One of the most attractive aspects of social media for small businesses is that it’s low to no cost to the business, but you would be wrong. As a small business owner your time is always worth something even if you cannot afford to pay yourself.

So when you spend hours working on you Facebook account or Twitter, time can slip away and cost you money in the long run.

If you are going to use social media make the marketing and business-building work for you. For this is an investment in your business. As any small  business owner can tell you the devil is in the details, so be organized is a must.

• Setting a schedule you do not have to add a new post to every social network every day. This takes up a lot of time from your daily schedule and other tasks undone. It is not important how often you post so when you do, make sure it is valuable content that will generate a good response from your fans and followers.

• Don’t wait to the last minute, you don’t do this in business for if you did you wouldn’t. By creating  a content stockpile this will eliminate any stress of having to come up with something on the spot from one week to the next. Then, when the time comes to update your posts, you can just select something from the pile and post!

• Link your networks. When you are doing things on your own, it can be hard to find the time to post to multiple accounts. You can link each of your profiles so that when you post on one account, say your Facebook page, then it is also sent out to the others and vice versa. Tools like Buffer, Tweetdeck and even Facebook Scheduled Posts can make this happen in the background for you.

• Use social networks for customer service. Many small businesses are starting to take advantage of social media as a way to provide better customer service. You can quickly and easily respond to any issues or comments that customers leave on social networks rather than having to wade through e-mails or have customers waiting to speak to someone on the phone.

• Get automated. One bonus of having a content stockpile is that you can use tools like Socialoomph, Buffer and Timely for Twitter to schedule its release automatically. You can schedule certain things, but you still need to go back and make responses where needed and take time to actually interact with your fans.

• Combined engagement. Other tools make it simple to monitor and update your accounts from one spot. You can use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to create a dashboard that lets you handle multiple social media accounts from a single platform, saving you time.

• Create alerts for important topics such as your company name, product names and competitors. Create Twitter Lists of your most important customers, partners and media contacts so you can monitor their activity in real time.

• Set up topic alerts. Save yourself time from searching for industry news articles by setting up a Google Alert for specified topics. You can search through the results for news that relates to your business. When you find something of interest, you can share it with your followers.

Social media is going to be an important marketing tool for businesses for a long time to come. With useful tools and planning, you can save plenty of time on social networks while still getting the most benefits from them.

These days gettting your website notice ismore challenging than every before, but with some simple step you can complete with even the biggest sites out there. The number one thing that keeps people coming back to any site is content! So by making sure that there is always new content or related materials keep your viewers coming back for more, which marketing is all about! By tapping into a little Bookmarking, some Online Directories and some related forums, viola you are on your way.

Social Media Bookmarking
Sites that help readers to bookmark favorite sites, links and news articles are a great way to spread information about your latest blog post and gain quality backlinks that give your website more credibility with search engines.

1. Del.icio.us
2. Digg
3. Reddit
4. Pinterest
5. ScoopIt
6. StumbleUpon

Online Directories
Submitting your website to popular online directories can help you gain more visibility through targeted searches and increase your website search engine ranking.

1. Craigslist
2. Bing Business Portal
3. DMOZ
4. Google Local
5. Manta
6. Merchant Circle
7. Spotlight Business Directory
8. Yahoo Local
9. Yelp

Article Marketing

Writing an article specific for your niche interest is a good way to convey expertise both for yourself and your business, product and website.

1. EzineArticles
2. Hub Pages
3. Go Articles
4. Article Dashboard
5. Business Know-How

Press Releases
If you recently introduced a new product or service, writing and submitting a free press release can help generate a bit of buzz about it. In addition, if your press release has links back to your website, it can be great for your search ranking.

1. PRLog
2. Free Press Release
3. 24-7 PressRelease
4. 1888PressRelease
5. PR-Inside (European-based distribution)

Information Forums
Sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention is by reaching out and providing something they need. Answering questions or offering help on forums can be a great way to get noticed, get your website out there, and establish yourself as an expert in a certain field.

1. Quora
2. Ask
3. Yahoo! Answers

To design a comprehensive brochure, follow these few simple tips to make your brochure informative and effective. By creating an informative brochure, you are sure to attract new customers and keep them interested.

• Make sure you write short, catchy headlines on every panel.
• Make your brochure read easily with brief paragraphs and bulleted lists underneath each headline.
• Add a strong call to action and include a free or trial offer to entice your customers to call you now.
• Also, if you want to make your brochure even more effective, upload relevant images and include explanatory captions.

Flash Websites - Adopt NewLook for Your Online Business

Flash Websites are capable of presenting you to the visitors in different manner. These are better at impressing the people and increasing the traffic.

 FlashWebsites

FlashWebsites are considered to be more interactive and effective. These sites aremore user-friendly also as people like to see the flash content more than to gothrough the text information. There is a huge space for creativity in thesetypes of websites to impress the visitors. Flash content is entertaining andinformative both, so visitors give preference to these sites. That means thisweb design can help in increasing the traffic and providing the completeinformation to the visitor.        

These sites usually take more time to load as compared to normal websitesbecause of heavy flash content, but there are ways to sort out this problem.Few people think that Flash Websites are not search engine friendly. If theflash content is used in plenty on the homepage then this thing comes on theway. It should be avoided and the content should be put with the inside pagesmore. By doing this, the webmaster can make the website perfect from allaspects.   

