When it comes to Main Street, finding a strip mall without two or three “For Rent” signs along it, is a rare occasion lately.   Sure, the sour economy has taken its toll on everyone from the local mom and pop shop to the Fortune 500s.  We know that unregulated big business brought down Wall Street.  But what broke the backbone of the US small business market? Why are small businesses everywhere continuing to fail?

I started to think about this after passing my town’s local pizza joint that recently became one of the many, “here today gone tomorrows” of our time.  Nonni’s had just revamped itself in hopes of generating more business – new flat screen TVs, a decorative paint job that put you right in the middle of southern Italy while indulging in your pie, and some fancy new furniture.  Unfortunately, the owner invested too much of his time and money in the wrong place.

Unless your over the age of 65 or just plain behind, you don’t use paper publications like the Yellow Pages to find what your looking for today.  Instead, we Google, Yahoo and Bing.  We use search engines that give us exactly what we are looking for (and more) in just seconds.  The problem, for many small businesses lining the sidewalks of Main Street, is that their products and services are not being captured by these search engines.  It’s surprising to see how businesses, from general stores to hair salons, don’t have websites (their most important store front and tool for moving up on the search engine ranks).

I understand they are called “small businesses” for a reason.  Localized, smaller centers of commerce and capitalism – plain and simple.  But today, thanks to technology and globalization, there’s really no such thing as being localized, especially if you want people to know you exist.  Bottom line, the small businesses who have remained too small (i.e., no websites or other forms of online advertising) well their time to get up to speed with the rest of the world has come.  Whether your a one man accounting firm or a 30 person nail salon – you need to advertise your services on the web.  The old pen and paper way of managing and publicizing your trade is out.

Let’s revisit poor Nonni’s to try and zone in on how this establishment could have potentially survived the technology tsunami and the recession.

1. If Nonni’s would have invested the $1,000 to $2,000 that originally went to flat screen TVs on a new website, they would have been able to establish a web presence, making it easier for customers to search for their services, order online and look up the shop’s phone number, address, menu, etc.

2. Having a website Nonni’s could have also hired or performed SEO on their website to help increase traffic to their site and essentially generate more business.

3. After getting more business/ revenue from their website, Nonni’s then could have gauged whether or not to invest in TVs and a new paint job based on whether their clients were coming in for pizza or ordering out.

4. After expanding and hiring a larger staff to deal with increased business, Nonni’s could have had a CRM or Customer Relationship Management designed to help more efficiently run their business.  CRM systems could be used to keep better track of inventory, staffing and employment needs like hours and payroll, as well as manage a client and customer list of emails and other contact info to email blast their customers about promotions, new events at the store, etc.

Lesson of the day: small businesses need to focus on their digital store front in order to keep their actual store front up and running in today’s day, age and economic times.

What is pay per click? When you go to google and type in “web design westchester” you see the top sites come up in the white. The two sites on the top and the website ads on the right is what pay per click is. Those people actually pay to get their website in those areas.

Is pay per click worth it? Most of the time you lose money before you actually make money. The reason is because you have to experiment which keywords, ad copy, and bid to place that will give you the most customers. When I say customers I mean people who are going to purchase your products or services, not prospects (people who are just looking). I normally tell people to try it out and keep track of how many people are turning into clients. You can run daily, weekly, or monthly analysis using Google Analytics.

What keywords do I use? When you are searching for the right key words to use for pay per click it is important not to go straight to the “good deal”. Why? Because a lot of the times those keywords are cheap because they don’t hold as much value as other more expensive keywords. A lot of times I look at competition and what they are putting on their ads (it’s not cheating!)

Is pay per click important? I think the people who use pay per click for the easy key words, such as web design Westchester, is wasting their money and time. It takes a little bit of work to get to the front page, however it can be done. If you cannot do it yourself spend the few hundreds of dollars and have a professional do it (like me). I think it’s worth it to spend the money on an SEO specialist to get you to the top, but then again there are negatives. It is up in the air if it will save you money, however think about this how often do you read or even bother to look at those ads? I know my answer is that I never do! Sometimes I’ll click on my competitor’s ads just to click it and make them spend the dollar (I know it’s cruel)! But anyway that’s about all the interaction I have with that portion of Google. Besides you are paying anywhere from 20 cents to 5 dollars (depends on the keyword and how many people want it) to get seen! Well let’s just do an average of 2 dollars… Are you telling me that you are going to spend 200 dollars for every 100 people that come to your website? I guess it really depends how many of those people turn into customers. But the point is SEO really isn’t that difficult once you get the hang of it, it’s just a lot of work because there are so many people trying to get to the front page along with you. However, if you can get to the front page I recommend that instead of PPC and that’s my final answer!

        If your not Tweeting or updating your Facebook status to communicate with people these days, then you pretty much don’t exist (at least it feels that way).  Thanks to Myspace and Facebook, our generation has witnessed one of the fastest growing digital trends in communication via social networking sites.  I mean, we can’t make it through the day without hearing about a celebrity “Tweet,” chatting about a new Facebook post, or hearing about some other virtual announcement.  With that, I think its safe to say that we are living in a new age of communication – one which seems vital for keeping up with the rest of the world (whether its for business or for pleasure).  

         I don’t even think I knew what Facebook was until something like my second or third year in college (way back in 2004).  Seeing how quickly social networking websites have evolved, from your basic college student’s way of posting some pictures from their latest kegger or keeping in touch with old high school buddies, to this vast network of possibilities for information exchange, certainly necessitates some attention.

          I’m sure that many of us have recently experienced that, “Oh my god, my mom’s on Facebook moment!”  I know I have.   Aside from this being quite a hilarious or perhaps a nerve-wracking experience (depending on whether or not your the one upside down doing things like keg stands in your Facebook portfolio), the fact that older generations have joined their kids on the world wide web, is a prime example of how social networking has become universal.      

         So, where do Twitter and Facebook fit in with the world of web marketing?  The answer to that question is, EVERYWHERE.  Whether your a small business or a Fortune 500 Company, its time to make a name for yourself  with the help of these social networking websites.  While it might seem obvious to some, the following are just a few of the reasons why its super important to be Tweeting or Facebooking your way to success.  

1. Social media lets people know who you are, what you do and what your doing up-to-the minute. 
2. You can network your business by becoming Facebook friends with people in your industry, potential customers, or current clients, etc. 
3. You can create buzz and visibility with a Facebook announcement, event invitation, or newsfeed.  
4. You’ll be able to show and tell the world about what you can do for them by Tweeting everything you’ve been up to (do I hear virtual resume much?). 
5. You can also provide easy access to your website from your Facebook or Twitter page and vice-versa. 
6. And lets not forget that social media will help increase your SEO and rankings in Google by creating more traffic for your website with links to and from Twitter and Facebook.  

While I could go on for another five blog posts about the benefits of social media as a means of advertising yourself and your business, I won’t because its much more beneficial for you to start to get out there and experience the phenomena for yourself.  Before we go, there is one other tiny aspect of using social media to advertise that I have not mentioned …. dun dun daa … ITS FREE.  So, do your business a favor by logging in to the world of social media by making a Facebook or Twitter account today!

And after you’ve done that, come check out Black Rhino Marketing Solutions on Twitter or Facebook while your there!