(ARA) - In shaky economies, companies that invest in their marketing often come out on top. But for small business, making these investments often feels risky. Not only are time and resources tight, many small business owners feel they lack the knowledge to make the marketing choices that provide a return.

In fact, figuring out “what works” is the top marketing concern for nearly 80 percent of small business owners, according to a recent survey by Deluxe Corporation.

“Most small business owners are talented at their trade, but not at promoting their businesses,” says Stephanie Chandler, entrepreneur, speaker and author of “LEAP! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business.” “They’re willing to work long hours and invest whatever is necessary to grow their businesses, but demystifying the marketing process and having the confidence to try new approaches can be daunting, especially if they have tried something in the past and were burned.”

The survey also showed that more than 60 percent of small business owners would be more confident investing in marketing if there was a way to guarantee return on investment.

Chandler says that there are five things all small business owners can do to rev up their marketing and see better results:

* Plan the work, then work the plan: Decide specifically what you want your marketing to do - raise awareness, generate leads, retain customers - then choose the marketing elements that will accomplish your goals. Stick to the plan and give your efforts time to work. If you are not sure where to begin, SCORE, counselors to America’s small businesses, offers free advice.

* Let leads lead you: Look at the leads you are already generating, or the ones that most often convert to actual customers. Ask them how they found you so you can efficiently invest in those areas to increase your likelihood of success.

* Ask an expert: If you have a specific marketing need, like designing a logo or writing Web copy, ask an expert for help. Look for resources among your peers or in online forums such as PartnerUp.

* Polish your social skills: Social media is here to stay. Look at sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. See where your customers are engaged and join the conversation. Start with one tool. If it is working, it is easy and free to keep building your social media connections.

* Know what success looks like: Decide what indicates success for your business - new customers, leads, website visits, coupon redemption - and track your progress over time. Look for times when your marketing efforts overlap with increased performance.

To help small business owners learn to market well, Deluxe has partnered with SCORE, a national non-profit group that counsels entrepreneurs, and Chandler to launch Project Rev - a yearlong, marketing lab to help small businesses find marketing solutions that work. For more details on these and other small business marketing topics, visit www.projectrev.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an invaluable tool for a number of different reasons. But before you can make full use of this tool, you need to understand how to
interpret the data.

Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic web traffic information you then have to interpret and make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from
your host company can be overwhelming if you don’t understand how to apply it to your particular business and website. Let’s start by examining the most basic data—the
average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

These figures are the most accurate measure of your website’s activity. It would appear on the surface that the more traffic you see recorded, the better you can assume your website is doing, but this is an inaccurate perception. You also must look at the behavior of your
visitors once they come to your website to gauge the effectiveness of your site accurately.

There often is a great misconception about what is commonly known as “hits” and what is really effective, quality traffic to your site. Hits simply means the number of information requests received by the server. If you think about the fact that a hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblown this concept can be. For example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site. As you can see, hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.

The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis
will be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.

The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out how well or poorly your site is working for your visitors. One way to determine this is to determine the average time length your visitors spend on the site. If the time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. Then the challenge is learn the nature of the problem.

It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors are spending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, and after you fix those problems, continue to use time spent as a gauge the effectiveness of your changes.

Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page. If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page.

As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential information to any successful Internet marketing campaign.

Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your
site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice an exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page. In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that
purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to learn the problem. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or
graphic may have a significant impact on the keeping visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.

After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it’s time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your
site. The more targeted the visitor—meaning they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase—the more valuable that keyword.

However, if you find a large number of visitors are being directed—or should I say misdirected—to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands
adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site, who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors use to find
your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor’s needs and motivations.

Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.

Many studies have proven that radio is a good medium for product advertisements. For many years, this has been the trend in advertising. But now that the radio medium is almost behind the audio-visual medium, namely the TV and the Internet, other marketing strategies have to be employed to continue the benefits of auditory advertising.

Enter the website. Before, music on the Internet was just available in downloadable forms as mp3s. Even through hosting downloadable music on their servers, companies were able to increase traffic on their sites. Everyone in Internet marketing knows that website traffic plays a big role in boosting product and service sales.

However, there had been a problem with illegal music download in which artists, musicians, and record companies have lost millions of revenues. Then, came the popularity of Internet music streaming. Unlike the former, radio streaming does not allow download of the music files. Thus, the copyrights of the artists and record label owners are protected.

So, how can this be done? There are several ways to stream audio from your site. First, is to stream a radio program from your site or blog. You can find free affiliate programs that allow you to stream their radio content from your site.

What will this mean to you? This means that your site will have new audio content every time it is visited. What’s even great is that the content is being updated even without much effort from you. In this case, you need to signup with an Internet radio station and have the link embedded on your blog or website.

