As we approach the end of the year are you finding yourself considering new revenue streams for your business in the new year? If so, this post is about one of the most practical and successful business models for secondary or primary income streams – affiliate marketing.

You’ve likely heard that affiliate marketing is “passive income” earning at it’s best. Whether you sell your own products or services or someone elses, affiliate marketing is about leveraging the time and energy of a successful marketing team to increase your business’ revenue.

Once you zero in on the products or services you want to market, and put in place an effective online marketing strategy, your affiliate marketing business may require very little of your time.

Now while it’s true affiliate marketing can prove to be extremely lucrative for your business, before you jump in, make sure you are aware of the pros and the cons of launching your own affiliate program.

Pro #1: Connect to a larger audience.
The best affiliate marketing business model includes the utilization of affiliate marketers to support your sales effort. In other words you don’t have to do it alone and with a team of affiliate marketers, you are guaranteed to reach more potential customers than you ever would be able to reach on your own. An affiliate program allows you to gain visibility and reach a larger targeted market through by enlisting the man-power you need to grow your business.

Con #1: Handing over some control.
Can you trust others to represent your business professionally as an affiliate? It can be difficult for many business owners to entrust their livelihood to others. However, while it may feel uncomfortable at first to give up even a minimum amount of control, you will have to do so in order to maximize your profit earning potential.

Pro #2: Time to Do Business Owner Work
When you’re out selling and promoting your business something else isn’t getting done and that’s why it’s good to spread out your marketing efforts. With affiliate marketers promoting your business for you, you will have more time to focus on what’s really important, like coming up with new ideas, designing new offers for your customers, inventing new products and deciding what how best to reinvest and enjoy the extra income you’ll be generating!

Con #2: an Affiliate Marketing Teams Still Needs Management.
It’s inspiring to have a team out there selling your product or service  so that you don’t have to, but an affiliate program is just something else to worry about, and that is not what you need. But, on the good side, if you spend the time necessary to create a quality, organized and well-built program from the beginning, your team will require little management and basically run itself, especially if you have purchased a robust affiliate management software program that does most of the work for you.

Pro #3: Increased profits.
As your affiliate program grows, so will your business. The larger your team, the more visibility you will gain, the more customers you will have and the greater your income will be. It’s a very simple straight forward business model that works.

Con #3: More money, more problems.
It is true that the more money you have coming in will mean the more money you have to keep track of. However, again, a really good affiliate manager will help ensure your team is paid the right amount, on time and maintain important affiliate commission information for both you and your affiliate marketers.

So many things in life and business have pros and cons to consider. Your affiliate program is no different and keep in mind that there is an upside to just about every perceived challenge.

If you are willing to take on a little extra work, entrust a qualified team to market your business, and accept the increased responsibility that comes with a commitment to increasing your profit, then launching your own affiliate program might be just the direction your business needs to take.

To your success,

Sharon

No matter what type of business you’re in, adopting “green practices” can increase your bottom line.  Switching over to energy efficient power sources and reusable materials are not just smart for the environment we all live in but can save you money and increase your customer base.

When you started your business and created your business plan one of your initial goals was to develop your unique selling proposition or that special something that would help your prospective customer to take interest in your business over a competitor’s.

Well, being known as a conscientious “green business” is one attribute that will set you apart from competitors who are not taking steps to be sustainable and caring members of their local and global environment. You definitely don’t want to be lumped in the group of businesses that are not conscientious about their behaviors and the world around them.

In a recent feature of the journal “The Environmental Leader” National Restaurant Association Sr. Vice President of Communications, Sue Hensley, reported the following:

“There is growing interest by consumers in wanting to frequent restaurants or feeling more positive about frequenting restaurants that are instituting green practices and I don’t see consumers’ interest waning in that area.”

In terms of profitability, The Environmental Leader suggests that developing marketing strategies to promote your “green business” can really help to increase your business’ bottom line.  For instance if you’re saving money by switching over to energy efficient lighting and sustainable supplies – like reusable printer cartridges – don’t consider that ho hum news.

That’s the kind of information that’s turning you into a green business and a green business carries a lot good will with customers today.

