Understanding The Online Web
The Internet is becoming much more interesting in our life and times as time ticks on. Staying up to date with the latest technologies available is most important for the B2B – Business to business, B2C – Business to consumer, and the C2C – Consumer to consumer world. Most small businesses today are not taking advantage of even a fraction of the power available through the Internet. The Web has created a solid foundation for marketing, advertising, and sales for all types of small businesses.
Large corporations for years have been using the Internet as a means of having their websites be a supplement and in some cases the main tools for bringing products and services to the market place. Large corporations have worked hard to establish their brand with the consumer or in the case of B2B; other businesses. For the small biz community however, many have not even thought about how they can establish their brand online through Web traffic on the local Internet markets.
Even with the advent of the Internet, consumers still purchase goods and services locally which supports businesses, stores, and service providers in their local communities. However, marketing and advertising in the past was through a Yellow Page Ad or the local newspaper. Things certainly have changed in how consumers and buyers find things. Now, because of the behavior of consumers and buyers, there is also a need to market and advertise a local business using the Internet.
Consumers and businesses continue to push the big Yellow Page books off to the side. In fact, if you haven’t looked at a recent Yellow Pages book; the publishers are trying to reduce the costs to print these books by making the text type so small that you need a magnifying glass in order to read it. I have become most disgusted with our local Yellow Pages for this very reason. I am now much more inclined to go to Google Search and do a local search in my community rather than pull out the fine print. I suspect that the younger generation (post Internet) uses the Yellow Pages printed book even less.
Millions of consumers are using the Internet daily to search out small biz. These figures are growing, especially as High Speed Internet has become more popular. Local directories are sprouting up all the time. These directories are becoming a way of providing a link to your B2B or B2C website that can support your business. Having information related to the specifics of your business can be an excellent way of being able to market and advertise 24 x 7 x 365 days a year. See information about various small biz strategies and expanding market reach online.
We have heard the story from some businesses having had a website for years that, “no one ever comes to our website.” In their mind they have written off the Web and their website as being, “a waste of time and money.” These business owners have placed very little effort into marketing their business online through good search engine marketing strategies or what is known as SEO, Search Engine Optimization.
Search Engine Optimization is actually a misnomer. The term SEO or Search Engine Optimization and another term often used is SEM or Search Engine Marketing are actually terms used to describe optimizing a website for the particular keywords and keyword phrases to be found in the search engine searches for industry specific keywords related to particular fields of business. The search results pages for keyword queries can be a boom for sales on all types of products, services, organizations, and brands if a company starts being displayed in the search results pages. The SEO and SEM needs to be much more than just an optimizer of the company website. There are hundreds of onsite variables that affect the ranking of a website. Additionally there are countless other offsite variables that directly affect a website showing up in the results pages. For example from a Search Engine Algorithm, the quality of, and the topics of other websites that link directly to another Web site is a key variable. Certainly as Search Algorithms have been improved over the years has had a direct impact on the value of links from other sites. See: Search Engine Optimization Question
The process of marketing and advertising online is in a state of flux for B2B, B2C, and C2C. But, that is no different than having to battle the competition in other media outlets for any business. The Search Engine Companies are looking for the best results possible. Search Engine competition is good for the consumer. If there was only one search engine on the horizon, with one group of search engine results, and only one online advertising model, then they would have a monopoly online. The search engine company could make it so no other website could ever get into the natural or organic search results. A monopoly search engine company could force everyone to start paying for online advertising. This however, would be very foolish indeed. Consumers and businesses are free to use Google, Yahoo, Bing or any number of other smaller search engines that are starting up.
Trust is the key. Without trust and another all to often forgotten concept, Internet ethics, consumers could very easily migrate to other search services. Search as we know it is quite new. In just the past ten years we have seen Search develop into what has become an Internet marketing facilitator. The whole process of search can be summed up for the business world as a Marketing Middleman. The industry for business is about connecting buyers to sellers; matching up the needs of some with the products and services of others, and focusing on the transfer of information from one entity to another. If everything was Black and White it would surely make for a very dull colored world. That is why we will continue to see innovations, new technologies, and powerful online programs that will provide a great benefit to all business in the world.
The future of Search is limitless. I suspect in another ten years that we will be blown away at the power at our fingertips. Consumers and businesses will continue to embrace the Internet for eCommerce, research, and a host of other solutions that have not even been invented yet. The only question is; will you be on the forefront of the solution and embracing the Internet for your business?
To get your business found online contact Professional Web Services today. With powerful solutions for your B2B, B2C, or C2C business through Internet marketing services, Online advertising strategies, and Web branding solutions. Get the Business Solution today.
Stay informed with our Free, Above All, We Tell It Like It Is, And Do It With Style! Newsletter.