With businesses sprinting onto the internet to claim their territory, it is becoming harder and harder for small businesses to make a name for themselves among the swarms of content that is flooding the internet. One of the main reasons for this is larger businesses throwing money at the internet to gain rankings and visibility, which in some cases allows them to be on top.

What are small businesses to do, in order to make a name for themselves and stand out from the crowd? This is a question a lot of small business owners ask themselves while thinking about making their small business visible on the internet. Below we will list a few necessary steps in order to create worthwhile content that will attract viewers and ultimately gain you customers for your small business.

· Know your target

o Knowing your target audience is one of the most important first steps. Not knowing who your target audience is like firing an artillery shell randomly trying to hit your mark.

· Know your goals

o Settings goals is the only way you have of judging your businesses performance on the internet. Aside from knowing your performance, goals allow you to keep track of what you are working on.

· Branding

o If you do not already have branding for your small business, you need to. Branding is one of those key features that allows customers to identify your business out from the rest of the crowd. If you look at any successful business they have their own brand. Your branding will consist of a name, logo, slogan and/or a theme for your small business to name a few.

· Social Media

o Social media is one of those services that is exploding with popularity all around the world and the best thing about it, is that it is FREE! Do yourself and your business a favor, sign up. Ensure that when you do sign up for these services that you stay active with it. Do not and I repeat, do not neglect it. This is extremely important, it shows your potential customers you’re engaged and dedicated to your business.

· Website

o Having a website is another one of those major assets to have when making a name for your business on the internet. This is the place that you ultimately want your target audience to flock to from your social media outlets. It is impossible to deliver all of your content on social media websites, which is where your website kicks in.

In conclusion, when trying to make your mark on the internet. Know your target, know your goals, have a brand, use social media and have a website. Probably the most important tip out of everything above, is staying active. If you neglect the internet, your potential customers may neglect to click on your website, Twitter and/or anything else your may have on the internet. The last piece of advice I can give is to just use the internet. It can be your best friend, if used properly. There are an endless number of resources available only a click away, start using them.

-Travis Sloneker

Linked accounts on Social Media is changing websites

More and more I see many business, especially those in the entertainment business moving to Social media to update customers and followers on schedule changes, sales, upcoming events and other fluid information. These same businesses have gone from updated websites to using their websites to host content such as stadium maps, ticket contact information, rules on what can be brought into the concert/event and other legal/boring types of information.

I liken websites usage to that of an encyclopedia - a bunch of information that is not likely to change anytime soon, but is not necessarily up to date. Another example of this locally is the Shipwreck website has basic park hours, but for current information on any given day it is better to use their Facebook page which is updated with daily with park hours based on changing weather conditions.

I wonder how long before we as consumers simply "follow" or "friend" the bars, parks, concert halls, sports teams, musicians, etc. instead of actually going to their websites for information. I also wonder if other business venues will follow suit, maybe Kohl's will announce a new sale on twitter and you simply use your phone to show the tweetpon instead of logging into their site and downloading a pdf coupon pamphlet on all their sales this weekend. Will car dealerships provide customer loyalty points and discounts to those that like them, friend them, and follow them? (yes I realize that some already do this)

As third party apps become more popular allowing users to link all their accounts in one simple interface and these interfaces become more user friendly allowing you to choose to send out updates to one social media site or all, or just some of the ones you use. This ability will be yet another nail in the proverbial coffin of updated websites. In the long run I think websites will become the static unchanging/seldom changing information while social media sites will be the latest and greatest information, though not in as much detail.

Just my thoughts - Mike von Keyserling