Here are some marketing tips for green businesses that you can use:

• Identify your goals – do you ideally want to cut costs or build an image as a leader in your sector for environmentally responsible  behavior?
• Be conscious of your bottom line and start small, if necessary. You definitely don’t want to lose money by investing to much, too quickly.  Consider reducing energy since there are immediate savings with that strategy and changes can cost you very little to nothing. For instance, unplugging chargers when they are not in use, is just smart and creates savings. Switching to LED lighting will cost more initially, but will save you in the long run since these energy efficient lights last a very long time.
• Identify suppliers who are known for their green practices.  There might even be opportunities for you to participate in an affordable joint promotional venture with these suppliers.
• Keep yourself informed and educated on best practices in managing a green business. Local chambers of commerce and online learning organizations for small businesses are great sources for efficient, affordable or free courses on this topic.

Look at adopting green practices as a smart way to market your company to engaged prospective customers and even the media, who are always interested in focusing on companies that stand out from the crowd.

What are you doing or planning to do to adopt some green practices in your company?

To your success,

Sharon

As a small business owner working online, your marketing department is likely comprised of one person – you.  With so much on your plate already that means you’ve got to enlist marketing strategies that leverage your time and energy well in order to see sales results in a timely fashion.

In an earlier post I talked about the essentials of marketing and how important it was for a small business owners to incorporate “internet marketing” into their overall marketing strategy.  Keeping in mind sound marketing principles you can revise and add to your plan at any time as long as it supports your goals and keeps you on track.

Five Marketing Strategies for a Small Business

Let’s look at 5 marketing strategies that can be incorporated into your plan to boost sales this season:1.

1. Social Networking

Get involved in social networking! Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are not just the hottest places to be for those who want to promote their business online they are the smartest places to be for entrepreneurs on a budget – whether you’re online or offline.

Access is free but if you’re inexperienced with social media and are busy taking care of other essential elements of your business you’d be wise to enlist the assistance of a consultant or join a peer mentorship group to help you make the best impression and connections in these forums. Millions of your clients or customers are involved in social media forums so you’ll want to ensure you are too.

2. Online Press Release

Generate valuable backlinks to your website by producing and issuing an online press release about some newsworthy aspect of your company. Use a newswire service like PRWeb and you’ll end up depositing nice links throughout the Internet that users may come across and use to access your website.  That kind of activity can improve your search engine rankings and ultimately increase traffic to your website.

3. Pitch a Story to Specific Media Reporters

Prepare a story idea to “pitch” to the media and then email it to a “current” list of reporters and editors at local and national traditional news outlets that reach your target market.  Follow up every pitch letter with a phone call.

Newspapers and TV stations were hit hard by this recession and many are currently operating with skeletal staff.  Your story idea may be just what they’re looking for.  For example USA Today and the New York Times are newspapers with a national focus and they reach millions.  What’s even better is they have very popular small business sections.

If you’re not comfortable contacting the media, remember that you can always outsource this to the multitude of writers (and former reporters) who are unemployed and freelancing but more importantly have the experience to do a good job of promoting you to their former employers

Use Good SEO Techniques

Incorporate good search engine optimization techniques into the production of your website pages. Ensure that the content you’re creating contains well written, comprehensive information along with the key words your target market will be using when they go looking for your product or service on the Google search engine.

If your pages are optimized well for your keywords, your website stands a good chance of showing up in the top results of your customers’ searches. If you’re like me and need some hand holding when it comes to SEO, see what I suggest in #5.

5. Join a Mentorship Group

Connect with peers in your industry to keep up to date on best practices and opportunities. Small business networking groups are invaluable to your business’ development and can considerably reduce your learning curve.

There are of course many other creative and practical marketing strategies that you can put in place for your small business but don’t allow yourself to get too overwhelmed trying to build a complicated strategy.

Do your research and be clear on your goals. Break your strategy down into manageable activities that you can do each day.  You’ll feel great as you check each activity off your list. In fact, you may find you really enjoy carrying out some of the activities in your marketing strategy and that will give you tremendous momentum.

What are some of your favorite marketing tasks?

To you success,

Sharon

Today is Hallowe’en and for some of us we’re in our element decorating our homes with pumpkins and ghostly fun.  While for others this is an event that they simply endure.  Either way as “customers” gearing up for the onslaught of little costumed salesmen this evening, we’re conditioned to pay up with treats every October 31st.

What can a business owner learn from the trick or treat season? Promotion, persistence and placement.

Sound like a marketing lesson? Perhaps it is.  We are conditioned to stock our homes with candy in preparation for children who’ll be knocking on our door expecting a treat this evening.  How did we get to this point? No need to go through the actual history of All Hollow’s Eve but we can look at the conditioning we’ve gone through over the years.

