http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/SmallBusiness/29729 I stumbled across this post by BL Ochman on her "What's Next" blog and thought it would be appropriate to repost considering the topic of our last seminar:   Ten years into the Internet economy, many companies still subscribe to the build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy of web marketing. Putting up a site without having a plan to drive traffic to it is equivalent of opening a store on a back road and not even putting up a sign.   When I bought this Citron shirt, it came with a tag thanking me for buying it, including a picture of the company's president, and inviting me to the website. I took him up on the invitation, and found a nice greeting and an outlet store I wouldn't have known about otherwise - the free prize inside for visiting.   Before you even think about online marketing, is your company including your website and blog URL: on everything you print including business cards, stationary, envelopes, product labels, packaging in all of your advertising, online and off in the greeting and "hold" message on company phones on all trade show displays on signs in your stores and offices in email signatures  Sounds elementary, but a lot of companies still don't do even these simple marketing basics.   I stumbled across this post by BL Ochman on her "What's Next" blog and thought it would be appropriate to repost considering the topic of our last seminar:   Ten years into the Internet economy, many companies still subscribe to the build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy of web marketing. Putting up a site without having a plan to drive traffic to it is equivalent of opening a store on a back road and not even putting up a sign.   When I bought this Citron shirt, it came with a tag thanking me for buying it, including a picture of the company's president, and inviting me to the website. I took him up on the invitation, and found a nice greeting and an outlet store I wouldn't have known about otherwise - the free prize inside for visiting.   Before you even think about online marketing, is your company including your website and blog URL: on everything you print including business cards, stationary, envelopes, product labels, packaging in all of your advertising, online and off in the greeting and "hold" message on company phones on all trade show displays on signs in your stores and offices in email signatures  Sounds elementary, but a lot of companies still don't do even these simple marketing basics.   en-us