche marketing means that you are marketing directly to the prospect most likely to buy your product or service. Your JV strategy can be the ultimate form of target marketing since you are using the targeted customer and prospect list of another business owner. The JV and strategic alliance are so popular and profitable because they leverage the assets (customer list, goodwill, relationship, etc.) your partner has developed with their client and prospect base. Nearly all potential buyers (business and consumer) prefer to do business with a company, firm or practice for which they have a degree of trust. Marketing legend Dan Kennedy likes to say that we are all walking around holding an umbilical cord saying "plug me in and tell me what to do." Whether you are looking for a place to buy a hot dog,tobuy a yacht, or looking for a brain surgeon or a new church in your community, you are looking for someone to recommend where you should go to obtain the product, service or advice. Don't confuse the JV with referrals. Referrals are great for new business and are an effective small business target marketing strategy but generally are given only one or two at a time. Referrals can also dry up if you are not diligent about keeping in touch with your clients and letting them know how much you appreciate and value their business. JV's can be as simple as selecting a retail partner and issuing a joint coupon to one another's client base. They can also be very complex, multi-million dollar deals between large companies. American Express is an example of a very large and sophisticated company that partners with several other large businesses to leverage the client lists of both firms. If you have one of their cards, you have received numerous calls and mailers from them endorsing their JV partners. The partners get the implied endorsement of a blue chip company like Amex and Amex gets increased card purchases as you use the card to buy the recommended partners products. Now that you've decided to add the JV to your small business marketing tools, where do you start? You start by profiling the characteristics of your ideal client. What else do they buy and where do they buy it? For example, Paul Flood Marketing, which is my company, implements a unique and non-traditional marketing system in small businesses and I guarantee profit increases of 25% or more in as little as 90 days. As the old saying goes, "Fish where the fish are," so I have partnered with other small business consultants, primarily CPA's and small business attorneys, who have endorsed my services to their clients. If I had tried to contact many of these business owners cold, I would have probably been turned away but the endorsement of my trusted partners established trust. This trust is what you will leverage with your alliance partners. Armed with the list of potential partners, you formulate your contact strategy. You could try writing letters but I am a strong believer in just picking up the phone and saying to the owner, "Hi, I am a local business owner and I have an idea that could help us both dramatically increase our sales and profits and I'd like to talk with you about it. Do you have a minute so I can explain the concept? Great, if makes sense for us to talk in more depth, we can arrange a time to get together." The thing I like about the phone is that I can immediately get a feel about the business and the person in just a couple of minutes. When you first meet, you will most likely need to explain how the Joint Venture small business target marketing strategy works and how it will benefit both of your businesses. Most small business owners are only familiar with traditional marketing or networking so it may take a bit of explaining to get the concept across. The most common objection you will encounter is the trust factor so bring testimonials and samples of your product, service, practice or whatever you are selling to the meeting. You need to show why the other business owner person know they can trust you and your business? People are naturally wary (as they should be) about referring others to their clients because their reputation is on the line, as is yours. Always conduct due diligence. Be sure you speak with some of their clients to confirm their claims about quality products and service. If you feel uncomfortable at the beginning, bow out of the relationship gracefully. Ther's no sense in adding aggragvation to your life! The other objection is the confidentiality of av client list, but that is easily overcome by offering to mail your endorsement of your partner to your list and they mail their endorsement of you to their list. What if you don't have a list? You pay to mail your letter to their client list and you may also want to pay them commissions for sales you get as a result of the mailing. There are some professions that are prevented from paying or receiving finder's fees so if this applies to you, you need to investigate alternatives. What is the simplest JV strategy? Each partner mails an endorsement of the other's business to their list with a description of the benefits of doing business with them and why they are recommending one another. It's that simple. The key to success of the JV as your small business target marketing strategy is that you and your partners must be proactive in promoting one another and in managing the relationship. As the person who originated the partnership, take control and action to make it happen. If you have a partner who isn't committed, drop them and find another. When you are actively using the JV as a small business marketing tool, you will be amazed at the results you can achieve in a relatively short period of time. Of course, as with any other business strategy, there are experts like myself who can be delivering profits while you are attempting to find your first partner. The key is to make the decision to make it happen, to leverage your contacts and your list and get started! Copyright (c) 2008 Paul Flood Marketing, LLC