Advertisers have done a knock-up job of filling our stores up with Hallowe’en decorations and goodies going as far back as early September.  They have been placing in our minds the images and fun of Hallowe’en through various promotions in all sorts of mediums including the Internet.

In years gone by, before the Internet and 300 TV stations, all we needed was timely placement of a few cherished programs to get us in a ghostly mood.  Think of the all time classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” or the great horror classics that TV stations would program for this time of year.

No sooner had Charlie Brown aired I knew I just had to get that pumpkin carved and the pantry stocked with food NOT from the required 4 food groups.

Now between store marketing, the Internet and the 300 TV stations that we surf through there are dozens and dozens of opportunities to push consumers into an all out Hallowe’en buying frenzy this season.

So what is the lesson here?  The timely and persistent placement of promotional messaging and products will help our target audience to think about the products or services we know they need and we’re only too happy to sell to them.

If you’re going to launch a new product or service do a logical timeline for promotion and marketing.  If an audience is sufficiently informed (not spammed) in an engaging and attractive way over a period of time you will have better chance of them opening the door or clicking on your “buy” button when you come knocking with your product service.

Better still with the Internet you have the ability to pull prospects to your sales page or website with content that is written using sound SEO (search engine optimized) copywriting techniques. When someone Googles one of your key words and your website shows up in the top 10 your SEO techniques are working and you’ll have prospective customers on your site.

Of course social media marketing is huge and if you’re not using forums like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to build upon your promotional strategy, you’re not executing a full marketing strategy and not reaching out as much as you could to your target market. The “free” aspect of social media marketing makes it particularly effective for budget conscious entrepreneurs.

So what are you wearing for Hallowe’en and do you think your customers are going to give you a treat or a trick ?

To your success,

Sharon

Networking use to be a real chore for many business owners.  Before social media hit the main stream, if you were going to make an effort to build your client base and generate powerful connections for your business you really had to add networking to your marketing mix.

Face to face meetings can be fun when you feel comfortable in the surroundings.  The thing about many business “mixers” or networking events is that not everyone is equally skilled at meeting people they don’t know and generating a conversation that isn’t overly sales-like, boring or simply awkward. Yet the success of “face-to-face” meetings depends on effective dialogue between people.

Add in to the encounter any nervousness ticks that you or the person you’re speaking to may have and you have the ingredients for a painful 2-hr. event that does little to drum up new business.  Social media turned the tables on “networking” by allowing us to focus on what networking is all about – people sharing interests in an environment that is relaxed and suited to personal time tables and, well, personalities.

Not to exclude face-to-face meetings as I think they are necessary and will continue to enjoy them, as needed, but there are many more opportunities to make your business known over a wider geographic region with an online networking forum. In other words social media is now an important part of the marketing mix.

Let’s use Twitter as an example.  There are millions of people on Twitter, but you only have to follow those people who interest you.  You can then engage those people at a time of your choosing and you don’t have to feel awkward about your outfit or about approaching the “popular” person in the room.  You can’t see them and they can’t see you.  What matters is what is said and what you learn about others by following their discussions in the Twitter forum and looking into references they put out like their websites and their products or services.

There are dozens of social media forums that have generated world-wide attention but among the most popular and effective forums for business owners today is Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Of equal importance are those niche social media forums where you can meet others from your field of expertise or potential clients in that sector.

For example, Lynn Terry’s Self Starters Weekly Tips “Elite” Forum is not just a place to meet other internet marketers, it’s a place to test out strategies and learn from others who are actively building their business. This group is extremely active bringing together men and women from the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world like Australia for some of the most productive discussions and online teleseminars/webinars.

Or take the growing group of women who have decided to stay home to raise their children but still want to or must generate an income. These are  “work at home moms” (WAHMS) and they have become a formidable networking group of women business owners generating enormous revenue online and in the economy as a whole.  One of the best networking or mentorship groups out there for women in this sector is Kelly McCausey’s Mom Masterminds.

In describing both of the above networking/mastermind groups I’ve included the name of the owner of each group and I did that for a reason.  As much as the online world has made networking easier, it hasn’t removed the “personal” component that makes a forum hum.  Both Lynn Terry and Kelly McCausey nurture a certain level of productive dialogue which attracts individuals who not only partake, but contribute to the “sharing” environment that makes a networking forum work for the benefit its participants.

