It is inevitable that today’s consumer is hearing mentions of social media in the traditional media at least a couple of times daily. Couple this with watching children, family members and friends joining and participating in sites like Facebook and you have a whole new world of opportunity. The point at which Facebook crossed 400 million users (if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest country in the world) is the point where the question “are my customers on Facebook?” became moot.

As a small business owner, if you are now convinced that at the very least you need to tip your toes into social media, questions that immediately come to mind are:

•    Where do we start?
•    Where do we find the time?
•    What about our traditional marketing?

These are the right questions to ask; here are a few steps for you to conduct a social media inventory for your business.

1.    Take a look at your reflection in the Search Engine mirror
Have you searched for yourself in a search engine lately (Google, Bing, Yahoo!)? It is no longer narcissistic to search for your own name in a search engine.  In fact this should be a business requirement. Your customers are doing this before deciding to give you the business. When you search for your name, business name, or product name, take a look at the results of the first few pages. Look for results that you control, e.g. links to profile pages on LinkedIn, business directories like Yelp, etc. It may be time to update the profiles and take ownership of the listing. Most directories offer that to business owners.

2.    Who is talking about you?
Set up Google Alerts for your business and your names, and keywords about your industry. These alerts can be set up in real time or once a day/week. You can also set up  Google alerts to check on your competition with their keywords. Also consider setting alerts for events and happenings in your local area.

3.   Establish yourself as an expert
Sites like LinkedIn.com have question and answer forums on a wide variety of topics. Most likely you are going to find one that pertains to your expertise or your businesses expertise.  Choose two to three industry blogs or ask and answer questions on LinkedIn and join the conversation. Remember, there’s a difference between joining the conversation and spamming the community with information about your business.  If your profile contains all your business information such as your website, email, phone number, etc., people may follow the information back to your website.

4.    Which side of the website population are you?
The Small Business Success index has consistently found that around 50% of small businesses do not have websites.  A website is your online marketing tool and can be used in conjunction with your social media and your traditional marketing tools. Take the time to  set up a website for your business if you do not already have one.

5.    Integrate your social media into your traditional marketing
Let your customers know the social networks you are part of and always have a link from your website to your social media profiles.  Communicate to your social media network about your email marketing.

6.    Your social media plan:
•    Set up Alerts
•    Join and set up profiles in three social networks
•    Spend 15-20 minutes a day tracing the alerts and responding
•    Choose three blogs on your field to read and comment
•    Converse, don’t sell
•    Answer questions and become an expert in your niche on LinkedIn
•    Devote two  hours a week to learning and writing about the products you promote
•    Measure your efforts.  How many times were you mentioned?  How many people read your posts?
•    Allow your customers to evangelize your business by putting social media sharing tools, like AddThis on your site
•    Attend one local event a month and network
•    Ask for help from the community if you need it

If all of that seems like a lot, let me leave you with 4 things you can do today:
1) Set up Google Alerts
2) Find three blogs to follow. Join the conversation there. Network!
3) Set up a website (see special offer from Network Solutions specifically for Palo Alto Software customers)
4)  Set up 1-3 social networking profiles

Shashi Bellamkonda works at the heart of Web hosting company, Network Solutions®, as their first-ever ‘Social Media Swami’. In this leadership role he has helped Network Solutions aggressively move into the online space to actively listen to and interact with its customers. A self-proclaimed early adopter, prolific Twitterer, photographer, blogger, and product innovator, Shashi lives for technology, testing new innovations and helping people with small businesses to succeed.

Follow Network Solutions on Twitter or visit our blog for more resources for small business owners.
On Twitter: Netsolcares or check out our Growsmartbusiness blog

If you’re reading this blog, it’s safe to assume you’re somewhat Web-savvy, right? You’re operating a computer, you have access to the Internet. You found a blog you were interested in reading…

So, do you have a website? If you operate a small business, how do your customers find you?

