Today’s tip is from Jeff Werner of WebVisible, an Irvine marketing agency that specializes in online advertising programs designed for small business.

Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask and dozens of other search engines provide advertising tools to help local

Jeff Werner

businesses reach consumers when they are searching online for certain products and services.

By matching interested consumers with businesses, search engine advertising has the enormous potential to deliver highly targeted and extremely effective messages to drive dramatic sales results.

Seems simple, but there are some tips for local business marketers to help better understand the medium and more effectively execute and manage campaigns increase their chance of success.

Success is not just measured in driving traffic to your web site. Search engines make money whether you do or not. And they make it easy for you to spend money in your advertising.

Getting clicks is just the first step toward getting new customers. With all the benefits that search engines bring to marketing a small business, remember it is their job to sell their ad space, not to build your customer base. While your traffic may increase with search engine advertising, you might not notice a strong sales correlation. Building traffic to your Web site is the first step to getting new customers, but enticing them to buy your product or service is the next.

Your web site landing page needs to be consistent with your ad. Businesses with quality web sites gain the highest return on investment, a Nielsen survey found:

• 85% of people say Web site quality is an important factor in earning trust
• 77% are more likely to make a purchase from an unfamiliar business with a quality web site than a poor one from a known business

One characteristic of a quality site that maximizes conversions (turning visitors into customers) is ensuring the destination matches the promotion.

A generic home page that doesn’t speak the same language or contain the same offer as the ad runs the risk of losing visitors. Make sure the site accurately reflects your business and visitors can easily find what they’re looking for.

Is it easy to contact you? Are phone number, hours of operation, address, directions all posted prominently? Are your current promotions, specials or coupons posted with a clear, enticing call to action?

As people increasingly use the Internet for consumer research, coupled with the multiplying availability of online shopping options, the increase in choice is extending time to purchase. And a slowing economy only compounds this challenge. Plus, people like to be entertained and informed. It’s human nature.

Does the site seek to educate the consumer on your products/services in order to help them through the sales cycle? User reviews, customer testimonials and competitive reviews, product videos all can be valuable resources to establish credibility and a rapport with visitors that will bring them back and give you the best opportunity to turn them into customers.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this advice is only suited to e-commerce sites. Quite the contrary. For every $1 spent online, Internet research influences $2.56 in offline purchases, according to ROI Research, and that figure will grow to $4.68 by 2012 says BIGresearch.

Take advantage of easy-to-implement technology. Building traffic is the first step, so what happens next?

Once customers are on your site, you need to know where they go, where they spend their time on your site and what they click. Installing tracking code (many available, search on “web site tracking code”) on your site can help determine this, and which search engines, keywords, ads and campaigns are driving the most traffic.

A call-tracking phone number enables the advertiser to track which engines are delivering the highest number and most profitable conversions.

Online is dynamic advertising. Use it as such. For the small business owner, little is worse than feeling half of advertising dollars are wasted and not knowing which half.

Use the data available through the search engine campaign reports to make changes to your strategy and shift spend to the more effective ads or rework the message and/or offers. Experiment and try short-term or seasonal offers. The key is using the tools to monitor the results and using this information to make adjustments.

Take advantage of available resources. Setting up an online advertising campaign is relatively simple. Choosing the most effective keywords and writing an advertisement that captures attention and provides the best opportunity for customer engagement is another story.

And due to its dynamic nature and the need for ongoing analysis and optimization, the long-term management of online advertising can unfortunately require a larger time investment than many small business owners are able to afford. The good news is there is reliable, affordable help out there offering proven return on investment for your marketing dollar.

More Internet stories…

• Whoa! Another reason buy electronics at Costco
• MySpace MyAds challenge Google AdWords
• What are your employees viewing on the web?
• QuickBooks on your dashboard
• Site helps charities raise money online

Other local small businesses…

• 24 O.C. companies make North America’s fastest growth list
• Budget Blinds plans aggressive expansion despite economy
• O.C. attorney makes ‘most dependable’ litigators list in Forbes
• O.C. pacemaker firm get venture money
• Company’s holiday cookie sales to benefit local charity
• O.C. retailer buys 22 stores in 4 states

Yelp, a Web site that allows consumers to write reviews of local businesses they have actual experience with, is now opening its comment doors to businesses.

“About this Business” is free and allows small-business owners to describe their businesses to prospective customers.

“Savvy local business owners know consumers come to Yelp just before they make a purchase decision,” says Yelp cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman. “About This business helps consumers learn even more about a business before spending their hard-earned money, which translates into more satisfied customers.

You can write:

• a short history of the business
• specialties
• bio of the manager or owner
• recommendations for up to five other businesses

Yelp previously introduced a free suite of small-business marketing tools including ability to post special offers, upload photos and message customers who have written reviews.

If you have a resource, strategy or tip to help small businesses, click here to send it to me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit and link to your web site.

MORE STORIES:

• O.C. retailer buys 22 stores in 4 states
• Does your business deserve a loan?
• O.C.’s fastest growing technology companies revealed
• ‘America’s best tasting organic milk’ is local
• Law firm opens Mexico office
• Del Taco offering first-ever cheap, family food pack
• El Pollo Loco giving food vouchers to aid O.C. fire victims
• Whoa! Another reason buy electronics at Costco
• Jobs decline despite small-business gain
• August sales of O.C. businesses plummet
• O.C.-L.A. ranks 2nd in women-owned businesses

Today’s tip comes from Ivan Misner and Michelle Donovan from their book, The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies.

Misner is founder of BNI, a networking organization.

