Internet Marketing can really encompass several different concepts or terms – online marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), website marketing, to name a few. Whichever terms you’ve heard before is not too important; the important take-away is that you need to promote your business online, grow traffic to your website, create an awareness and brand your business online, improve your search engine result rankings and make the Las Vegas community aware that your company even exists.

Many companies and businesses in Las Vegas make the mistake of launching a website and thinking that drones of visitors will magically arrive each day. Not true. Just like a business card that sits in your pocket if you don’t hand it out to people, most of the time a website can sit out on the internet and if you don’t market that web site, people may not even know you or your business exists.

Here are some ways you or a professional internet marketing company can help market your business online:

• Launch a Website – if you don’t already have a web site you are WAY behind the curve.  Get one up right away.
• Search Engine Optimization – research keywords and key phrases that people would find your website during a search on a search engine and put those words and phrases into the copy on your website, make those same words links between your website pages and place those same words into your website’s site map.
• Online PR – There are many opportunities for online PR and Press Releases. For more information see my article on Press Releases for Your Las Vegas Business.
• Google’s Free Online Marketing Tools – here’s a list from wikipedia.org. Very helpful and mostly free.
• Pay-Per-Click Campaign – ever wonder what those Sponsored Listings are when you search on google, yahoo, msn or aol? That’s right, they pay. You can set up your own campaign, choose they keywords, set your monthly budget and start coming up right along side your competitors by setting a pay-per-click campaign.
• Email Marketing – Use a company like Constant Contact to set up an email marketing campaign. You can upload your list of contacts, choose a template and write your email newsletter, it’s easy and fun.
• Launch a Blog – Do you have a lot to say about your particular area of expertise or industry (like I do, hee)? Then launch a blog and tell visitors what you’re thinking and let them find out who you are and what your business specializes in.
• Banner Advertising – Consider buying space on a targeted web site that promotes your products and services. Set up a special landing page so you can track the results

Blog marketing has become a powerful way to get more people to know what a business offers and why they should should use the product or service that is being offered. Blogs are no long just online journals. Large and small businesses alike are using blogs as marketing tools to expand their research and generate new business.

What Is A Blog Anyway?

The word “blog” is actually a shortened form of the the phrase “web log.” When blogs first appeared with regularity back in the 1990′s, they were used almost exclusively as “online diaries” where people would simply write down their daily activities, personal opinions, thoughts, goals, and dreams. It took a few years for businesses to recognize the potential that blogs had to connect with prospects and customers. Blogs can be a part of a website or stand alone.

How Blog Marketing Can Help Businesses?

1. Be An Expert. A blog allows a business owner to communicate with individuals on a personal basis. Blogs are generally not static. Instead, they tend to be updated regularly and are less formal in nature. Blogs let business owners cover a variety of subjects and issues related to the niche the business is in. This will increase the credibility of both the business and the owner, and demonstrate the knowledge and expertise associated with that niche. Blogs also allow owners to go over additional information that just can’t be covered via other forms of advertisement methods such as commercials, display ads, telemarketing, and direct mail.

2. Increase Exposure. Most blogs generate a RSS feed that third party websites and individuals can use to instantly get updates whenever the blog has a new post published on it. “RSS” stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is what lets a site to subscribe to a blog and receive the new posts as they occur. What this means for the business owner is a dramatic increase in exposure. Every time the blog gets new posts, the posts are immediately distributed to all of the RSS feed subscribers. So hundreds, even thousands of people outside of the blog will be reached.

3. Increase in Traffic Generation. Because blogs tend to be highly focused on a specific topic, they tend to rank well in search engines like Google and Bing. The higher the blogs rank, the more people will find them in their search for information. Getting a blog to the first page of Google can result in an explosion of highly targeted traffic. Businesses thrive on theses type of prospects.

Blog Marketing for Businesses

Although blogs have become very simple to create and maintain, most business owners still prefer to use the services of an internet marketing consultant to help them establish a professional-looking and effective blog. These internet marketing firms can also create keyword-rich content related to the niche the business is in, as well as managing the time and effort to publish those posts at specified time intervals.

Today’s business owners are quite aware of the marketing power provided by the efficient use of blogs. Besides being a way to generate new customers, it also gives owners the ability to interact with past customers and develop long-term relationships with them.

How to Create a Marketing Plan and Develop a Marketing Strategy for Your Las Vegas Business

A marketing plan is essential to the success of your business. When it is orchestrated strategically and effectively, a marketing plan will be the driving force behind a small business’s growth. Your plan should include all of your marketing research, your target demographic, the product or service that your company sells, positioning, promotions, pr, advertising and pricing.

Initially, it’s good if the plan covers one year. Markets change, especially in this economic climate. People come and go. Later on you can expand and develop long-term strategies, but when you’re just starting out putting your plan down on paper covering a year is a good place to start.

Putting all of the components of your plan in one place is useful for a variety of reasons. First off, this makes it easy for mentors, peers and employees to evaluate the plan and add input if you desire. Second, if you have a plan easily accessible you can review it often – at least quarterly – to make sure that your business is staying on track.

