Where You Need to Be On the Web

There are so many sites and networks on the web these days, it can be hard to cut through all the noise to figure out where you need to be on the web to market  your products and services.  Generally speaking, the best place to start is with a web site, if you don’t already have one.  It doesn’t have to be fancy or artistic, but it should be uncluttered, professional-looking, with the information customers want laid out in an easy-to-find way.

Second, if you or any of your employees enjoy writing, a blog built into your website can be a very powerful marketing tool.   You can post your most important news there, creating a constant stream of fresh content that you can link on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and which people can receive directly in their email boxes and blog-readers.

Or if you prefer talking to writing, you could do a regular audio or video podcast.  It’s becoming easier and easier to make your own audio or video content, which can, like blog posts, be republished on other sites and sent directly to subscribers.

Speaking of Twitter and Facebook, both of those social media sites have tremendous momentum and growth right now (summer 2009), and there are some good mechanisms for finding your potential customers on those sites.  Either or both of those might be a good place to to branch out after setting up your own website and blog.   Start with a personal account, observe how people and businesses interact, and do some posting to get an idea of how the sites might work for your business.

Certain niche social media sites may be more geared toward your customers, so don’t forget those–deviantart.com for artists, goodreads.com and librarything.com for readers, myspace.com for music enthusiasts.  You might even ask some of your customers about their favorite sites.

But don’t spread yourself too thin.  If you have very limited time, choose one or two venues and concentrate on posting and interacting with interested people there.   If family, friends or employees are willing to help, give them some guidelines about your goals, then observe and supervise them closely until you’re comfortable that their style is appropriate for your business.

I’ll have more specific stuff on these points in posts to come.

.me.