Small business entrepreneurs struggle to understand how web marketing will help their business. With the majority of buyers using the web to make even local buying decisions, it has never been more important to have a quality website or blog.
Your site needs to go beyond a sales brochure. It needs to become your virtual sales person and if you’re willing to make the investment, your online sales should out produce your offline sales, even if you’re a local service based business!
The best part! When your customers get the information they need online, they cost you less because you spend less time working with them offline. You can literally build a stronger relationship without actually having to pitch your customer!
When you have that local guy come in and pitch you on how he can get you to the top of the search engines with a redesigned website and animation, he’s not coming with years of experience as a small business entrepreneur.
He just doesn’t have the experience necessary to determine what makes your customers buy. It’s the entrepreneur that is the chief marketer for the business. You’re ideas are what built your business and your ideas are what is needed to build the online content as well.
Entrepreneurs are often caught up in everything else happening with the business and look at the thought of more work as a negative, but you’re actually ignoring the number one source for revenue generation, long term. You’re also ignoring the fact that the investment is time, not dollars!
Another benefit is affiliate marketing programs through companies such as Shareasale. This allows you to allow other sites to place your banners or text links in their content. You don’t have to pay them anything for doing so, unless a potential customer clicks the link and completes a transaction on your site.
Think of it, a full sales force that costs you nothing unless you generate revenue! That’s what every entrepreneur needs in their business. More people, more opportunity and less risk.
Of course, I could go on all day telling you how you could benefit from affiliate marketing programs, but we’ve all got work to do. Keep checking back as I dig more into this subject. Until then, consider checking out affiliate marketing programs.