In larger networks like Twitter and Facebook even though there are millions of users, you will only derive benefit when you find or generate discussion that involves honest sharing of opinions and information about a business topic of relevance to you.

That’s an important point because in very large forums you can easily get carried away involving yourself in discussions about non-business issues.  That’s the potential downside of social media.  Before you know it hours can be wasted, on a daily basis chatting with people who can do nothing to help you to develop your knowledge or your client base.  Those hours add up and will cost you in a big way…if you let it.

As a former chamber of commerce marketer I know all about business mixers and how productive they can be for those that approach each event in a strategic and supportive way. Entrepreneurship is no fun if you’re not generating an income and that will be front and center for you if you approach this opportunity strategically.

So as you maneuver your business through the social media banquet be comfortable, be yourself and enjoy the opportunity to network on your terms.  But don’t lose sight of your goals.  You may be in your slippers, curled up on a chair chatting to a new person on Twitter but just remember that this person or “your conversation” could lead to the big break your business has been waiting for.

There’s much to love and learn in the world of online networking.  What is your biggest aha moment as a business owner involved in social media?

To your success,

Sharon

Yesterday I saw a major feature in my paper about the new must have employee – the “social media butterfly.” Companies are climbing over each other to find smart 20-somethings who can take their social media strategy to the next level.

Funny, it seems like only a year ago “corporate” conference themes were seriously questioning the value of dedicating too much time on social media as the return on investment wasn’t entirely clear and employees were wasting company time on places like Facebook.

Now it seems companies want to be in the very places they shunned 12-18 months ago.

Entrepreneurs on the other hand seem light years ahead of their larger big business cousins. That’s probably because the affordability of launching a social media promotional strategy is a dream come true for cashed strapped new entrepreneurs.

Take for example the recent non-profit promotion to raise funds to beat cancer on twitter.  Major social media pundit Sarah Evans and others attending the BlogWorld & New Media expo encouraged twitter users to tweet the hashtag #beatcancer.  The goal was to set a world record and raise money in the process.  For every tweet featuring the hashtag the initiative’s sponsors donated 1 cent  to cancer charities.

Twitter users responded and $70,000 was raised to be split between four charities. This was raised over 2 days. No paid advertising, just the power of social media.

That’s a wonderful outcome for a heartfelt cause close to all of us. Now this isn’t the kind of promotion I would endorse for commercial purposes, but it does illustrate the power of this tool you are typing on or reading at this very moment. As an entrepreneur you have the opportunity to launch targetted and well-received promotional campaigns using a little savvy and understanding of your audience and very little of your hard earned money.

So if you’re on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, great for you. That’s a good beginning.  The strategic part is just as important. You’ve only got a certain number of productive hours in the day so it’s to your advantage to create a strategy that helps you to position you and your company favorably in your preferred social media forums.

Here are five simple some points to think about as you develop and implement your social media strategy:

• Be clear and consistent with  your brand.  Remember your brand is how you are perceived by your target audience and that perception is developed over time based on what you deliver and how you present yourself and your company (both visually and content wise).
• Look for the thought leaders and influencers in your segment of the marketplace. Follow them and engage them in meaningful dialogue – remember to offer information of value and be a contributor to your communities.
• Have a clear outcome in mind.  Create your own measurements, for example: 1 hr of Twitter/FB per day and 1 hr of blog posts and forum comments per day, 6 days a week should result in XX% increase in contracts or traffic to your website within 30 days, etc.  TIP: you don’t have to do all of this yourself since small businesses can hire (contract) “social media butterflies” as well!
• Don’t spam.  This is called “social” media for a reason.  People are on social media platforms because they appreciate the value and benefit of being social and will want to get to know you before doing business with you.  This isn’t new it is just a new way of networking and should “complement” your in-person efforts to promote your business.
• WATCH THE CLOCK. Social media can be a big time waster which will defeat the whole purpose of why you’re there and put you out of business before you know it.

Isn’t it a great time to be an entrepreneur? There are still challenges everywhere but at least when it comes to promotion you can now afford to compete with some of the leaders in your market, thanks to social media.

How much time are you spending on your social media strategy?

To your success,

Sharon

Whenever I think about the work of marketers (small business owners like myself) I think about how we use certain tactics and practices (a process) to help bring a product, service or idea (as in social marketing) together with the intended audience.

Plain English: marketers will do what it takes (and what has often worked) to get customers or a particular audience to act a certain way ( e.g., buy a product/service or stop smoking).

