More and more small businesses are discovering the power of incorporating social networking into their online marketing strategies. Still, I am witnessing a plethora of mistakes in this regard.

First, professionalism. Small businesses often find the ease of creating a MySpace profile or Squidoo lens etc, and in taking on this endeavor, fail to incorporate all of the available tools available in the designing process. This causes sites to be one of two things, too flat or too busy! Not to mention that they are often lacking pertinent information, and so on. Just as with a website, the design of your profile is important as it is a direct reflection of your company.

Second, not taking measures to gain traffic. You must be active in pursuit of your network. This network is as valuable as an email list, in that these people who have considered you enough to approve you as their friend or to seek out your information, ARE a list of potential customers. Never settle simply for those who find you. And always be sure that you are directing them to your products and/or services. Chances are, that’s what they’re there for, and it is what your online marketing strategy is there for.

Finally, set yourself apart from the rest and ensure that you are offering valuable information. You have already found a place which produces targeted leads and traffic. Do not abuse this! Many individuals abuse these networks by over soliciting and deceiving. On any online medium, you have the capability of offering legitimate information and services geared to serve the needs of your customers. This is one important key in the essence of sound business strategy. Learning how to effectively utilize social networking can contribute in leaps and bounds to the success of your company.

As I’ve stated before, marketing and advertising are generally items in small business which are not noted as holding high priority. Small business owners often simply throw money at this endeavor. Think of the aspects of your business which you pride yourself on. It is highly likely that those which flourish are the ones which have been carefully planned and thought out as an integral part of business strategy. When it comes to marketing, the same principles apply. Here are just a few techniques which small businesses can employ in order to optimize their advertising strategies:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - Search engine optimization is something which is rarely considered in the realm of online marketing, and it is easily the most important. Do not be discouraged. Most small business owners do not incorporate these strategies because the techniques and knowledge are not of the common variety, and hence, are not freely handed out. In fact, most do not even realize that there is a system to ranking on the major search engines. Common beliefs are that you need money to be at the top, or that sites are published on search engines based upon when they were created, and so on. Know that this is not the case. Developing a strong SEO campaign could be the difference between marketing success and failure. Keep in mind that most web surfers will not venture beyond the first page of their search results, so it is of utter importance that you get yourself to that first page!

Social Networking - The popularity of social networking techniques has created a global surge in marketing capabilities. With over 20 million unique visitors per month, social networking is an asset which no small business can afford to pass up! And do not make the mistake of thinking that this tool is only for those marketing their products and services worldwide. These sites have specifically incorporated means of targeting LOCAL people in order to drive targeted traffic to you, and to your website. Social networking is a revolution in advertising capability.

Email Marketing - In all of the research that I’ve conducted concerning small business advertising and marketing, there is one thing which drives me up a wall like nothing else. This is the fact that MOST small business, once receiving paying customers through their doors, do not do what it takes in order to ensure that these customers repeat that business! If you are not doing anything to keep your business in the front of their minds, then what is to stop them from simply pulling out the phone book again the next time they require similar services or products? Email marketing is the solution to this issue. With email marketing, you give yourself a cost effective way of STAYING in touch with your customers and offering them that extra professional touch which other business are not! Always be building your relationship with your customers.

Do you currently have your email address on your website? It is set up to where anyone can click on it and have your email address ready to send you an email? If so, you are leaving yourself open to email spambots.

I know, can you believe their are people in this world that will take all the effort to create spam and send it to you.  And even though their is the  CAN Spam Law we still keep fighting to eliminate it from our lives.

So, how do you fight back spam and receive only those emails you want to receive? Here are a few options that have worked for us.

The one service I think every business should seriously consider is Spam Arrest. I was introduce to this service a number of years ago, but I felt that my email spam filter would do the job. However, even with the improve spam blocker system my email provider was offering, the spam seem to get by. I decided to take my friends recommendation, and I wish I would have taken his advice when he first mentioned it to me.

What Spam Arrest does is anytime someone sends you an email, they are sent an email requiring the sender to enter a captcha to make sure it is a real person sending you the email and not some spam trying to get through.  Once they have completed this process, then their email will be delivered to you. This means that you will only receive emails from a real person who actually goes through the process that Spam Arrest has set up.

You can also easily add and approve your contacts so they don’t have to go through the process. Once someone goes through the process the first time, they would not be required to do so every time they send you an email.

If you are tired of getting spam, you should take a serious look at this service. It will save you a lot of time going through all your spam and deleting it.

Another service we use which is cheap and effective is My Contact Station.  This has a more Web 2.0 feel and their is no process that someone has to go through to send you an email. You can check out My Contact Station in action at here on our contact page. Click on the “Email Us” link and there you can check it out. While you’re there, send us an email and say, hi!

If you are still dealing with spam, don’t be like me and put it off. If I were to add up all the time I put in to going through deleting all the spam I ever received, it think it would be pushing a half of years time.