Another way is to stream mp3s. To do this, you just need to upload your mp3files on a server and add the files’ links to the page. When the link is clicked, the browser opens a media player window and plays a file. However, since the file is in mp3 format, it may also be downloaded. Downloading music files without the authorization of the copyright owner is illegal. Therefore, if you will be using this type of streaming, make sure that you have the appropriate permit to do so.

A third way to add audio to you blog or website is to stream music through organizing playlists. Playlists are m3u files, which if downloaded, will not play music offline. Using this process, however, can be complex. Here is a short instruction on how to do it.

1. Save your mp3 or wma file on the server. You may skip this step if you know that the file exists on another server and know the link to that file. Make sure that the link has a .mp3 or .wma extension.

2. Open your text editor and type the path to the file. Include the http:// and the file extension. Repeat this step until you have included all the links to the files that you would like to be included in the playlist.

3. Save the playlist with a .m3u extension.

4. Upload the m3u file on the directory where the music files are hosted or to your server.

5. Open your html editor and embed the link to the m3u file. Through this, you also can set if you want to have the playlist to autoplay if someone visits your site of if you want your visitor to control playing the music. You also can set the volume level.

After the code is embedded on the html file, and whenever your site is visited, the songs in the playlist will be buffered, streamed, and played one after another. If your playlist has several songs, the user can skip forward or go back a song in the playlist using the media player controls.

Doing this setup works for many website owners. Through this you can customize the type of music being played on your site. You even can play recordings related to your product to boost product awareness.

It requires knowledge of html to be done. But if it will be the best way to increase traffic to your site, why not request assistance from programmers. After all, having audio on a website is a proven way to increase sales!

It’s not true that everything that has been said has already been written. Since that unfortunate axiom came into use, the whole universe has changed. Technology has changed, ideas have changed, and the mindsets of entire nations have changed.

The fact is that this is the perfect time to write an eBook. What the publishing industry needs are people who can tap into the world as it is today—innovative thinkers, who can make the leap into the new millennium and figure out how to solve old problems in a new way. EBooks are a new and powerful tool for original thinkers with fresh ideas to disseminate information to the millions of people struggling to figure out how to do a plethora of different things.

Let’s say you already have a brilliant idea, and the knowledge to back it up that will enable you to write an exceptional eBook. You may be sitting at your computer staring at a blank screen wondering, “Why? Why should I go through all the trouble of writing my eBook when it’s so difficult to get anything published these days?”

Well, let me assure you that publishing an eBook is entirely different than publishing a book in print. Let’s look at the specifics of how the print and cyber publishing industry differ, and the many reasons why you should take the plunge and get your fingers tapping across those keyboards!

Submitting a print book to conventional publishing houses or agents is similar to throwing out a boomerang. No matter how good your book actually is, or how many critique services and mentor writers have told you that “you’ve got what it takes,” your submitted manuscript keeps coming back to you as if it hasn’t any valuable information.

Perhaps, in desperation, you’ve checked out self-publishing and found out just how expensive a venture it can be. Most “vanity presses” require minimal print runs of at least 500 copies, and even that amount will cost you thousands of dollars. Some presses’ minimal run starts at 1,000 to 2,000 copies. And that’s just for the printing and binding. Add in distribution, shipping, and promotional costs and—well, you do the math. Even if you wanted to go this route, you may not have that kind of money to risk.

Let’s say you already have an Internet business with a quality website and a quality product. An eBook is one of the most powerful ways to promote your business while educating people with the knowledge you already possess as a business owner of a specific product or service.

For example, let’s say that you’ve spent the last 25 years growing and training bonsai trees, and now you’re ready to share your knowledge and experience. An eBook is the perfect way to reach the largest audience of bonsai enthusiasts.

EBooks will not only promote your business, they will help you make a name for yourself and your company, and establish you as an expert in your field. You may even find that you have enough to say to warrant a series of eBooks. Specific businesses are complicated and often require the different aspects to be divided in order for the reader to get the full story.

Perhaps your goals are more finely tuned in terms of the eBook scene. You may want to build a whole business around writing and publishing eBooks. Essentially, you want to start an e-business. You are thinking of setting up a website to promote and market your eBooks. Maybe you’re even thinking of producing an ezine.

One of the most prevalent reasons people read eBooks is to find information about how to turn their Internet businesses into a profit-making machine. And these people are looking to the writers of eBooks to provide them with new ideas and strategies. The reason is because eBook authors usually are people who understand the new cyberspace world in which we live. EBook writers are experts in Internet marketing campaigns and the strategies of promoting and distributing eBooks. The cyberspace community needs its eBooks to be successful so that more and more eBooks will be written.

You may want to create affiliate programs that also will market your eBook. Affiliates can be people or businesses worldwide that will sell your eBooks. Think about this: Do you see a formula for success here?

