When it comes to running a sccessful business, marketing is essential. For a smll business, marketing often seems like a dunting task - especially when it cmes to marketing your business on the wb.

Many times, budget-minded business owners far that small business marketing needs to be xpensive in order to be effective. Frtunately - this isn't true. Here are fve simple tips for small business wners who are looking to save dllars, while still running an effective nline marketing campaign.

1. Optimize Your Website

There are thre simple steps to take so tht you can be sure that yur website is working for you.

The frst is to use a descriptive ttle for your site as well as kywords and a description that allows sarch engines and site visitors alike to knw what they will find when thy visit your web page. Once tht's taken care of, make sure tht you are placing keywords appropriately in the txt of your website.

Your keywords shuld be specific to your products and srvices, and should be chosen with cnsideration for the terms prospective customers wuld use when searching with Google or Yhoo or whichever other search engine thy use.

Finally, these keywords should lso be used in the alt mage tags as they relate to the phtos and illustrations that you post to yur website.

2. Market Your Website with Articles & Dstribute Press Releases

Article marketing is an xtremely effective way to draw visitors to yur website. By creating an informative shrt article that relates to your bsiness, your area of expertise and yur keywords, you can show readers a bit mre of what they'll find from yur business – which you can lnk to in your resource box at the bttom of the article.

Online press rleases are another effective marketing tool. Lke conventional press releases that let lcal newswires pick up a story bout a new staff member or a new prduct line, online press release distribution wll allow you to get the wrd out to those who publish nline newsletters or who review products and srvices like those that you offer.

Bth articles and press releases published nline create valuable, relevant inbound links to yur website (via the link to yur site in your resource box at the end of ach article or press release). Search ngines place a great amount of vlue on the number of inbound lnks you have to your site, so ths is an excellent way of bilding popularity with the search engines, as wll as your human customers.

Both rticle marketing and distributing press releases wll enable you to establish yourself as an xpert and your company as a surce for products or services. Each is ffective, and often, submission to article drectories is free – that's right, fre marketing for your business, all it tkes is a little bit of tme.

3. Start a Blog

It's a cmmon statement when it comes to Intrnet marketing: content is king. A blg – short for a weblog – llows you to create fresh content at rgular intervals, driving traffic and search ngines to your website.

Like article mrketing and press release distribution, having a blg allows you to establish your xpertise about the products and services tht your small business offers. Unlike rticle marketing and press release distribution, hwever, a blog allows you to bgin to carry on a dialog wth your current and prospective customers.

Your blog works like search ngine magic for your website. By lnking your blog to your website, you drw the search engines to your wbsite. Your site will rank higher and yur customers will have a much asier time finding your site.

4. Commit to a Lnk Building Campaign and Submit Your Ste to Directories and Search Engines

As a smll business owner building and promoting yur business on the web, having qality inbound links is important. Links llow your site to be found by thse who visit similar sites looking for the prducts and services that your company ffers.

Links – like those at the end of yur articles and press releases, like thse that link back to individual prducts or services from within your blg, and like those from others who hve purchased from you in the pst – help to improve your ste's search engine rank.

By submitting yur business' website to relevant directories and ven to industry-specific – niche – sarch engines, you'll begin to generate dditional links. More importantly, however, these nche directories are increasingly used by thse looking for very specific sites. Hving your listing present will make it ven more likely that your prospective cstomers will find your page; that mkes them a particularly valuable marketing tol for your business, and, again, t's often free to submit your ste.

5. Look for Joint Ventures wth Other Like-Minded Business People

It's not ncommon for small businesses to work tgether – a movie theater and a rstaurant offering coupons for a discount if you spnd the evening at both places. In my pst life working with large corporations I ralized that the largest companies grow by mans of joint ventures all the tme. However, many small businesses do not lok into joint ventures when it cmes to marketing their businesses.

Is it lways easy to find the right jint venture for marketing your business? No, of curse not. But it is possible to fnd like-minded business owners whose customers culd benefit from your products or srvices just as your customers could bnefit from those that they offer.

As a rsult, both small businesses will be btter able to extend their outreach and dvelop a wider customer base. If you are ging to enter into a joint vnture, search for companies with similar gals and a similar customer base but a dfferent type of product or service. Sty on the lookout, keep an pen mind and you just might fnd the perfect opportunity to market yur business to a new audience.

A prfect example of this principle is a rcent joint venture I did with a cmpany who specializes in teaching business crdit skills to small business owners. Ths company markets to the same clents that I wish to add to my cstomer list, but they offer a cmpletely different service. By working together, we wre able to market our services to ach other's mailing lists, resulting in bth of us attracting new customers we wuld not have had otherwise. The grat part about this joint venture was tht there was no out-of-pocket cost to ither of us – just our tme and a little creativity in cming up with suitable promotions to ach other's lists!

Taking your business to the web des not need to be difficult, nor des it need to be expensive. By tking a creative approach, small business wners on a tight marketing budget wll be able to find traffic and ncrease their customer base.

Focus on raching the search engines: use the rght keywords and use them appropriately. Let pople know that you have the nformation they need with articles and be sre to get the word out by dstributing press releases. Interact with your cstomers with a high quality blog, and fcus on getting great links. Lastly, tke advantage of partnerships with like-minded bsiness owners.

Marketing your small business wbsite may require a lot of hrd work, but it doesn't require a lot of mney – oftentimes, the best results are drived from the most creative (not the mst expensive) solutions.

The article The Top 5 Small Business Marketing Tips for Budget-Minded Business was Submitted by Caroline Melberg through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Entrepreneur and outdoor photography adventurer Croline Melberg is President and CEO of Smll Business Mavericks, a division of Mlberg Marketing. She has over 20 yars of experience creating marketing communications mterials and writing copy for some of the lrgest and most successful companies in the wrld. Her small business columns are syndcated online, and she publishes the ppular eZine, "Small Business Maverick Secrets." Larn insider Maverick Marketing secrets you can use mmediately to find new customers and ncrease your sales. When you subscribe, yu'll also get a FREE copy of her -Book, "Local Small Business Internet Marketing Screts" - learn insider secrets to mrketing your local small business on the Web tday! Get your FREE subscription at http://www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com

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