As a software company employee, I probably spend more time online than the average person. I acknowledge that. But I don’t think I’m too terribly out of the ordinary in my personal (as opposed to professional) reliance on the Internet as a source of information.

Here’s what I know. If I search for a company and can’t find them online, I make certain assumptions. Either they’re a small-time operation, they’re brand new, or they don’t want to be found.

Now, the last possibility — not wanting to be found — is the only acceptable reason to not have any Web presence. And by acceptable, I mean it’s a questionable business decision, but an acceptable rationale for not having a website. If your business plan is to NOT attract new customers or make yourself available to your existing ones, then you’re doing great by not having that website.

photo by flickr user tonythemisfit

Let’s assume that invisibility is not your goal, though. Maybe you’re a mom and pop operation. You don’t take online orders and you don’t care if your company’s name gets in front of anyone in any other part of the country or world.

You still have customers or clients. And you want them to be able to find you. Maybe all they need to know are your hours of operation, or your phone number, or your street address. Maybe they want to look at your breakfast menu, or whether you service their make/model of car. And maybe it’s midnight… There are too many ‘maybes’ to list. The point is, when even your grandfather has a phone capable of browsing the Internet, it’s more important than ever to make sure that people can find you.

An ad in the yellow pages doesn’t cut it anymore. According to MarketingCharts.com, a 2009 study showed that 63 percent of consumers and small business owners use the Internet as their first source of information. So if you’re not making yourself available to them by having a website (and according to the study, a shocking 56% of small businesses aren’t), you’re basically hiding. At best, you’re making your customers take extra steps. At worst, you’re inviting your customers and potential customers to go to your competition.

You don’t have to be a computer programmer to make a website. In fact, website design is pretty easy, with templates and step-by-step wizards available to guide you through the creation process. You don’t need to know code or be a designer to create something that will look nice and be useful. Companies like our partners at Network Solutions offer great deals on packages that include domain names and hosting, site building tool, and even personalized email addresses.

It’s 2010. Any business, of any size, without a website is simply waiting to be passed by.

-Jay Snider
Palo Alto Software

Today’s post is from one of our new partners, Network Solutions. We’re pleased to introduce Shashi Bellamkonda as today’s guest author.

Expanding your markets using online tools

Chris Anderson, Executive Editor of Wired, said at the GrowSmartBiz Small Business conference last year that once a business has a website, it is global. Small businesses are always looking for new ways to expand their customer base and connect with customers. Using the Internet and the arsenal of tools that come with a Web presence is a great way to increase the reach of a small business. Those with more time than capital are creating their own websites and taking steps to ensure that they are found by search engines. Often, these steps include taking advantage of free or affordable online tools that boost their chances of being found by customers.

Jumping over the hurdle

Today only about 50% of small businesses have a website. Why? Many business owners are simply too intimidated by the prospect of starting an online business. Although getting started can be a major hurdle, it is one that must be cleared in order to explore the opportunities that the Internet has to offer.

When you’re ready to get started online, you will find it helpful to have a clear goal in mind. For your business website, that goal is likely business growth. As you create your website, keep in mind that it will function as a marketing tool for your business. Even the most basic website can play an important role in establishing your visibility online by providing a place for customers to find your contact information or a basic list of products or services.

The cost of creating a website varies. Your design options will include building your own website using a website builder tool or having a designer create a custom site for you. You may decide to start simple, then upgrade as your business grows.

As a special offer to Palo Alto Software customers, Network Solutions^® has agreed to offer websites for $4.99/month (discount will display at checkout, only by clicking here).

Getting found around town

Local businesses share a common online goal: to drive customers from their website to their front door. Business listings in Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Yelp and Merchant Circle can help you achieve so-called local search visibility. These listings typically include a map that can make it easy for customers to find you. And while you can show up on a site like Merchant Circle without having a business website, you’re much better off having a website that gives more information about the products or services you offer.

How does local search work? Let’s say someone is hungry for pizza in Manassas, Virginia. They search “Pizza Manassas” on their mobile device and a list of business results appears. If the business they find has a website, they can look at a menu and use the phone number provided to place their order. Finally, they can refer to the address and map provided to pick up their food.

