There are countless manuals available to show you how to market your business... but realistically, you only have a limited amount of time you can devote to really reading and absorbing information. You might choose to purchase a number of manuals, but select one of them and resolve to seriously study material -- then take *action* on what you learn.

~5. Try to turn customers into *repeat* customers. What ideas do you have for a complementary product? It's easier to sell to a happy customer than it is to sell to someone who's never had any experience with your products before. Let your existing customers know about your new products.

If you sell services, be sure to touch base with your customers every so often -- remind them that you're still around and available for work. You can even offer incentives or discounts for next time they use your services.

Keeping customers happy is obviously important if you're planning on building a viable long-term business. Happy customers can turn into both repeat customers as well as a source of referral business. But no matter how hard you try, you will never make everyone happy -- so don't fall into trap of spending so much time and effort with one customer that you alienate or ignore rest.

~6. Form new partnerships in areas you've never considered before. Perhaps you've always targeted a certain type of business with which to form joint ventures. For example, someone who sells a fitness tape might have always approached weight-loss sites with partnership proposals. Instead, try to think of other markets that could also use your product. In above example, new moms who are trying to become active again might appreciate a fitness tape. Or how about stressed-out corporate 'worker bees' who need a way to relax?

~7. Build for future. How can you attract more customers? Is your customer service up to par? How can you use your current customer base to expand your profits? Concentrate on methods that allow you to build a business relationship with your customers -- a common example is to publish a quality newsletter to help you stay in touch, build credibility, and help to keep your business near forefront of your readers' thoughts.

Vincent Van Gogh once said, "Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." Keep working towards your business goals, little by little. It's only way to get there!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical guide for beginners to the 'net. Packed with instantly usable tips, you'll love its focus on effective fr*e and low-cost marketing methods, specifically chosen for people operating on shoestring budgets! Get the details here: http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html

5. Calculate your return on investment (ROI) - this means keeping track of how much money you invested in your marketing plan and what profit you received in return. This will avoid wasting large sums of money thrown aimlessly into advertising.

If you calculate it takes 100 visitors to your web site to generate one sale and with each sale you make $10, then you shouldn't spend more than 10 cents to get each targeted visitor and still make a profit.

In order to know which aspects of your marketing campaign bring most visitors, you must be able to monitor visitor activity to your web pages.

6. Analyze your web site traffic - by analyzing your web site traffic, you can determine what marketing strategies are successful. You can then change them as necessary, to boost sales or services from your site.

Your analysis may include what keywords your visitors are using to find your web site, which web pages are most popular and where your visitors are coming from. These are essential statistics you should know, instead of blindly promoting your web site and hoping for best.

7. Test, monitor and track your results - to run an effective online marketing campaign, you need to constantly test what works and what doesn't. Tracking response to an ad may cause you to refine it until it generates a great return on money you invested. Once your results are satisfactory, you can then roll out your ads on a larger scale and spend greater sums of money.

You should also monitor your site in search engines, so you can optimize your web pages for higher search engine rankings. This will attract more visitors which leads to higher profits.

Web site promotion strategies will differ for everyone, and will depend a lot on your product, web site and your personality. Try everything you can, record results, and see what works for you.