Either way, the hard work is only beginning when your web site is done. That’s when the marketing and promotion kicks in. How would you do that? How would you spread the word about your new small business and web site?

I’m not starting a new business right now, but if I were, here’s how I’d market it. Let’s assume the following:

• My web site is fully developed. There’s no sense marketing an unfinished product.
• My web site is attractive and is user-friendly. I’ve taken care of the basics of usability.
• I’ve done the appropriate keyword research and my page content reflects that.
• My web site has good content for my target audience (and for search engine spiders).
• I’ve done at least the basics of SEO across the site. Crawlability isn’t a problem. Page titles and meta descriptions are relevant and unique, the keywords tag is used for misspellings, etc.
• I’m on a tight budget. I can’t spend more than $2,500 over the first three months for both online and offline marketing.

Ready? Let’s launch this small business web site!

MONTH ONE

1. Have metrics tracking in place. If my web hosting service doesn’t provide a stats system, or provides an inadequate one, I’d sign up for Google Analytics. It offers more data than some small businesses need, but you can’t beat the price. You need metrics in place at the beginning so you can track all your upcoming marketing efforts. Cost: Free

2. Create a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising account. Two benefits here:

1.      PPC advertising is a great way to get instant visibility and immediate traffic. Geo-targeting can be particularly effective for small businesses, and allows you to advertise with a smaller budget.

2.      Even if you set an ultra-low monthly budget, you’ll still have access to actual search counts for your keyword terms. This data can be invaluable for future marketing and web site development.

Cost: $300/month (Actual cost will vary based on budget limits you set.)

3. Write and Distribute a Press Release(s). This will be a business announcement, and I’ll want to focus on my USP (Unique Selling Proposition). What separates mine from similar businesses? That’s the story I’m telling. Since I’m on a tight budget, I’ll have to write this myself. I’ll use many of the same SEO copywriting techniques I would for a web page — emphasizing the appropriate use of keywords, especially in the title and the beginning of the release.

I’ll spread my release both online and offline.

• Offline: Many local newspapers have announcement sections for new businesses. Some communities have business-specific newspapers that will be more likely to consider your new business launch a newsworthy event. If your town still has a locally owned radio station, check if they have a news department and if they accept business announcements. Cost: Free
• Online: There are several good online sources of press release distribution. I’m on a budget, so I’ll use PRWeb and PR Leap. PRWeb offers packages ranging from $80 to $360. I’ve had some success at the $80 level, so I’ll use that. PR Leap’s services range from $49 to $149. The $49 option looks good to me since I’m on budget. Cost: $129

4. Buy Directory Links. It gets a bit complicated here. At $299, the Yahoo Directory is steep for someone on a budget, but it’s a trusted link. Ezilon is another solid directory that costs either $69/year or a $199 single payment. BOTW.org is either $100/year or a $250 one-time payment. Choosing the best directories is another article altogether, but I’m basically going to analyze the pages where my link would appear, see which ones offer the strongest links, and submit there. To make things easy for this article, let’s choose Yahoo as the best link and the one we can afford.

There are also free directories worth investigating. I’d submit to DMOZ and forget about it. Debra Mastaler recently recommended Sphericom and Illumirate. I’d also look for local and niche/vertical directories that will likely be free or very inexpensive. Cost: $299

5. Take advantage of Local Search opportunities. I’d start by using GetListed.org to check my local listings on Google, Yahoo, and a couple other primary local search sites. I’d also use my Google AdWords account (see above) to create a Local Business Ad for Google Maps. I’d buy a Local Featured Listing on Yahoo Local, but only if I qualify for the $30/month or less plan. I’m on a budget, after all. Cost: $30/month

6. Add a blog to my web site. Blogs make great “spider food” (i.e., search engines love blogs) and they’re a great way to have an ongoing conversation with customers. I’d use WordPress because it’s great, free, and my hosting company probably supports it with a one-click installer. I’d be sure to make it easy for readers to add my posts to social media sites like delicious.com, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc. It takes a while for a blog to gain traction, so I’d start writing posts as often as my schedule allows. The main goal at this point is just to get in the rhythm of writing and make blogging a habit. Cost: Free

Total Costs, Month One

One-time: $428

Monthly: $330

MONTH TWO

7. Be active in the blogger community. I’d create accounts at MyBlogLog and Technorati, and put their widgets on my blog. I’d run my feeds through FeedBurner for the community stat tracking. I’d use Bloglines or Google Reader to track other blogs in my industry and I’d be active in commenting on them (not spamming them, commenting on them). Cost: Free

8. Join Twitter and Facebook. I’ll join them both now because each offers a good opportunity to meet and network with local people who may be good contacts and/or future customers. But rather than signing up and starting to promote my business, I’ll spend the first month or so just meeting people and listening to the wider conversations. Cost: Free

9. Join my local Chamber of Commerce. Small businesses rely heavily on networking and word-of-mouth for survival. The CofC is a great way to do both. I’ll ask for a link from the chamber’s web site, and/or a mention in their newsletter. Cost: ~$500 (Actual cost will vary by location, number of employees, and other factors.)