Those processes include tactics like “Internet marketing” and that fact has always made me wonder why Internet marketers seem to differentiate themselves from marketers. But before I go there, some more facts.

Anyone who has taken any time to learn about marketing knows that marketing involves 4 basic concepts most commonly known as the marketing mix:

• Product – creating something that will meet the need of an identified target market (your customer)
• Pricing – how you price a product can speak volumes to your intended audience
• Placement – the channel by which the product is distributed to the customer, for example the Internet… and
• Promotion – which includes advertising, publicity and branding (making your product attractive and visible to your potential customers)

So now we know what marketing is, what is Internet marketing? Wikipedia says Internet marketing is the marketing of products over the Internet by tying together creative and technical aspects of the Internet including design, development, advertising and sales.

Internet marketing then encompasses the kinds of things traditional marketers do (the 4 P’s) but is contained (produced, distributed and promoted) on the Internet.

So if I publish a hard cover children’s book, sell it through the Barnes and Noble book chain and promote it through traditional and new media channels (like the Internet) I’m using the “marketing” process.

But if I create one of those products unique to the Internet marketplace like an e-book and market it online, to an online audience, I’m involved in Internet marketing.

I really can’t see there being an awful lot of differences between Internet marketing and marketing. There are so many excellent Internet marketers creating and distributing products (not just electronic products either) that I believe the whole process of  Internet marketing needs to have a higher profile in that marketing mix (the 4 P’s).

Now that printed newspapers are dying and broadcast networks are scrambling to hang on to the dwindling attention span of TV audiences, the key promotional environment and the key distribution channel for the effective marketer is the Internet.

With more than 200 million people and counting getting their business, social and entertainment needs online, it would appear to me that whatever you’re selling whether it’s an e-book or a snow blower, your customers are online and that’s where a great deal of your marketing efforts should be directed.

So what’s the difference between Internet marketing and marketing? You really can’t compare since one process – Internet marketing – is truly part of the overall process of marketing.  Small business owners will do themselves a great service by understanding and implementing sound marketing tactics that include internet marketing.

Ailing newspapers and most American car companies are examples of big businesses that were far too slow to adapt effective Internet marketing techniques to reach their customers.

Have you got a handle on your Internet marketing strategy?

To your success,

Sharon

As a full time or part time business owner you need to have a certain level of knowledge about your business.  For example, the more you know about your target market, the more inclined you’ll be to develop products and services that they’ll actually be interested in and want to buy.  The more you know about online marketing strategies the more effective you will be in using your time and limited resources to increase your sales.

I could go on and on, but the message here is that the more you know, the better it is for your business.  Now I’m not suggesting that you become an encyclopedia about your business as you definitely don’t need to be immersed in  details you shouldn’t be spending your time on anyhow.

For instance your business will need a logo, but that doesn’t mean you need to learn about graphic design.  Rather you need to know how to present your business professionally in the marketplace.  So instead of learning how to use Photoshop to design your own logo you need to learn about the essentials of marketing a business and why it is important to establish a consistent brand and image for your company, all of which includes having a professional logo.

Obviously there is work to be done in your business that is management oriented (work for you to do) and there are tasks that are better addressed by outsourced professionals or specialized contractors who can get the job done right, within budget and on time.

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re not running down rabbit holes on tasks while your business languishes is to develop a sound business plan that outlines your:

• Goals: these are major achievements you want realized, like attaining a certain position in the marketplace or income level.
• Objectives: these are preliminary and measurable achievements you want realized on the way to meeting your goals – consider objectives as being mile posts.
• Strategies: this is your road map for achieving your objectives and explains how you’ll go about doing things like increasing sales by 30% or obtaining media coverage in 10% of the major media reaching your target market, etc.

Once you have that business plan the next thing to do is to ensure you LOOK at it REGULARLY.  Too many entrepreneurs keep their business plans tucked away in a file and then lose track of their strategies and goals.  That’s a sure way to greet failure fast.

Keep your business plan handy, refer to it often and seek out mentors and resources that can help to enhance your knowledge of your market, best practices in your business and trends in the marketplace.

Information about creating a business plan and outsourcing tasks effectively and affordably will be included in our next  Biz Facts Online newsletter. To get this handy information you’ll need to be a Biz Facts Online subscriber.  You can sign up using the subscribers form up on the top right hand corner of this page (and every page of this site).

