Get online to drive the growth of your small business

Maybe your small business is not yet online, and you're thinking about how a website could be used to generate sales and lift the profile of your business in your market.

Or maybe you've already got a website for your small business, but it's not generating anywhere near the type of traffic and prospects that you had hoped

There is absolutely no question that online marketing is one of the keys to the future growth and even viability of your small business ......and it's not just for the big corporate end of town. But you've got to get educated in how to leverage Internet sales and marketing for your business. And I've come across a great non-commercial resource site that can help you

The Australian Government has  an online resource to help Australian small businesses understand how the Internet can benefit them.  At the Winning Business Online website, there is a training program offered that is funded by the Australian government that helps businesses who are yet to get online, or they may have an existing online presence but are needing to improve  their understanding and skills.  The site offers free and low-cost seminars.

Watch out for people promoting expensive Internet marketing and SEO services - there is much you can learn and do yourself.

For more than the past five years, online marketing has definitely been driving the growth and success of my management training business - I was self-taught and I'm certainly not a tech. You can learn to master this. For some more tips on website and online marketing, see SEO for Small Business

What Is Google PR - why does it matter to your small business website?

• What is Google PR?

If you run a small business and have a website, then maybe you've heard of the term Google PR, but not exactly sure what it refers to? 

Google PageRank (PR) is a numerical value assigned by Google to an individual webpage which reflects in broad terms, its view of the importance of the page. The PR is a whole number between 0 and 10. The more popular a websites in the view of Google, the higher the PageRank number out of 10. The relatively least popular or unimportant pages have a PageRank of 0.

There are many factors assessed by Google as part of the algorithm it uses to determine PR. Some of the important factors are recognised to include the number and quality of sites that "backlink" to the page, as well as the PR of those linking sites themselves.

• Why bother about PR?

The PR of the pages of your website will be one of many important criteria that Google use to determine where your website, or it's individual pages, should appear in it's search engine results. It is estimated that more than 80% of people making a search engine enquiry do not bother to look beyond the first page - and the bulk of these "enquirers" do not even bother to scrolldown beneath the fold line of the first page of the screen!

In other words, it's in your interest to learn as much as you can about how Google evaluate websites if you are going to be successful in lifting the visibility of your site in the eys of Google and other search engines. Your potential customers are very unlikely to discover you if you are not appearing on the first page of search engine results.

• Want to check your website's Google PR?

If you're interested, then visit PR Checker. You will be asked to enter your URL and then the PR of your website will be displayed

• Internet marketing and your small business website

Marketing involves positioning your business so that it is perceived by your customers as "different" from your competitors playing in the same market.

Internet marketing applies the same principle when competing in the online world. You must be able to evaluate the websites of your leading competition and determine how you can differentiate your website from theirs - but in the eyes of search engines such as Google.

Search engine marketing involves identifying online opportunity gaps. This is where there is a lack of strong competition from other websites for key words that could be used by people when searching for your type of business.

By way of example only, imagine there could be strong online competition from competitor websites who have been built to target the popular search term "roof repairs". And yet no such depth of competition exists for the more specific search term "roof tiles repaired". Although this search term may not be entered as frequently, you may be able to dominate it because of the lack of competition.

You may discover that even though the search term "roof tiles repaired" may be less popular in frequency of use, this is more than compensated for by gaining a higher Google listing for your website with this niche term. Accompanying this could well be the gain of a higher Google PR. And you may find that this results in more calls and enquiries from potential customers who have found your website, because your website appears on the first page of search engine results.

So in a nutshell - before you can be found by your prospective customers in the online world, you must gain a profile with Google.

• Keep Learning

Endeavour to learn as much as you can about how search engines such as Google evaluate a website.  Through such insights you may gain the edge you need to lift your search engine ranking above that of your competition in organic (unpaid) listings.

If you are interested in some more marketing tips, visit Marketing for Small Business

Internet Power in Your Small Business

If you are new to internet marketing and not yet sure about how to use the full power of the internet to drive the growth of your small business - then have a good look at this.

The Australian government has funded the development of a free training program, called Winning Business Online. The following short video clip offers a brief introduction and overview to the program



The modules in the training program include how to design and build a website and how to develop a strategy to promote your business through online marketing. There are some great case studies of small businesses who have achieved improved sales and yet significantly reduced their advertising budget, through learning how to better harness the power of the internet. Visit Winning Business Online

Already have a website?

If your small business has an existing website, but you don't think it's generating the leads and customer enquiries that it should - then the reason may be because it is not appearing sufficiently high enough in Google rankings.

To be found, your website must appear on the first page of Google and other search engines, for the relevant search term that you are targetting. To achieve this first page search result, you need an awareness of how the science of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help lift your website's profile in the eyes of search engines.

Visit What is SEO if you want to learn more about simple changes that you may be able to make to your small business website that can have major effects on improving your search engine results.