An Absolute Must See For Any Small Business With A Website

January 3rd, 2011 → 12:12 pm @ James McLaughlin // No Comments

In 2010, The Small Business Administration and Google teamed up to create some really valuable information that small businesses can use to improve their website and online marketing efforts. The series is titled, “Tools For Online Success” and comes in the form of video testimonials from small business owners who have used these tools to find success online.
If you aren’t taking advantage of all the free tools that Google is offering you then it’s time to do so now. Google offers the following tools that can support your businesses’ website:

• Google Places – See my post about The Secrets To Getting More Traffic From Local Searches that explains the importance of Google Places.
• Google Analytics – Measuring the performance of your website and seeing where your traffic comes from is critical. This allows you to see what marketing channels provide you with the most exposure and conversions. Google Analytics is a must for any website, and it’s free!
• Google Webmasters Tools – Google Webmaster’s Tools is an excellent tool that gives you information about how Google sees your website and how your website is ranking for search phrases relevant to your business. This is a must have for Search Engine Optimization efforts on your website.
• Google Product Search – If you have an ecommerce website, it is a must that you submit your products to be listed in Google Product Search. It’s free and much easier to be listed in search results for your products then simply using your website alone.

These are the four main tools that can facilitate growth in traffic and sales on your website. Google does offer a host of other websites and tools that can help your business out such as Google Apps, YouTube.com, Google Voice, and more.

All of these free services lead to a greater purpose for Google. They introduce your business to the power of Internet Marketing which then leads you to being much more likely to spend money on Google AdWords, their pay per click search marketing system.

The content created with the SBA is a great set of videos that shows you the Free tools Google Offers, shows you how important Social Media is for customer research, and leads you into the potential that Google AdWords offers you. One of the main points the video on AdWords makes is showing you the ability to connect directly to a customer looking for your product or service, but also the flexibility you have in targeting locations and devices, and controlling your budget and targets. The best advice that I have seen is to make sure you have a solid website that contains unique and relevant content to what your customers are interested in. Then go ahead and start a Google AdWords campaign. The better your website and landing page are, the better your campaign will perform giving you a positive return on investment.

Check out the videos on the Google Website and let me know what you think. I am sure you will walk away with at least one great idea on how these tools can help you improve your website.

Tags: Free Internet Marketing Tools, Google, Small Business Administration Help, Small Business Website