Let's face it. There's no magic pill that will instantly put your business into overdrive. Not even a website. It takes a lot of hard work and an attack with several different marketing strategies at the same time.

When promoted properly as a part of a marketing campaign, a website can be of great help. Naturally you can put more information on a website than you can in, say, an ad in the newspaper. But guess what? There are some people that will read the newspaper first and go to the Internet second. So use the newspaper ad to direct people to your website.

You should always carry a business card with you. Just this morning, I read online an article titled Avoid The Nine Most Common Business Card Blunders. It was a great article, but I would add #10: Not having your website address on your card. Just like in your ad, there's much more room on your website for information than there is on your business card. And if you have pictures of yourself on the website, people who have forgotten exactly who you were will have their memory jogged.

In your emails, develop a little mini-signature. I have the following on the bottom of my emails:

Tim

Senior Web Designer

T&S Web Design

my.website.address

my.otherwebsite.address

XXX-XXX-XXXX

I use a similar, but shortened, version of that signature on online forums I frequent. Anyone who has any online correspondence with me should have no trouble finding my website.

You can also find unusual ways to promote your website that are specific to your business. An arcade we do the website for prints their website address on their redemption tickets. Another includes it in their monthly publication. Yet another has an upcoming infomercial. The sky's the limit!

Tim is the owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design. His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners, GetASiteOnline.com.

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