Are you already using the Internet to market your company?

Think about how you would answer this question in real life. If you think about it enough, any business owner who uses the internet for any purpose will probably realise that they are already promoting their products and services online, regardless of whether they have an internet marketing strategy planned or not.

This article looks at some of the more subtle ways business owners can utilise the internet to market their business.

Do you have a website for your company?

Companies that answer yes to this question are already selling their products or services online because they have a website. Having an active website means that curious internet users can visit your website. Even if you are not actively promoting your website, you may find that your website generates interest in your products despite your lack of promotional efforts. This is a type of passive marketing.

Do you use message boards and do you have a signature that contains a link to your website?

If you answered yes to this question, market your website online. Participating in industry-related message boards is important to generate interest in your products and services, establish yourself as an industry expert and create a link to your own website, even if it's just in the signature line of your posts. Even business owners who don't realise it can inadvertently reap the Internet marketing benefits of participating in message boards simply by doing something they enjoy, perhaps as a pastime.

Do you include keywords in the content of your website that relate to your company?

If you answered yes to this question, you are already marketing your business online by optimising your website for these keywords. Regardless of whether they were aware of the concept of keyword density and how it can contribute to a website's search engine optimisation, this search engine optimisation (SEO) has an impact on websites. As it is natural and sensible, business owners are likely to use certain words frequently depending on the type of products and services they offer. However, search engines can improve your website's results for these keywords based on this trend. Although SEO is far more complicated and complex than regular keyword use, business owners can benefit from simply using relevant keywords on their website.

Do you use the Internet to obtain feedback from your customers?

This is another example of how business owners can market their business online. Most business owners realise how important it is to get the opinions of their customers for their business goals and those who sell things online may use online surveys to do so. Even if business owners do this for purely commercial reasons, the fact that it is done online categorises it as internet marketing.

We've already looked at some of the methods business owners can use to sell their products or services online, but what about those who want to grow their online presence? Business owners who are haphazardly advertising online may want to develop a full-fledged internet marketing campaign. The easiest way to do this is to hire an internet marketing consultant to help you develop an effective campaign for your target audience.