Writing down your plan is easier than it may seem at first. Take it step-by-step and you’ll have a smart marketing plan in no time. The Small Business Administration recommends the following steps.

Define your business.

Describe your product or service. Define your geographic marketing area, your competition, and describe how your company differs from the competition. Then elaborate on your promotion methods versus your competition’s promotion methods. Lastly, you should talk about your price and your distribution methods or business location.

Define your customers.

Research the demographics of your current customer base and find out how your customers typically learn about your product or service. Establish what qualities your customers enjoy most about your product or service – this could be convenience, availability, reliability, affordability or something else entirely. Then, it’s time look at the other side of things – what do your customer like least about your product or service? How can this be changed to increase your customers’ level of satisfaction? Finally, you should note the patterns or habits that your customers and potential customers share. You should also note how you plan on reaching out to prospective customers.

Define your overall plan and budget.

You should look at your previous marketing methods and note which ones have been most effective in reaching your customers. Consider the costs of these methods compared to sales. Also, break it down into cost per customer. You should also consider what percentage of your profits can go towards your marketing campaign. Then, take a look at what marketing tools will fit inside that budget. Marketing tools may include advertising, direct mail, social media, telemarketing or public relations activities. If you use these tools, you also need methods for measuring their overall effectiveness so you can get the most bang for your buck.

Creating a marketing plan may seem daunting at first but in most cases your common sense will guide you. Sometimes less is actually more – your marketing plan does not necessarily need to be lengthy and verbose. It simply must provide a real snapshot of your business and industry and it must have enough substance to make it useful.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical marketing strategy to help promote your Las Vegas business website. Even if you do not have the budget to hire a professional search engine optimization (SEO) company in Las Vegas, there are numerous tools online that you can use to help optimize and submit your website and ensure your Las Vegas website reaches as many potential customers and clients as possible.

I’ve compiled a list of various Free SEO Tools, take a look:

SEOToolSet – www.seotoolset.com

SEOToolSet® is a product offered by Bruce Clay™, Inc., a different kind of SEO company. At this site, instead of optimizing your website we teach you how to practice search engine optimization yourself, giving you theSEO tools and training that you need to obtain qualified search engine traffic to your website or your client’s websites.

Beanstalk Free SEO Tools – www.beanstock-inc.com

Includes rank checking tools, link building tools, keyword selection tools, onsite SEO tools, search engine spider test tool.

Google Webmaster Tools - www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Free tools and resources from the giant – google.com – with tools for analyzing, detailed stats reporting.

Mike’s Marketing Tools – www.mikes-marketing-tools.com

One of my favorite free tools site. Mike’s Marketing Tools offers free information and reviews on internet marketing software and tools, marketing tips, and free marketing tools.

webconfs.com – www.webconfs.com

SEO tools and webmaster utilities.

Internet marketing is critical to marketing and promoting your Las Vegas business and website, so you should keep in mind that internet marketing strategy should be an integral part of your overall marketing strategy for your Las Vegas company or business.  I’ve taken time to compile what I consider the top 10 internet marketing strategies you should keep in mind for your Las Vegas business and website:

1. Search Engine Optimization – promotes organic traffic for your website and helps rank and promote your company’s website. Learn more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
2. Email Marketing – collect email addresses and create your own email list to market to, including exisiting client. Learn more about email marketing solutions that can help find leads.
3. Utilize Google Tools and Products – google offers a variety of mostly free online marketing tools. Learn more about google’s online marketing tools.
4. Write and Distribute your own Press Releases – writing a press release for your business is relatively simple and there are a ton of free and almost free ways of distributing a press release online. Learn more about writing your own press release.
5. Write a Blog, Publish Articles – if you make yourself an expert or provide insider information about your specific business or industry, you will get noticed. More information on blog marketing.

Google, the great internet god of our lifetime, actually offers many valuable (and many times free) online marketing tools and networking tools that can truly help your marketing efforts and help grow your Las Vegas business and grow your social network. Here are some of the google products that you may find helpful:

• Google Alerts - get email updates on the topics of your choice.
• Google Checkout - a faster, safer and more convenient way to shop online.
• Google Image Search – the most comprehensive image search on the web.
• Google Maps - View maps and directions.
• Google Patents - Search the full text of US Patents.
• Google Toolbar - Add a search box to your browser.
• Blogger - Share your life online with a blog — it’s fast, easy, and free.
• Google Groups - Create mailing lists and discussion groups.
• Knol - Share what you know.
• orkut - Meet new people and stay in touch with friends.
• Picasa - Find, edit and share your photos.
• Google Translate - View web pages in other languages.
• YouTube - Watch, upload and share videos.
• Google Webmaster Tools - Improve your site’s visibility in Google search results. It’s free.
• Google Analytics – Makes it easy to improve your results online.
• Google AdSense - Maximize revenue from your online content.
• Google Sites – Free websites and wikis.