While the debate for bailing out the hegemonic players on Wall Street rages, what shall become of the small businesses on Main Street? As the automakers receive attention for the 250,000 employees in their guard, what will befall small businesses, who, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, employ more than 50% of all American workers?
Entrepreneurs Left on Dry Shores – Yet Again
The sad and unfortunate truth is that small business owners are left to their own devices, once again. In the land of golden opportunity, the only entrepreneurs that achieve the American dream are those who build upon their own bootstraps instead of fancy IPOs, historical bail-out packages, and costly lobbyists – and in 2009, this same story shall prevail. Never mind that the Small Business Administration reported that companies with less than 500 employees account for nearly 80% of all new jobs. Forget the fact that millions of small businesses also require credit to continue operating. Without loud lobbyists, the cries of small business fall to the wayside amidst the deafening bear trampling of all those on Wall Street.
Navigating Your Small Business into Profitable Waters
With the clear understanding that the government is only sheltering corporations with publically traded NYSE and NASDAQ symbols, how can entrepreneurs and small business owners weather the recessionary storm? The umbrella that will protect the bottom line in 2009 will be internet exposure. Reaching customers across economic and global lines, the internet can expand your client base much wider than even the busiest Main Street. Considering that most of your existing customer base will be reducing their spending budgets, it is simultaneously important that you diversify and ideally expand your potential pool of clients.
However, with nine out of 10 small business owners surveyed by Microsoft adCenter fearful that PPC would prove too expensive, which online advertising strategy proves wise in this economy? Indeed, the power of SEO comes to the rescue once again. An abundance of studies demonstrate that the vast majority of internet users prefer to click on organic search results, instead of PPC ads – which bodes well for you, the savvy webmaster and entrepreneur, because SEO is much more cost-effective than paying for advertising. While the adage, “content is king,” continues to hold its crown in SEO, there are creative strategies you can employ to further harness the power of content to benefit your bottom line:
While small businesses may not have seven-figure marketing budgets found in publically-traded corporations, entrepreneurs do have the creativity and resourcefulness that trump Fortune 500 companies. Staying in profitable waters in this tumultuous economic storm means fully maximizing the potential profits the internet can bring to your bottom line.