Total Costs, Month Two

One-time: $500

Monthly: $330 (continuation of Month One costs)

MONTH THREE

10. Investigate local offline advertising options. Sponsoring high school sports teams, Little League teams, etc., is inexpensive and gives me at least a couple months of exposure, not to mention plenty of goodwill with parents and the community. Ditto for partnering with local charities, schools, etc. Cost: $300 (estimated)

11. Invite/pay bloggers to write about my business/product/service. I’d use ReviewMe or Sponsored Reviews to find bloggers in my industry who are willing to write a paid review. I know that search engines, Google especially, frown on paid links. So, I’ll tell the blogger that it’s okay to use the nofollow tag if they link to my site. I’m more interested in the exposure to the bloggers’ audience than I am in the link. If I can find a popular and influential blogger with maybe a couple thousand readers, and only spend a couple hundred dollars for a write-up, that’s a great deal. Cost: ~$200 (will vary on industry and blogs targeted)

12. Use Yahoo! Answers to answer questions from people asking about my industry. It’s light years ahead of any other Q&A site in traffic. It helps establish me as an expert and a helpful person/company. It’s also kinda fun. And it can even be a source of web traffic. Note: This may not be effective for a small business that’s located in a small town/city. Cost: Free

13. Use Flickr. I’d join photo groups related to (a) my products/services, and (b) my local geographic area and upload quality photos related to my business. As with any social media/networking site, I’d avoid the spammy sales pitches and focus on contributing value to the groups I’m in. Note: If I were a lawyer, accountant, or in some other business without a strong visual element to what I do, I’d ignore this step. Cost: Free (or $25 for an annual account, recommended if you use it heavily)

Total Costs, Month Three

One-time: $500

Monthly: $330 (continuation of Month One costs)

FINAL COMMENTS

That’s my three-month plan for starting a new small business and marketing my new web site. Going forward, I’d give these ideas a couple OF months to see which ones work and which don’t. At about the fifth or sixth month, I’d start focusing on the ones that do and eliminating the ones that don’t.

Let’s see how I did in meeting my marketing budget:

Total Costs, Three Months

One-time costs: $1,428

Monthly costs: $990 ($330/month)

TOTAL: $2,418

I’m a little under budget, which is a good thing when you’re a small business. I could spend that on a couple extra low-cost directory listings, maybe up my PPC spending a little bit, or save it for future marketing needs.

Note that $800 of the estimated $1,428 one-time costs are for offline expenses. Take those away and you really see how inexpensive online marketing can be, if you’re willing to invest the time that it takes to make up for being on a tight budget.

I didn’t name a specific product or service in this article. There are additional marketing opportunities that may be effective depending on the size of your small business and what you do or sell. Ultra-small businesses, for example, may be able to market effectively with something as simple as printed flyers distributed around town. Other businesses may find branded publicity materials (calendars, magnets, etc.) to be effective.

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for small business marketing. Hopefully the ideas shared here will help you put together the right game plan for launching your small business!

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About the Author: Matt McGee offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

The post If I Were Launching a New Small Biz Web Site Today appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Sure, there are landmark changes every once in a while that almost everyone hears about; Google’s introduction of “universal search”, in May 2007, is one example.

But Google says they made more than 400 changes to the ranking algorithm last year. Who can keep up with that?!

Luckily, you don’t have to keep up with every detail. But there are some important SEO trends you should know about as we go further into 2009. I’ll break the list down into two sections — Strategy and Tactics and Industry/Big Picture Trends – and then turn it over to you at the end.

Industry/Big Picture Trends

1. Increased SEO Awareness

SEO used to be something akin to voodoo; the only people who understood it were the ones doing it. But now it seems everyone knows about SEO. (Heck, even Wal-Mart offers SEO services!) As more small business owners become aware of what SEO is and why you should be doing it, competition should increase and put a premium on smart decision-making when it comes to doing SEO in-house or hiring a consultant.