Networking is more than just shaking hands and passing out business cards. Networking is really about building your “social capital.”

Here are the top traits that make a master networker, ranked in order of their importance as judged by the respondents to a survey of more than 2,000 businesspeople throughout the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia,

1. Timely follow-up on referrals. This was ranked as the #1 trait of successful networkers.

Ivan R. Misner

Following up with what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it, builds your credibility and trust with your network.

2. Positive attitude. A consistently negative attitude makes people dislike being around you and drives away referrals. A positive attitude makes people want to associate and cooperate with you. Being positive contributes to your determination, internal motivation and ultimate business success.

3. Enthusiasm/motivation. The best sales characteristic is enthusiasm. To be respected within our networks, we at least need to sell ourselves with enthusiasm. Then we can reap the reward of seeing our contacts sell us to others.

4. Trustworthiness. When you refer one person to another, you’re putting your personal and professional reputation on the line. You have to be able to trust your referral partner and be trusted in return. Neither you nor anyone else will refer a contact or valuable information to someone who can’t be trusted to handle it well.

Trust is earned. It develops over time and throughout the life span of a relationship.

5. Good listening skills. The faster you and your networking partner learn what you need to know about each other, the faster you’ll establish a valuable relationship.

Listening for the needs and problems of others can also position you to engage the services of the people you know.

6. Commitment to networking 24/7. Master networkers are never formally off duty. Networking is so natural to them that they can be found networking in the grocery checkout line, at the doctor’s office and while picking the kids up from school.

They operate in the “Givers Gain” mind-set and are first and foremost looking for opportunities for the people in their network.

7. Gratitude. Gratitude is sorely lacking in today’s business world. Expressing gratitude to business associates and clients is just another building block in the cultivation of relationships that will lead to increased referrals.

8. Helpfulness. Helping others can be done in a variety of ways, from simply showing up to help with an office move to clipping a useful and interesting article and mailing it to an associate or client.

9. Sincerity. Friendliness without sincerity is like a cake without frosting. You can offer the help, the thanks, the listening ear, but if you aren’t sincerely interested in others, it will show.

10. Dedicated to working one’s network. As mentioned previously, it’s not net-sit or net-eat. It’s net-WORK.

Master networkers manage their contacts with contact management software, organize their e-mail address files and carry their referral partners’ business cards along with their own. They set up appointments to get better acquainted with new contacts and learn as much about them as possible, so they can truly become part of one another’s networks.

If you have a tip, strategy or resource to help small businesses, click here to send it to me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit and link to your web site.

More small-business stories…

• O.C. pacemaker firm get venture money
• Company’s holiday cookie sales to benefit local charity
• O.C. retailer buys 22 stores in 4 states
• Does your business deserve a loan?
• Irvine biomed firm raises $20.1 million
• Microsoft buys Aliso Viejo-based DATAllegro
• Budget Blinds plans aggressive expansion despite economy
• O.C. attorney makes ‘most dependable’ litigators list in Forbes

Today’s tip is from Tom Taulli of BizEquity.com, which provides provides instant, free estimated

Tom Taulli, BizEquity

valuations for millions of small businesses.

Here are 10 ways to help weather the financial crisis:

1. If a customer is late paying you, take swift action. If you wait beyond 60 days, it’ll probably be too late. As a result, make sure you provide notices to late customers.

2. Find “good” customers; avoid “bad” customers. A few bad customers can ruin your company. So, make sure you provide some level of new customer screening.

You might want to do a check on Dun & Bradstreet. Another idea is to require a credit application. You can find these forms online at allbusiness.com and at similar web sites.

3. Build your business credit. This can help get new customers as well
as financing. Set up a credit profile for your business on D&B.

You can also establish business accounts with service providers like UPS and Staples.

4. Learn the basics of strong cash flow management. You need to carefully watch inventory, receivables and expenditures.

5. Do realistic financial forecasts. It’s natural for business owners to be optimistic, but the economy has undergone an extreme hit. Be conservative with your revenue forecasts. Chances are it will get harder to find new customers.

6. Focus on existing customers. Who are your most profitable customers? How can you leverage this valuable base?

7. Be responsible. It’s tempting to delay payments to vendors and suppliers. But, this can be a big mistake. You want to make sure you build long-term relationships.

8. Look for free resources, such as free business counseling from SCORE or the Orange County Small Business Development Center.

9. Talk to all key constituents, such as customers, suppliers and especially employees. Talk about your strategy and steps you are taking to deal with the current environment.

10. Beware of proposed financings that are too good to be true. They often are.

If you have a tip, strategy or resource to help small businesses, click here to send it to me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit and link to your web site.

More small business advice…

• Daily tip: Avoid cutting employee perks
• Poll: How is your company coping with economic downturn?
• Tip of the Day: 10 musts before termination
• Does Happy Hour build or kill your career?
• Tip of the Day: Why small businesses avoid 401(k)s
• Tip of the Day: How to manage your wealth
• Tip of the Day: Bloggers for women entrepreneurs

Here are a few noteworthy O.C. business stories you may have missed …

• Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine making massive jobs cuts
• Edison’s power shutoffs jump 10%
• Foreclosure: Steal, deal or ‘get real?’
• Free hand massages at Jo Malone Optimist sees falling foreclosures; pessimist misses doughnuts
• State Fund to hike workers comp rates 8.9% in ‘09
• O.C. bank gets cut of $700 billion bailout
• Montage Laguna Beach gets more diamonds
• Bankruptcy sought for ocean-view homes in San Clemente
• ‘Housewives of O.C.’ star’s Ladera home up for sale