Internet

Small businesses are by definition smaller entrepreneurial ventures. However, collectively they play an extremely important part in every countrys economy as the major employment generator. As the very name suggests, a small business is one in which less capital is invested and also less number of people are required to fulfill all employment.

Small business solutions are therefore ideal for people who want to start a business on a small scale due to lack of capital or some other inconvenience. Thus, small business solutions would include things like some service provided via the internet.

One of the major problems with small business solutions is promotion. Most small businesses cannot afford the extremely costly advertisements in the print and audio visual or electronic media that we encounter on daily basis. Therefore, the only cost effective way to advertise is through the internet. There are a thousand and one ways to devise unique, cheap and effective advertising campaigns through the internet.

Listed below are a few effective and cost effective methods of online marketing and advertising that can be used by the small business solutions:

Email Marketing:

When used effectively, emails can become a great way to promote your product/store/service.

Blogs:

Blogs are the latest in thing on the internet. One can advertise on the blogs at reduced rates or start a blog of ones own pertaining to business.

Instant Messengers:

One can advertise with the IM providers.

Forum Marketing:

Posting on an online forum is usually free. When pursued regularly, this can become an effective way to reach out to millions of people world wide.

Ad Hosts:

There are various online service providers who host ads on various sites for minimal rates. The most popular of these are Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing. Another venue for ad hosting is traffic exchanges.

Thus the access to the internet can be of a great help for small business solutions. There is a common misconception that high speed internet is very expensive and many people opt out of it for this reason. High speed internet is more commonly referred to as the broadband internet connection. The more usual dial-up connections are cumbersome not only because of their slow speed and dependence on the phone lines but also because of the crippling expenses involved. High speed internet can function without blocking up the telephone line, is almost five times as fast as the normal dial-up connection, and works out much cheaper.

This is because for a high speed internet connection one pays a fixed monthly rate and this does not vary according to the number of hours one spends online. Thus, High speed internet connections are ideally suited for small business solutions because they are affordable as well as useful.

Joseph Brochin is a small business owner of and provides information technology and telecommunications solutions to small business owners