B2B Markeplace

Are you running a small business that needs to create an online presence? Maybe you own a freelance photographer, an newsagency, or work as a auto repair shop from home? Irrespective of the type of business that you have, if you have been wondering how you can use the Internet to boost your business presence and attract more customers, then peruse through this article before you go out and spend money on a website designer to create a website for you.

Whilst it may not be your core business, it pays to educate yourself a little first before investing any $$. This article will provide you with a foundation of web marketing before you hire someone to create a website for you so that you are not flying blind. It will also coach you about some things you can do yourself, which you may take the option to do on your own and save you the cost of hiring someone else.

Web 2.0 Websites

Another way to spread the word about your business without having to create a website, is to create a free webpage on one of the numerous Web 2.0 content sites such as Hubpages and Squidoo. Here is an example Squidoo lens reviewing Success University.

These are even easier to setup than a blog as they don’t require any technical know-how whatsoever, leaving you to concentrate on your content and writing whatever it is you wish to write to your chosen audience. Pages on Web 2.0 sites also often appear towards the top of the search engine results pages, further boosting the means by which more people can find out about your business and what you have to offer.

Social Networking Sites

MySpace, Lincked In and Facebook are amongst the three most popular social networking websites. As with the Web 2.0 websites, social networking websites also work on pre-defined templates and styles, negating your need to have any html knowledge and enabling you to save the money you might have otherwise invested with a web design company and invest that somewhere else.

Blogs As An Alternative to Websites

If you have the inclination to provide regular news and updates relating to your business, you might consider establishing a blog instead of a website. A blog works like a diary. Each entry is time and date stamped. Here is a blog about finance as an example. Note the time and date stamped posts and the optional Page Peels in the top right hand corner. You don’t need to have any knowledge of html or programming to use a blog.

Once your blog is installed, you just login to a control panel interface, type what you want to say into an entry field, and click the publish button.

Blogs are also very easy to setup. You might even try your hand at creating one yourself. You can get very affordable cPanel webhosting nowadays starting from $4.95 per month. cPanel hosting comes with a system called Fantastico, which allows you to setup a blog with a few clicks of a mouse. A decent hosting provider should be able to assist you to setup your blog as well, even if you are a novice. After all, it’s in their interest to secure your business.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Once you have setup either a blog, Web2.0 or Social Networking page, you will want to ensure that your page obtains a high profile in the search engine results, thereby delivering more traffic and awareness of your business. This is where SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, comes in. Don’t be daunted. You can learn about search engine optimization by taking a loan of a book from your local library or investing a little time researching it on the web.

There are a whole host of free websites containing information on seo, as well as paid membership sites such as PortalFeeder that can allocate a mentor to you to assist you with your search engine optimization knowledge and website creation efforts. There are some really simple things you can do that will boost the presence of your website and drive traffic to it.