There are a variety of web marketing programs on the internet today. So many, it seems that everyone has a solution. We are going to review a few programs that are actually of great benefit to small business owners online.

Publicity is one of the best ways to promote your business without spending large dollars on advertising. Publicity is essential for any new business opening. It can also be effective when changes take place in your business; the public needs to hear. Publicity helps you get known in your local community or association.

Important points to consider when writing a publicity article are to include your full business contact info; have a title that speaks of change or news of interest; keep your story to the point; and try to build suspense till the end. Convey how your story affects the local market or community; include information readers of the particular newspaper etc. would be interested in. There are free services in your local business association or through newswire.ca.

Promotion! Do you need to get more people to your site but do not want or have a lot of money to spend? There are traffic building programs, pay per click, web site search engines, email marketing, referral programs and many other ways to promote your business online. We will review a couple. It is important you get your site listed on the major search engines MSN, Yahoo, Google etc.

Pay per click can be a very effective way to do this. First you must determine what key words you are going to use. But you might want to see what keywords your competition is using first. You can do this by entering the keywords in the search engine you want to get listed in, and see who ranks in the top 25. For more information on pay per click see www.yahoo.com and click on submit site.

E-Mail Targeting is one of the more effective forms of advertising. We are not talking spam here, but sending email to a list of targeted prospects or sending email to people you actally have come into contact with that may benefit from what you have to offer. Why else would they bother to respond?

There are a variety of targeting list providers just like direct mail, one example is http://www.rabbitmails.net/, or you can search the web for email marketing techniques.

Here we have also provided helpful links to help you promote your site, some for free. Good luck and see you next month! Marketing materials and search engine exposure.

For more information see http://www.usabusinessgrowth.com/webmarketing.html

Mr. Des Marais has operated small businesses for over 20 years. He has been a consultant and held positions in some of the fastest growing companies in Canada. He has held past management positions in retail, tourism, hospitality and sales for a variety of companies. He has increased sales by 200% in 2 months for an herbal doctor; increased sales by 30% in 4 months for a major Canadian Big Box Retailer; 200% sales increase 3 times in a row for a service-based small business and helped several entrepreneurs develop and sell their business. His expertise is in the area of growth and business development. He has also been involved in developing business chapters.

In terms of Business Development and mentoring Mr. Des Marais has volunteered with S.E.E.D.S mentorship review committee, ACE, YEA.