While most large, locally based service companies have a basic understanding of the value of marketing through the web, many smaller service providers are barely online at all.  Indeed, some businesses have no online visibility at all.

I want to focus this article on those small service businesses whose online presence is clearly underutilized.  If you business is dedicated to providing your community with professional plumbing services, reliable heating system and air conditioning repair or hair care, are you limiting you online exposure to a simple listing on some classified advertising site?  Remember the community of web users now includes almost everyone, and it continues to grow even among those demographic groups that were slow to find it.

Increasingly your potential customers are turning away from print advertising media and using the Internet to locate services when the need suddenly arises, when they move into your community or when they move into their first homes.  Do you really believe that a small, classified listing which lists your phone number and address is sufficient information about your business for them to make an informed decision?  A barber shop could market online very effectively just as any other service oriented business.

The beginning point is with your own company website. 

Next add informative articles to your site to begin to establish your image as a professional.  The focus of those articles should be related to the services you offer.  If you offer plumbing services, you might write about how to keep drains running smoothly.  A hair stylist might write about maintaining healthy, lustrous hair.  Someone who runs a child care center could post parenting tips.

Develop a newsletter for your site’s visitors.  The purpose of the newsletter is to develop a continuing relationship with your customers and prospects as much as it is to promote your business.  Keep most of the email letters informative rather than promotional.  Occasionally slip in a coupon or a subtle advertising message.

Develop ways to promote your website, itself, so that it is displayed near the top of the search engine results for relevant searches in your community.  The mere existance of a website is not enough.  Your prospects must be able to find it at the time that they are looking for a solution that your business provides.  You should consider article marketing, which is a very effective way in which to promote your website so that it gets search engine attention.  You can write your own articles or you can hire others to write them for you quite inexpensively.

You may want to begin on a small scale and ramp up your efforts as you begin to experience increased revenue as a result of your online marketing efforts.  You will doubtless be pleasantly surprised by how many new contacts your online marketing efforts bring over time, especially as you grow.