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[O252]Online Small Business Accounting

by Newark Prebleford, New

There are a myriad of ways for small, local businesses to gain greater visibility on the web. More and more potential customers turn to the web each day to find businesses and services, and the number of options available to small business owners is also growing rapidly. For the web-savvy business owner, the path to greater online sales is complicated, but manageable-- it just takes a lot of time to keep up. But what about the millions of business owners that, say, do not even have a website? For this group, there are still many (free) options to help connect with online customers. This article highlights a few of the best options available.

If your business does not have a website, many of the standard tips and techniques do not apply. However, there are a number of websites out there that can still help you dramatically increase your web visibility. The following list describes some of the ones that I recommend. (Note: they are all free, and none of these require that you have a website.)

1. Google Maps. Everyone knows that Google is the #1 place where people begin their web research. Google Maps is Google's "yellow pages" and any business can submit, or enhance, their listing for free. The benefit of doing so is that Google often places Maps business listings at the top of its search results. When someone searches Google for a product of service of your business, you will be right there at the top.

2. Yahoo Local. This site is Yahoo's equivalent to Google Maps. It gets less traffic, but gives visibility within the #2 search engine which makes it very worthwhile.

3. Manta.com. Manta contains millions of profiles of U.S. businesses, large and small. Business owners can add their own profile information for free. Simply find your business in the directory follow the instructions. Manta differentiates itself by having much more of a business-to-business flavor than the typical yellow pages.

4. Merchant Circle. This is one of many national sites that allows businesses to both add their company to the directory, and modify their listing if already in the directory. Recently, Merchant Circle business profiles have been appearing more frequently in web search results, so it makes sense to be sure yours is in the mix.

5. Local directories. There are many custom, local directories out there that can also help get your business more visibile on the web. For example, if you are a business in Newark, Ohio, there is a website called www.NewarkOhioOnline.com that has a complete Newark business directory. Business owners in the Newark, Ohio area can add contact information, photos, brochures, logos and much more to their listing on the site. Not every town and city has one of these directory sites, but many do. Check out whether your town has one.

6. Facebook & MySpace. These "social networking" sites have become extraordinarily popular with businesses both due to their popularity, but also because of the great tools they provide for business owners. There are a growing number of businesses that use their highly-customizable Facebook page as their actual website.

7. Superpages. The last time I checked, business owners could add their own profile to this site for free. It isn't much, but surprisingly it tends to drive some pretty decent traffic and online contacts. This is definitely the last of the group, but worth doing nonetheless.

This is probably enough to get started. There are almost limitless ways for the motivated small business owner to grab more web visibility, and many of these options do not even require a website. If you take advantage of these seven, you can almost certainly expect to start hearing from new online customers as they find you through these websites. It should not take too long either; I'd expect you could finish these in one solid evening's work.

In your offline advertising, you need to make sure that your website is always listed as a method of contact. A website with a name that reflects your company - either your business name or a good description of what you do will be easy for people to remember and go to check out. You need to get this point of contact in front of your potential customers each chance you get - on your business card, in your print advertising (phone directory, newspaper, magazines, etc.) for a couple of reasons.

First, it makes you look professional and up to date. People just expect businesses to have a website, just like we expect businesses to have a phone number. It is one of those things that reflects poorly of you if you don't have it.

Second, you can convey so much more information to your prospective customers on your website than you can in the print media. Spend a little less money on the print ad and drive people to your website. On your website you can tell them about you, your company, your products, your services, your hours of operation, your contact information. Basically anything the customer needs to know they should be able to find on your website. And that is so much more than you can cover in your print advertising.

Many people will also go online after they have seen a few ads in the yellow pages or print media to find out a bit more about your company - who you are and what you offer. It is important, therefore to have a website up and to be promoting it both online and offline in your advertising efforts. Case study... I operate a small service business. We cater to both residential customers as well as small commercial clients. I have a listing in the local yellow pages. The listing consists only of my business website address (which is also the name of my company). Here is what happens.

People need the service that we offer, they go to the yellow pages, they see about 15 companies listed there - just names and phone numbers. Nothing in that category means anything to the person looking at the listings. Mine has my website address. So right there, that already sets me apart. Now they hop on their computer and go over to my website (a very simple site I built myself a number of years ago) but right there, in that minute, I have taken that person to the next step in the sales process. They have already invested some of their time and trust into looking me up. That is further than anyone else listing there has taken them. Now on my website, they can see a bit about who I am, what my company offers and why they should hire us.

All this is much more than you can depict even in a yellow pages display ad. They call me and I close the deal. How do I know? Because I make a point of asking people how they found out about me and many times the answer is "I saw your website address in the yellow pages". Now that is an effective use of an online/offline advertising combo! Your website can do so much more than what a print ad can do. Take advantage of that and drive your visitors there.

Dominate your local search engine results and leave your competitors in the dust.

Article Source : Carcinoma Non Small Cell

About Author

Both Newark Prebleford & Jonathan Hook are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Newark Prebleford has sinced written about articles on various topics from Small Business. Newark Prebleford is the editor-in-chief of , a community resource website for. Newark Prebleford's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.

Jonathan Hook has sinced written about articles on various topics from Blogging, Massage and Make Money Online. Jonathan Hook works with small businesses to help them create an online presence in order to dominate their local marketplace and increase profits. A free report entitled. Jonathan Hook's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.