Being online is not only about getting your piece of pie, it's also about what kind of pie you are getting. Your company is often being measured by many other business people online. There are many ways that people are keeping an eye on you.

- Search engine placements - Number of incoming links - Alexa ranking - PR Rating online - Website growth - What others are saying

The reason why people do this is because, we are all looking for other great companies to tie into. Marketing online is about creating a network of advertising to come back to you. The more you put out there, more you'll have coming in.

On another note, quality of what you put out there is very important as well. You are more likely to have your advertising ad viewed by many people from a very popular website, rather than a newbie. This is why many of top websites in world offer advertising to public. There is money to be made.

As an entrepreneur, you should always be looking for ways to connect your business with others online. This is a crucial step so many seem to neglect to do. Maybe you feel it isn't that important, or maybe you don't know how to start.

Connecting people online is more simple than you think. It comes down to finding other like minded people like yourself and combining your services or products together. For instance, let's say you sell "shoes online". Try finding "Shoe repair shops" that will work with you to bring both your visitors together.

So now that we know why it's important, let's also take a look at how you can get better half of pie every time...

A few years ago I lived in a tourist community. During peak season nearly 120,000 people were crowded on my little island on Atlantic coastline. There were literally 150+ restaurants but only one that I knew of never, never advertised – anywhere.

It was not large or overly elegant in décor. And because town laws forbid neon lighting, that was not attraction either. Even parking lot was minimal often overflowing into neighboring businesses.

Yes, chef was talented and menu selection was best. Charley didn’t offer popular “early-bird” specials every weekday and drinks were never discounted for “happy hour”. His doors opened at six every evening and dining rooms were full an hour later. They were all early – and his customers were all happy!

But consider this – shouldn’t all businesses, even restaurants, advertise on a continuing basis to keep up with competition? Offer incentives and menu specials? Why would Charley’s be exception? Is it possible to have supply and demand in perfect balance? Would marketing therefore increase demand, thus causing his service to suffer?