A successful website is only as good as its marketing. Most would be website business owners seem to slight marketing thinking that just half way efforts in marketing will be ok or falling for the field of dreams myth “if you build it they will come”. They will spend several thousand dollars on a nice website and no money on marketing. If we look at traditional brick and mortar business I think we can compare.

Most successful brick and mortar businesses do everything they can to market their business from ads to television; they usually have nice store fronts and signage. Retail stores look for good location so they will gain a steady flow of customers that frequent their establishment. Have you ever seen a Wal-Mart or a Taco Bell that was built in a pasture field forty miles from nowhere? Me either.

How do we know businesses like this exist? Even if you have never been inside a Wal-Mart or Taco Bell you know what it is because of ads, television and radio plus you have probably driven by them. They have exposure and it’s very hard to not notice them. Even small successful business owners will market their business.

Shifting back to the online world and your website we often see the website as the business built in the pasture field forty miles from nowhere. It has no signage and a lot of times the lights are off and it appears abandoned. There has been no form of advertising and marketing is pathetic.

There are basic forms of marketing that anyone can do for an online business that will get you started but unless you are a marketing guru or you plan on taking time to learn how to market your business it’s probably best to be left in the hands of a professional. Marketing does not have to be ridiculously expensive it needs to be done right and done to the right audience.

Who is your target market? How can you appeal to them? How will you get their attention? You need the right product to satisfy the needs of your customers. Your product needs to be offered at the right price. You need to have the right product at the right price in the right place to be purchased by your customers. You need to inform potential customers of the availability of this product, its price and its place.

In its most basic form you can start marketing your business through social media, article writing and blogging. Don’t become a spam freak but instead write articles to inform and educate. Start groups on social networks that will allow you to educate and network. Try to keep in mind that you want to help your potential customers and in turn they will help you. If you are an authority to them that will build trust which in turn will lead to more customers and sales for you.

One other very important thing is to be yourself, you are your business so don’t be afraid to open up and let people get to know you. You will build closer more personal relationships with your customers.

Personal branding is a term that a lot of us are hearing today and I think its something we are going to be hearing a lot more of in the future. What exactly is personal branding? There is a great definition of personal branding here.

Is personal branding really a new thing though? It may be new in ways it is being used now but as far as being a new idea, no, I think personal branding is a very old idea that most businesses have gotten away from. As a matter of fact I will go so far as to call personal branding “old school”.

Personal branding to me is getting to know the person behind the business, not trying to hide behind the face or logo of a business. Anyone can create a business name and a logo and hide behind that but the fact is real people should not have to hide behind a company façade, that is being an outright coward.

Did you ever have those light bulb moments? You know when the light just seems to come on and something that was so evident yet was hidden just hits you in the face? This is one of those times.

Years ago the business owners before us practiced personal branding, they built relationships with their customers and they did it on a very personal level. Hop in the time machine and go back several years, go in the old country store or to the insurance office or some other establishment, what do you think it will be like? They will call you by name, they will make you feel important and they will ask about you and truly be interested.

The bottom line is the cold hard fact that you are your business, not the name or the logo you hide behind. I am Proimpulse (Me, Anthony McMurray), not the name that took me 2 weeks to come up with over eight years ago, not the logo I designed. Seriously, who is Microsoft? Bill Gates. Who is Amazon? Jeff Bezos. Who is McDonalds? Ray Kroc. Who is Kentucky Fried Chicken? Colonel Sanders. You get my point.

Now I have never talked to any of these people in person but my point here is we have come full circle and we are getting back to the old ways of doing business we just have a better vehicle which is social media.

Are business names and logos important still? Yeah I think so, we will continue to need those but we need to open ourselves up and let people know there is a human behind them.

Another great example of personal branding is something that happened to me not long ago. My dear wife made the statement “It seems like a lot of your old friends never call you unless they have a question or issue with their computer or something involving the internet”. At first it really upset me and I thought to myself if they can’t call me just to say hello they were they ever really my friends to start with? A few days later I was with one of my long time friends (a police officer) and I decided to confront him, I told him what my wife said and his answer blew me away.

His reaction made so much sense I had to laugh at myself for thinking the silly selfish thoughts earlier. His words were “When we call you and ask you a question about the computer or the internet its not that we just come to you when we have a problem it’s the fact that we come to you because you are our expert in that field, the same reason if you have a law question you call me. Besides, we are guys and we think different than women do.”

The world is cold enough as it is, we all want to feel important and feel special. I love to walk into a business and have the owner say “Hey Anthony, how’s it going?”

I look back at the many testimonials that clients have sent to me and it amazes me what they say, “Anthony was…” or “It was a pleasure Anthony”, or “I called Anthony and he…” Was I really that blind? Have we become that cold and insensitive?

I know personally I am focusing on getting back to grass roots of getting to know people and the way business should be, what are you going to do with it?

Now is not the time to stop marketing efforts just because we are in a recession. Think about this… A lot of business owners are laying off employs or closing their doors, they are making cuts in their budgets. Now, think about this if these businesses are your competitors then you could have the upper hand, they are somewhat out of your way.

Marketing should be cheap, yes I said cheap! You don’t have to spend a fortune on marketing in order for it to work you just have to know what to do and where to do it.

It’s time to hit the social networks, blogs, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and make some noise. Go in with the attitude that you are educating your readers and give them good quality information. Don’t fall into the trap of “It’s all about Me” but give your readers something that’s useful and encouraging.

By keeping your marketing going you are going to help your business more than you know. Right now people want to do business with companies they know are going to be here for the long haul and you will give that message to them. You will be letting them know that your business is there for them, that you will support them and provide the service they can count on.

Also, contact your existing clients; if things are a little slow then you have some time to chat. Don’t just call and make a “pitch” to them but ask questions about their business and how they are doing and then listen. (There is a reason we have 2 ears and only one mouth).

Keep your head up and stay positive!