One more question is put up by the critics that Flash Websites don’t supportthe browser and many people don’t have flash players on their PC. That’s nottrue; this is the advanced age and people keep their PCs up-to-date with allapplications and tools. Apart from that, if someone is not having flash player,then you can provide link to download the same. These websites are becomingvery popular because of innovative ideas and content those are served with theinformation.

Flash Websites offer webmaster to show its creativity and humor also. There isgreat space to entertain the visitors while providing information by addingsome content that is funny or interesting. Websites are not used for justprofessional purposes, but now every organization has got its website whetherit is education, entertainment, sports etc, and that’s where Flash Websitesprove to be very productive and effective. Here, the webmaster is free tobecome more and more creative. This can be considered the future of onlinebusiness. Impressive web design can really help to multiply the profit, so beadvanced and give advanced look to your online business.

Smartphones, everywhere you go now, it seems like everyone has one! People aren’t just using the internet while at home or at the office anymore. These devices are also changing the way small business can attract new customers. Have you asked yourself recently if you could be missing out on potential customers because your mobile site isn’t up to par?

Your customers and potential customers aren’t just using their devices for Angry Birds and to Facebook. They are using them as mini computers. They browse the internet; they get directions, even conduct price comparisons right there in your aisles. Think about the potential you’re missing without a mobile friendly version of your website.

A mobile optimized version of your website allows customers and prospects to reach your web presence on their phones. Just last week, someone may have come by your store, remembering the name, but not the address. Today, they are back in your neighborhood, What’s the first thing they’ll do? Google your business-name. They’ll find you, but your site doesn’t render well on their smaller screen and takes forever to load. They can’t find your location, or a telephone number and you’ve just lost a potential sale. But if you optimize your site for mobile readers, it’s really easy for them to navigate and find you.

Luckily with a Webs website, your site is automatically converted to a mobile version. It’s a win/win situation for you and customers – your site stays up to date, and in sync with what is on your full-sized version and your customer can locate you easier.

So what does it really mean – having a mobile website? Simply put, you’ve got to present a lot of info in a tiny space. The real estate of a Smartphone is a lot less than that of a computer monitor – think New York City micro-condo versus estate.

Content is king! Present information that people are looking for first. The number one reason why a potential customer could be searching your mobile website is to locate your contact information. Ensure that you prominently display your telephone number and/or your physical address location. Put that information front and center. Use good content, and white space (it helps with the spacing on smaller screens), especially around links – mobile users don’t have the pin-point accuracy of a mouse and cursor, most users are using fingers to tap around your site. Placing multiple links on top of each other can make it frustrating for readers to navigate your site.

But what if you want it to do more?

Premium users get cool features like:

Click to Call: people can reach you from their mobile device simply by tapping your telephone numberIntegrated with

Maps: Show your business address on mobile maps, making it easier to physically find you

Gain Insight: Get stats for who is visiting your mobile site

1. Good Visual Design– Design is an all encompassing word for all the visuals elements of your website – logo, font(s), white space, theme/template, layout and colors. Using a theme that relates to the topic of your website can help to keep you/your content on track. When it comes to design it is important to remember to use white space and think about color usage and meaning.

2. Content– The key to a good website is providing relevant content that your readers want.  Content should answer the question “what’s in it for me?”

3. Navigation– Navigation is the “GPS” of your website. Navigation or Nav Bars are the buttons that get your visitors where they need to go to get information or do certain things. Usually this bar is along the top, as we in this one, or along the left side of the site.Should be simple to use and uncluttered. It is always a good idea to group like pages under the same topic to streamline navigation.

4. Call to Action – The Call to Action is a set of words that urge your website visitors to take an immediate action on your website.  There is no magic formula to a good Call to Action. The key is to continuously test what works best for your website and your audience. Test the placement, size and color of these…make sure you use actionable words.

5. Credibility – A good website instills trust from visitors. Good website design takes this into consideration by incorporating items that help identify that you are a legitimate resource. One way you can do so is by utilizing verified links, clearly stating your identity and contact info,  good grammar and employing social proof.

6. Mobile site – More and more people are looking at your site from a mobile phone or web enabled device. It seems like anything with a screen and a microchip in it is capable of getting on the internet these days. Make sure your site is viewable on a mobile internet enabled device. Quick note: Webs websites are automatically converted into a mobile friendly site when you build it.

5 Mistakes that Could Spell Disaster for a Website

1. Stale Content – Don’t let your site go dormant. Visitors and potential visitors will skip over your site when content is old and out of date – not to mention the effects this has on your search results.

2. Too much content –  This is worse than not enough content. The more people have to read through narratives and long drawn out chunks of information,the quicker they are going to leave your site. Leave the long-windedness to your blog entries.

3. No Photos –  Using no imagery makes your site boring and dull. Today’s web readers expect some amount of content mixed with pictures or logos and icons.

4. Looking illegitimate – Customers when visiting new sites will come in with their guard up – especially if they have been the victim of internet fraud before.The lens of the tainted viewer is always going to err on the side of “shady site”, and even more so if the site looks like one. Organizing your content, using consistent colors, employing a theme that stays the same from page to page, along with landing pages that match email campaigns (if you’re doing email marketing) are key to making a site look legit.

5. Being Bland – You started your business because of some sort of drive, and a story there. You spent all this time putting together a business plan and starting your company – let your site convey your personality. If you have a business where you greet everyone by name, smile and are generally happy, pick a theme and convey that. Avoid color schemes and writing that is “boring”. You have to keep your visitors attention and a bland site will get some one to leave very quickly.