One huge mistake that I see "new to search engine marketing" business owners make, is not taking advantage of all the areas they can receive traffic (and potential sales) from.
Most of these people (I assume) are satisfied, or think that doing PPC (Pay Per Click) and search engine marketing is enough.
They will never grow their business with this kind of a business model.
They (more then ever) need to be aware of the ever changing web, and that is why I want to talk about finding social networks and social communities that are super "niche-targeted" and specific to your own individual business online.
For example, lets say you own an online business selling fishing tackle, well get this; I came across a site on DIGG the other day that is "niche-targeted" for people into fishing.
Can you believe that? An online community for people who are passionate about fishing? You can find information on their website anglingmasters.
com about Bass Fishing Tournaments, Bass Fishing in general as well as regular Fishing Tournaments.
If you are a business owner selling fishing gear and related products don't you think that is a pretty good audience? If you can make enough friends, and share good enough stories and actually contribute to the community, and build it up people will start to wonder who you are.
Inside these communities you are able to promote your website and what you do, and basically let the world know who you are! You can even start promoting some of your own goods and services once you have established (good enough) your name.
This is how you can grow and expand your business to a whole new group of people that would probably have never found any other information about you, or the products you sell.
These communities are growing so quickly every day too.
I usually see anywhere from 300-400 unique visitors a day from just these kind of social communities alone checking out who I am, and what I am offering (or bringing to the table).
The trend with the search industry right now is that "search" is becoming more personalized, (personalized search) and I think these major search engines that are starting to focus on personalized search are starting to realize the traffic and people (they are losing when it comes to the number of people) that are using these social communities (and that is why they are switching their gears).
My recommendation? I would suggest doing a search on Google (or any other major search engine) for an online community that is specific to the business you are doing online.
You might be surprised how many are out there.
Remember the social community I talked about earlier giving you specific information in the bass fishing world? In conclusion, besides the usual online marketing; Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization, Link Building, and search engine marketing you really need to start getting familiar with Social Media Marketing through these niche-targeted online communities.
Your online business will get more exposure and traffic, you will learn more about what is going on in your industry and overall just grow your business.
We are living in the day and age when you really need to think outside the box when it comes to marketing and making money online.
If you can figure this out, your business will succeed.
There is no question about that!