Figure out what your subject matter is, and then narrow it down. Your goal is to aim for specificity. Research what’s out there already, and try to find a void that your eBook might fill. What about an eBook about a wedding cake business? Or an eBook about caring for elderly pets? How about the fine points of collecting ancient pottery?

You don’t have to have three masters’ degrees to write about your subject. People need advice that is easy to read and easily understood. Parents need advice for dealing with their teenagers. College students need to learn good study skills quickly. The possibilities are endless!

One of my favorite movies is Jerry McGuire. For those who haven’t seen it it’s the story of sports agent who breaks out on his own, in the highly competitive world of sports management.

One of his clients (his only client in fact), sticks by his side as he begins a new life starting over as a new business owner. His catch line throughout the movie was “Show me the money”! Basically he was telling Jerry, don’t just give me lip service, show me results. In business results are the metrics you need to watch closely in order to know how healthy your business is. This is the fastest way to monitor which strategies work or perhaps more importantly, dont!

When we stay sharp and have a clear plan in mind it can be easy to spot when something within our business model needs to be tweaked.

Last year I was contacted by a local business owner who was clearly under pressure. It had only come to his attention that their company figures had taken a radical shift in the wrong direction from the previous year. In fact his business hadn’t made more than a few sales over several months. Why? Not because he didn’t have a good product or service, but rather he had stopped following his original business plan without making adequate compensations to continue monitoring other areas of his business.

Flying solo as a business owner, he didn’t have anyone else to hold him accountable for the progress he was making, or in this case, lack of. If he had a system in place to track progress in each of the vital areas of his business, this situation most likely would have been brought to his attention well before it reached a crisis point.

Stay on top of the numbers and changes within your business. Information is knowledge. It can provide the impetus to make the necessary changes within your business and business plan, as the need arises. Do this and your business will continue to grow and flourish.

Ok, so the bad news is that the economy is down. No real newsflash there. Every day we see blips of the president pushing the stimulus plan, companies chopping half of their workforces, shuffling unemployment lines. However, last week, couture designer Hermes, reported a 6.2 percent increase in sales coming off the holiday season. Louis Vutton saw an increase of 4.2 percent. And today, sitting at the local Bad Ass Coffee shop, I watched person after person come in and drop $5 for a drink they could make at home for a fraction of the price. Why? Because they can.

So then, what’s the good news? Businesses can actually take advantage of this situation! Traditionally, when enduring hardships, companies cut costs, staff, and production-often times against the better judgment of economic and business advisors. This may result in immediate financial gratification, but does nothing to secure a financial foothold in future markets (and as we currently see, the economy). Instead, you should be ramping up your marketing and public relations efforts. By focusing efforts and finances on increasing your company’s voice, you’ll correlatively augment customer spending. And, a bonus, you’ll have done so without laying off hundreds, if not thousands, of loyal workers.

Zappos is a great example of the right way to conduct business. When forced to make a decision about where to take the organization after facing decreasing numbers, the company’s head shed changed tactics. Instead, they focused on marketing to current clients, improving customer service, and establishing an almost incomparable return policy, with 365 days to return unused products, and without having to pay shipping. I have to say that I’ve only bought one pair of shoes from Zappos, recently, but will no longer look anywhere else.

What steps are you taking to reach out to current and new clients?

Jaylyn Bergner

What type of business are you in. Is it one thats unique where you stand out from the crowd? If so you’re in luck. This is referred to as the Blue Ocean Strategy, where pretty much you don’t have any real competition.

By contrast if you are in an industry that is filled with similar products or service providers, making it difficult to differentiate yourself from your competitiors, they you are in a red ocean. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful however it is critical that you find your own USP - unique selling proposition that sets you apart from others in your industry.

What are your unique qualities or strengths. Is there a particular market that you deal with that is a little more out of the norm. Yesterday I read an ad for an ‘exit realtor’. A very smart real estate agent had formed a relationship with a woman in a nursing home to cater to those who were dying or to help families sell properties after the death of a loved one.

Instantly this realtor has stuck in my mind as a specialist in this field. If you are stuck for ideas drop me a note in the Q&A box on this page telling me what you do and the challenges you are facing and I will see if I can help you move forward.

Have you tried to purchase a domain name recently. There was a time it was simply a case of whipping out your credit card at the online checkout but today it’s not quite so easy.

You can bet any cool name you can think of has already been taken ,so you may have to get those creative juices flowing and come up with some alternatives. The good news is that at one time all that was important was that your domain name ended in .com Today with so many great names being taken it’s not quite as big a deal and more and more people are using .net or others .info or .org

Some of the better domain hosting companies also give you some close alternatives to choose from if your name has already been snapped up. And there are some great ways to pick up an expired name through online companies that buy up names as they become available.