The desktop computer replaced the Yellow Pages, and this has almost replaced the desktop.

We do various types of business consulting here at Sareen and Associates, and sometimes the assistance desired is regarding marketing, specifically internet marketing.Because the internet is important to your business, and most small business owners know this, and therefore want to leverage that platform.

We are a full-service professional services CPA firm, and we do a lot of great stuff for our clients, but marketing isn’t one of the things we do. We can, however, refer you to a proven provider that can help you with that.

Of course, the internet is important to your business (when was the last time you used the Yellow Pages to find a roofer?), and 9 out of 10 Americans use the internet now, but frankly, it’s a mystery to many small businesses just how marketing via the internet really works. Or, in most instances, doesn’t work.

Furthermore, many small businesses somehow have the idea that all they have to do is put up a little website or piece together a Facebook page, and good things will start happening right away.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it’s generally going to work. There is some strategy to it, and there is the issue of good copy and good content. Not to mention regular updates to all of the sites and/or pages a company has on the web. And then there’s the consistent execution in terms of SEO key words and links.

Further, despite what Facebook marketing for their online advertising would have you believe, Facebook advertising for your business is probably not going to bring you a single new customer. Your company needs to be on Facebook, but only a few types of businesses can make Facebook advertising really work for them.

Going to go the PPC (pa-per-click) route. Expensive, expensive expensive, and you better know what you’re doing – hiring a firm that promises great things in terms of response and close ratio, and then, doesn’t deliver on that, is the norm, not the exception.

Back to the social media marketing. Even when all of the right boxes are checked, you’re still going to have to wait for the bots to crawl your site and discover your content so that it can start showing up in search results when your prospective clients start looking for a business that has the product or service that they want.

A lot of you are probably saying to yourself, “See? This is why I don’t get involved with all of that. Too much trouble, too much work, and then I’d also have to learn all of that stuff on how to do it. Plus, I need sales right now, not next year”.

Of course. We understand. But, there are very few businesses these days that can simply ignore the internet as a marketing platform and a customer acquisition tool. Even if it is anathema to you, even if the whole concept is foreign to your preferred method of getting new clients, you still probably need to be on the internet. Even if just the thought of it makes you grind you teeth and feel like kicking something. The internet is important to your business, and the hard part is the first part, getting started and so forth.

There are companies that make it easy for you, and, they can train you how to do it yourself, if that’s your preference.

Regardless of where you get help, don’t push aside social media and the internet. It’s a very valuable tool for a small business, an easy, inexpensive way to compete with the giants in your market segment, if you can get the formula right.