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If you successfully use good marketing practices for your small business now, you will have not only a much greater chance of surviving these hard economic times but also come out of this a much stronger company. In fact, many highly successful businesses are actually started during hard economic times, permitting them to flourish once the times change for the better!

As a small business, your competition can be fierce, running circles around you like a pack of wolves. The concept is simple: shake the pack off so as to be able to stand out amongst the competition while preserving your marketing budget.

Getting More Targeted Traffic While Spending Less Money:

It is a very basic mathematical formula as consumers spend less, the more it can cost you to obtain new customers, unless you start to think like an entrepreneur to outsmart the pack of wolves. One such area companies have been spending more on is Pay-Per-Click advertising. This can get very expensive and is not the most effective way to spend all your money. There are more cost effective means, from low cost to free, that can drive targeted traffic to your website, hence bringing in more sales for less money!

Type in Domain Names:

Rather than increase your PPC advertising, a simple way to generate more targeted traffic is to find quality type in domains related to your products and/or services and point them to the related product/service. These are basically highly searched phrases converted to a domain name. Just one example is FreeFishingLures.com. I do not recommend looking for domains including the word FREE for the most part; however, the way I market this domain works for my purposes. I personally own type in traffic domains that receive up to 300 unique visitors each day from people simply typing the domain in their browser. With the economy in shambles, you know exactly what your annual cost for type in traffic will be, simply the annual domain registration fee.

Posting to Online Discussion Forums:

Another very successful trick that most of the large fortune 500 companies ignore and many Internet marketers themselves forget is the use of related forums to your products and services. Now I am not suggesting you find some related forums and simply SPAM them, as this will get your posts deleted and even have you banned from the forums. Rather, try to help others that have posted questions and leaving a link when the forum permits. If you successfully assist others regularly, you will not only develop a relationship with other forum members but also retain the title of an expert in your field. This method will not only increase your sales but is a free way to generate targeted traffic to your website.

Automatic Mailing List:

If you are not already set up with a mailing list service to email your past and potential customers, you are missing out of the number one way to generate sales automatically! These are preformatted emails, a good service offering unlimited emails that are automatically sent at times you preset. In other words, the first email might be sent right away, the second follow-up three days later, another a week later and so on . . . They are also very useful if sending to your current customer base. After all, once you have gained the trust of a customer, they are more likely to place another order with you. A known fact is repeat customers cost much less in marketing revenue than trying to obtain new customers.

Adding Complimentary Services and/or Products to Your Niche Market:

Here is another tip that can get you ahead of the pack, adding complimentary products and services to your existing ones. There are numerous ways to do this, either with affiliate programs, reseller programs or even developing a new product to offer yourself! For example, if you have a website pertaining to the real estate industry, you could offer domain registrations in that "niche market" right from your existing website pages. In fact, I personally know of one realtor that does just this and makes an average of $1,100.00 per month just from other realtors registering domains from his website!

Give Your Small Business a Professional Appearance:

In reality with today's technology, a toll free number is a very cost effective means to increase sales and stand out from the pack with the correct solution. It is not enough to simply have a toll free number if you wish to make the impression that you are a large professional company. You need added services supplied by a Virtual PBX System such as multiple extensions so as people can call in and hear "for sales press . . . for customer service press... and then while they are waiting to be connected, have them placed with music on hold. Do not worry, you need not hire additional employees for each extension, but rather have all extensions point to your phone if needed. Other features to look for are lead generator and order taking system so as to collect the needed information during closed hours. After all, some people will not simply visit a website and place an order. They prefer to speak with someone live or hear a professional business answering system to ensure it is a real business before ordering.

Good Luck in Your Online Adventures,

Bruce Galle