Businesses can make the most of the power of local search by having a website that includes maps, directions, a local phone number, contact information and more.

Network Solutions has agreed to offer their Local Search Visibility product for $19.99/month (normally $39.95/month).  You must use this link to have the discount applied at checkout.

Connecting with your customers:

The results of a survey sponsored by Network Solutions® and the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business suggest that the number of small business owners using social media to connect with their customers is growing rapidly. The survey reported that small business use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter has doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent in the past year. The highlights of the study emphasize the increasingly important role that social media is playing in the success of small businesses.

As more and more small businesses are discovering each day, social media can be a powerful tool for building and maintaining customer relationships. Blogs, social networks and forums help small business owners:

• Identify and attract new customers
• Develop higher awareness of their business in their target market
• Make more connections with existing customers

Follow Network Solutions on Twitter or visit our blog for more resources for small business owners.

Netsolcares
Growsmartbusiness blog

Shashi Bellamkonda works at the heart of Web hosting company, Network Solutions, as their first-ever ‘Social Media Swami’. In this leadership role he has helped Network Solutions aggressively move into the online space to actively listen to and interact with its customers. A self-proclaimed early adopter, prolific Twitterer, photographer, blogger, and product innovator, Shashi lives for technology, testing new innovations and helping people with small businesses to succeed.

Once upon a time the so-called “home office” market was a pot of gold hidden at the end of a rainbow. Maybe it will be someday. And, maybe more important than that, home office businesses are at the very least real, employing people, getting things done and growing.

I first noticed the so-called home office market back in the middle 1980s, when I did my business from a home office (so perhaps my attention wasn’t entirely by coincidence). I was consulting for a living in those days, doing planning and related research mostly for high-tech companies. I was also writing a monthly column in Business Software magazine. And one of the markets most of my clients wanted to reach was what they called the home office.

The problem, however, was that the people who ran their home office businesses didn’t really make a market. They were out there diffused in the world, without an identity, without much in common with each other and without product identity.

What did a home office need that was different from what small businesses needed? What did a home office buy, different from a general small business? It was hard to tell. In comparison, the mobile travelers needed some predictable items and read predictable magazines. So did the students, the engineers and so on. But not home office businesses. Or so it seemed back then.

Earlier this week Steve King of Emergent Research tipped me off to new research about home-based businesses that adds a new angle on the lure of the pot of gold. In his post “The Rise of the Homepreneur,” he offers real numbers from a new report based on data from the Network Solutions Small Business Success Index. The report is available here. And some of the key findings are:

• Home businesses employ more than 13 million people.
• Nearly 6.6 million home businesses generate at least 50 percent of the owner’s household income
• 35 percent of home businesses generate $125,000-plus in revenue and 8 percent more than $500,000.

So with new data from a new angle, it’s not that home office businesses are necessarily a market; it’s that they are a lot of people doing business, making money and doing (I hope) what suits them. And a reminder, as well, that “home office business” doesn’t mean inconsequential; the millions of businesses in this study are supporting people, employing people and generating real money.

And if you dig into the study, they are being taken seriously by customers and clients. And they offer lower-cost startup alternatives, too.

Now where was that rainbow?

We’re extremely pleased to be a part of Network Solutions first ever Grow Smart Biz Conference in Washington DC next week (October 29th).

Jake Weatherly, our VP of Customer Experience will be speaking on a panel during the one-day educational workshop and  networking event at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC.

All small business owners, entrepreneurs and aspiring CEOs should attend to learn how to overcome challenges that all small businesses face. Attendees will leave the conference with:

• Insights into best practices of successful small businesses
• Strategies for growth despite the current economy
• Cost-effective ways to market and promote their businesses
• Tips for raising capital, and
• An opportunity to connect with small business owners, experts, and solution providers

Check out this link for more information about the other speakers and how to register before time runs out!