It’s no secret that the Internet has become the best marketing method for small business owners.  Why?  Because it’s low cost AND highly targeted.  Not only that, but old traditional marketing is no longer a viable small business solution.

You see, 97% of your customers are on the Internet looking for your product or service…  While only 57% are looking for you in the phonebook, and even less are looking for you on the television and radio.So, what do you do as a small business owner?  You create a website for your business, and you begin to “try” this new marketing medium.  But you are doing it all wrong!

Here are the five biggest mistakes small businesses make online:

Doing Nothing At All

You might not be a website designer or a best SEO expert, but doing nothing at all will only hurt you.  You see, the longer you “do nothing”, then, the more and more customers you will lose to your competitors.  Why?  Well, because they already have their business Internetized.

So, stop losing your customers to your competition, and get a website up and running today, and start doing some internet marketing today.  You can’t make money if you do nothing at all.  Fact is, you will keep the status quo — a slow painful path to business failure.

Poor Looking Blog or Website

A blog or a website represents your business online.  If it does not look appealing or professional, you will not be successful!

You need awesome graphics, headers, proper HTML and solid written PHP.  But does this mean you need to become an Internet website programming guru?  No.

Fact is, you can hire a web developer for really cheap, or utilize WordPress, a simple blogging platform, and purchase a cheap WordPress theme for your business.

But it doesn’t end there.  You also need to optimize your website and blog for the search engines.  This is where an SEO consulting company comes into play, but more on that soon.

Capture, Capture, Capture.

The money is in the list.  And what is the list?  It’s your targeted customers “captured” via your website.  And what’s the importance of the list?  Well, it’s how you will be able to click a button and get customers running into your store’s front doors.

Here’s how it works: buyer visits your blog site; buyer signs up to your website’s email list to acquire a special report or special offer; now you have customer “captured”, and you can send that customer special coupons which are redeemable at your brick-n-mortar store.

It’s a great system, isn’t it?  And it sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Well, it’s more difficult than you might think.  It takes more than putting up a simple optin capture form…  You have to get the conversion copy just right, and after you capture the leads you have to know how to build rapport and value with that customer.

This is where a local Internet marketing company can help you.  In fact, they will help you properly avoid the next mistake all small business owners make.

Sales Funnel Mayhem

What’s the purpose of Internet marketing and list building?  To “automate” your entire marketing process.  And that’s what an automated sales funnel can do for you.  You see, a sales funnel is a system which gathers leads and turns those leads into buyers over time.

Here’s what you do.  You will offer low end products and up sell those low end buyers to higher end products. This will dramatically increase your income FAST, and the best part?  Once you have built your sales funnel correctly it can run on complete autopilot.  It can literally make you money while you sleep!

But sales funnels are VERY difficult to build and setup.  You have to be an SEO expert and an Internet marketing expert.  It will take lots of time to test and to tweak each step of the sales funnel.

Here’s the cold hard truth, unless you are an expert (or a very lucky business owner) it could take you years to figure it all out.

Going At It Alone

And the BIGGEST mistake to ever make is doing it all yourself.  You see, you’re an expert in your business… Not internet marketing.

The solution?  You need a company which specializes in website marketing services.

You could waste years of your precious business time, and you could waste thousands of dollars of hard earned business income…

All before you become successful with internet marketing.

The solution?  Hire a local Internet marketing services company.  In particular, one that specializes in website marketing services.  Do this and you can focus on what you do best — managing your small business.