2. Moving SEO In-house

On that note, in-house SEO has never been more popular than it is now, and that trend should continue into 2009. The upcoming SMX West search marketing conference even has an entire day devoted to in-house SEO. Companies big and small are recognizing the need for and value of having dedicated staff to recommend and implement SEO strategies.

3. SEO Consultants and Firms Booked Up

Many of us who don’t work in-house have never been busier than we are now. Because of trend No. 1 above, small business owners are hunting far and wide for SEO help. Purely anecdotal evidence, but something that many fellow SEO friends are experiencing: I usually get 2-3 emails a month from small business owners looking to hire an SEO. Last week alone I received five. There’s big demand and a lot of SEOs will be booked up.

4. It’s Google’s World

Google has dominated the SEO landscape for years, and their lead over Yahoo and Live Search is only getting bigger. There are several companies that try to track market share, and their numbers differ. But they all agree that between 60-70% of searches happen at Google. That doesn’t mean you should put all your SEO eggs in Google’s basket, but it does mean if you’re not being found on Google, you’re not being found.

5. SEO Tools & Automation

Hoping to take advantage of the growing interest in SEO, and the difficulty in finding the right consultant, more companies and individuals are creating online tools that automate portions of an SEO analysis. While some of these tools offer helpful data at a basic level, what matters most is how you use the data they provide.

6. SEO Scams

The downside of increased interest in SEO is that many small business owners will continue to spend money making unethical scam artists rich. $99/month for 500 directory links? $200 for search engine submission services? Don’t do it. Read what several search industry leaders had to say about SEO scams, and make sure this is one trend you avoid in 2009.

Strategy & Tactical Trends

7. Content = Authority (Still)

Links are the currency of SEO, and content is what attracts the links you need to rank well. When you rank well, you have authority. If you run a service-based business, you must be giving away your knowledge and expertise in the form of articles, blog posts, or other unique content that will attract links. If you run a retail web site, this still applies. Follow Amazon’s lead; I think they’re the SEO-smartest retailer online.

8. Content Variety …

I mentioned Google’s universal search at the start of this article, and other search engines have also been providing blended results for some time. What this means is that the Google search results page is no longer a list of 10 web page links; it now includes videos, news articles, blog posts, images, and more. In turn, this means that SEO isn’t just about tweaking your web site; it’s about creating and optimizing whatever forms of content make sense for your business and industry.

9. … Especially Video

The numbers are astonishing. YouTube gets more searches than Yahoo. About 100 million people watched videos on YouTube in October, and the average viewer watched 92 videos that month. eMarketer just reported that video is the number one tactic that US marketers will be focusing on in 2009. If you’re not doing it, chances are your competition will be.

10. Personalized Search Results

Personalization of search results has been simmering for a couple years now, but has started going mainstream recently. Google is leading the way with things like SearchWiki and Preferred Sites. Plus, things like your location, your recent searches, and which datacenter your search gets sent to can also impact the 10 search results you see at any given moment. It will continue to become more unusual to see the same 10 results when you and a friend in another state do the same search.

This renders ranking reports borderline useless. In other words, it’s no longer about whether your business is ranking for a certain search term at, say #2 in Google. Traffic and conversions are what you should be tracking, not what number you rank at for a specified term.

11. Local Search and Mobile Search

Mobile search has been on the way for years, but it never arrived. Until now. Mobile search used to be as fun as root canal, but the growth of smartphones – fueled by the iPhone – means mobile search is more enjoyable, more productive, and more popular than ever before. If your business appeals to people who might be searching on the go, local SEO should be a high priority for you in 2009.

12. Value of Your Audience and Community

Social media (sites such as Facebook and Twitter) isn’t going anywhere. And more of your potential customers are using it to make connections. You should be, too. By being active in online communities, you can develop an audience (look at the 38,000 followers Zappos has on Twitter!). When you do it right, that audience will help you push out your content (see No. 7 above), link to your content on occasion, tell their friends about you, and become your de facto marketing department.

Few small businesses will suddenly find themselves with 38,000 Twitter followers, but don’t underestimate the value of connecting with even 25, 50, or 100 people in the right online community.

What Others Say

Speaking of community: While writing this article, I asked my audience of Twitter followers to share their thoughts on SEO Trends for 2009. Here’s what they said.

@jfaris

@midnighttango

@MikeTek (read this one from the bottom up!)

@SimonHeseltine

@FrankReed

@lucasng

@Matt_Siltala

@karriflatla

They’ve had their say. I’ve had mine. Your turn: What SEO trends do you expect to see in 2009?

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About the Author: Matt McGee offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com. 

The post SEO Trends for 2009 appeared first on Small Business Trends.