Making Your Small Business Grow Online | Local Internet Marketing ...

Wednesday, 23 May 2012 17:47 Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 May 2012 17:52 Written by admin

As a small business owner today, you have more tools available to you than ever before. The key to success is utilizing the latest innovations in technology along with more old-fashioned business strategies for a full-throttle thrust to the top.

Business success today, just like in days past, involves setting specific goals for yourself. These goals vary from business to business; you may strive for an increase in visitors to your brick-and-mortar store, or you may aspire for more clients to participate in your online survey. No matter what type of business you own, it is vital that you have specific goals in your sights.

Once your goals are established, it?s time to look at how technology is propelling your business, and figure out if your efforts are yielding results. Take a look at the ads you?re running online. There are a number of ways to measure their effectiveness. First of all, what is your clickthrough rate (CTR)? This figure comes from dividing the number of times your ad appears (impressions) into the number of times people actually click on the ad. This number can give you a clear picture of how appealing and relevant your ad seems to potential customers.

Of course, it may not matter how many people are clicking on your ads if they aren?t buying anything. This is why it?s also important to be aware of your click-to-conversion rate. Google has an AdWords Conversion Tracking feature that allows you to find this data quickly and easily. Smart business owners use this tool to discover which keywords and ads are earning them the most money and customers.

If your business has a physical store, then you are also concerned with foot traffic, which can be much more meaningful than website hits. To help measure the effectiveness of your ads, you may want to have your cashiers ask each visitor how they learned about your business. To help encourage more visitors to your physical address, consider running click-to-call ads on the Internet, which allow customers to easily contact your physical location.

As web-based options for small business owners increase, it is important to keep track of the latest resources to help ensure success. It may feel overwhelming, as the amount of data and number of tracking tools out there are more than enough for any one person to handle. It?s okay if you don?t use all of the available tools; just keep evolving to find the best balance for your unique business.

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