To your success,

Sharon

A few days ago my mother invited me to visit a business owner that she was referred to by a friend.  This entrepreneur is an esthetician who offers facials and hair treatments.  Reluctantly I agreed but was I ever glad I did…and it had nothing to do with the hair treatment I received.

From time to time as I get busy with projects I forget about the excitement and fulfillment I get from being part of the entrepreneurial movement in this country. It wasn’t the money that got me hooked 18 years ago, it was the sense of independence, control and freedom to manage and serve my own part of the marketplace.

Of course the money is important and allows me to do the things I love, but for many of us choosing to become an entrepreneur isn’t about becoming a millionaire. It’s about living.

The woman I met a few days ago wasn’t focused on being a millionaire – she was focused on managing the mortgage payments for her new home.  She was focused on being accessible to her two young boys who are in elementary school. She was focused on being a contributing partner for her husband who had just switched careers to become an optician and new eyeglass store owner.

Both of them are under 40 and are about the most up-beat people you’d want to meet. They’re not wealthy and I can see there were things they were doing without in order to make sure their life and business priorities were attended to.  But they weren’t complaining.  They were too busy giving good service, encouraging others to spread the word about their businesses and enjoying the conversation and sharing that comes with connecting with others as customers, clients–people.

If you live in the U.S., Canada, parts of the Caribbean, South America or Europe, you likely have access to various thriving small business resources and communities.  With the failure of start-up businesses in the healthy double digits, there is still many resources out there to help new entrepreneurs to make a successful go of it.

I encourage you to seek out mentors and peer groups where you live or online since in many cases there are options and resources you aren’t aware of that could make a difference in whether you succeed or not with your venture.

If you haven’t signed up to become a Biz Facts Online subscriber yet, I encourage you to do so now as we’ll be sending out helpful small business resources to our list.  The subscriber box is in the top right hand corner of the page.

To your success,

Sharon

One of the great things about the Internet is that there are hundreds of millions of people online and your target group is bound to be in that huge online audience.

The work of a savvy small business owner is to use the Internet in the most (cost) efficient way possible to locate  that all important target market.

One of the best ways to reach your target market and start building up your client/customer list is to both raise your profile in key communities and connect effectively with your prospect list using Internet marketing techniques like email marketing (see #5 below).

Here are five current and effective ways of finding clients online:

#1

Use Google to find the most popular blogs and discussion groups for your business or sector. After familiarizing yourself with those sites respond in constructive ways to appropriate blog posts and get involved as a contributing and supportive member in discussion groups. Note: the list of blogs/websites that appear on the first page of your Google search of your keywords will likely identify some of the most popular and/or credible authorities for your sector.

#2

Identify teleseminars and conferences put on by respected event producers in your sector and approach these producers about becoming a speaker and/or sponsor at these events.

#3

Determine the size of your advertising budget and identify any affordable advertising opportunities on  blogs or other websites reaching a significant segment of your target market.  Advertising can take  the form of a $15/ month button on a home page of a blog to a podcast sponsorship costing several hundred dollars.  Obviously how much is charged depends on the  popularity (audience size ) or reputation of that website..  You don’t necessarily have to advertise with the most popular blogger/publisher, but you do want to consider sites where you know your target market can be found in significant numbers.

#4

Use social media, including tools like “Twitter” and “LinkedIn“, to reach a growing audience of just about everyone.  You can use the Twitter search function to isolate those businesses and users who are interested in your product or service.  Once you check out their profile and their website (when you’ve got time) then you should decide to “follow” them (or not).  That “follow” will put their twitter feed in your timeline and if this person represents part of your target market you’ll really want them to follow you as well. All your followers will get your tweet in their feeds. That’s why part of your goal on Twitter is to build up a follower list of strong, potential customers/clients/peers.

LinkedIn is a great networking tool that is more structured than twitter.  It’s considered a very professional and well respected tool that allows you to really highlight your experience and background.

#5

Make strategic use of your autoresponder (I use aweber). An autoresponder is an automated service for sending out emails to your list after a user fills out one of your subscriber forms or signs up for something you are promoting.  Don’t flood inboxes with email (spam) but communicate regularly with your list of prospective clients/customers.  If you establish yourself as a timely resource and helpful expert, by sharing timely tips and information in your emails, you’ll be more likely to succeed in selling your products and services to this group of individuals who have “chosen” to communicate with you.

There are books and conferences dedicated to finding clients.  The five suggestions listed above are just some of the more common strategies used by small business owners succeeding online.  What other strategies would you suggest or add to this list?