As of right this second, you and your business have just over a month before the arrival of 2008. Businesses plan entire months worth of meetings around a new year, trying to come up with new and creative ideas for marketing their company. There are product development teams and consultants working together, press release management campaigns going on, and sales teams pushing products or services like mad in order to make the profit margin greater than it was last year.

Even small businesses are planning radio and television ads, booking up their spots in the newspapers and ad books, cleaning up their yellow pages listings, you name it.

But what about online marketing? There are budgets for everything else, but how do you know what you’re going to have to set aside for the new year in terms of the internet?

1. Take note of any recurring payments you may need to make. This means hosting and web design fees, directory listing subscriptions (some are one-time fees and some, like Yahoo’s $299 fee are annual), your SEO company’s monthly fees (and any increases that might be made for service adjustments), and so on. These are the basics of your online budget, as they are things that your business should not be online without.
2. Analyze the places your site isn’t listed, and add those fees to your budget accordingly. Not listed in Yahoo yet? Tack on that $299. What about Business.com? That’s another $199 a year. Considering playing around with Google’s AdWords? Get the lowdown on what your suggested budget might be by hiring an AdWords professional (your SEO or internet marketing company should be able to do this for you) to run a test campaign for you.
3. Set aside money for advertising on related blogs. Every one is going to have a different price, and going through text link brokers may not be such a good idea right now. Contact bloggers directly if you’re interested in advertising on their site, and see what their rates are. Pick a handful with good traffic and a fair price (and make sure your ad will appear “above the fold”) and tally up the total. You don’t have to pay for 12 months of the year on all of them, pick and choose wisely.
4. Do something for free advertising. Write some industry related articles and submit them around the web and to industry bloggers. It won’t cost you anything but time, but it might give you a good traffic boost. If you’re not already blogging for your business, there’s no better time than the present to start. Ask your designer (or find a new one) to get you started, and appropriate the time into yours or another employee’s schedule to keep up with it. Blogging (the right way) gets you noticed, period.
5. If you’re new to online marketing, hiring an agency or consultant is going to be extremely important. They’ll know what to target and how much it’s going to cost you, and will be able to help you set up a monthly and yearly budget for doing so. Relationships with online marketing firms are best made long-term, so if you’re thinking of going month-to-month with one, keep in mind that you’re likely to pay more up front for the extra advertising fees (because they’re going to want to help you as much as they can in a short amount of time) than you would if you let them make a year long plan for you. It’s easier to stretch a budget over the course of six months or a year than it is to try to get it all done in a month.

As we’ve all heard before, “It takes money to make money.” Realizing that it’s more than just tossing up a website and having the address put on your stationery is what’s going to get you somewhere with your online ventures. While that might be a costly hunk to swallow at first, it’s an important fact of online business you can’t afford to ignore.

Popularity: 60% [?]

Around the holidays, people scour the internet for interesting, original gift ideas. They want to give one-of-a-kind (or close to it) kinds of gifts, and are willing to look toward handmade crafts for that reason.

Are you a jewelry maker? Knitter? Painter? Maker of altered books? If your hobby is something you’ve considered making a real profit from, then you’re going to need to know how to market yourself during the holidays.

Keep in mind, there are probably millions of crafters out there doing the same thing - you’re just going to have to be different. Assuming you already have a website (if you don’t, go get one - hosting is cheap and getting SOMETHING up is pretty affordable too), here are steps you should be taking to get those sales to soar.

• Get set up on eBay. People use eBay most during the holidays, but keep in mind that they’re looking for bargains. If your craft isn’t totally original, there are going to be hundreds of other auctions up that are similar to what you’ve got. Use the “buy now” feature, set your prices, and see what happens. Make sure you put your site’s URL in your listings.
• Join groups, forums and lists for crafters that work in the same or similar materials you do. If you’re a woodcarver, join a Yahoo Group for woodworkers. Are you a knitter? Check out the knitting and crochet groups. By joining these groups, you can put your site’s URL in your signature for the forums or emails and you’re bound to get interest because yarn-lovers are drawn to yarn crafts, wood lovers are drawn to wood craft, and so on.
• Visit Sell Your Art Online and sign up for the newsletter. SYAO is a newsletter that covers topics that artists and crafts people need to know to successfully sell their creative work on the Internet. Some of the information is probably more than you need to worry about, but there is a LOT of great, useful info there.
• Check out a site like Etsy. Etsy lets you sell your wares online, via their marketplace, for a small fee per sale. The benefit is that you can only sell things that are handmade - by YOU. So unlike eBay, you’re not competing against wholesale distributors or retailers buying up items in bulk and then reselling. If your craft involves digitally downloadable items, you can use a site like E-junkie.com to affordably manage your download sales and get others to promote your downloads for you by offering them a piece of the pie.
• Use a blog to show your process. People who see the amount of time and effort you put into your projects are more apt to buy them for the quality behind the work. Take photos while you’re making your jewelry or knitting a scarf and hat set. Talk about the yarns you use, or the quality of silver in your earrings.
• Offer special deals. Especially online, people are looking for the “great buy” deal. If you normally sell your paintings in singles, try making a few sets you can sell separately or in a group, and offer a discount on the group package. Make sure it’s truly a valid discount - don’t spike your prices now in order to put together a package that will get you what you’d normally make any other time of year. Send out a real bargain, and you’re bound to get repeat customers through the rest of the year. Even if all you offer is free shipping with a guaranteed arrival date in plenty of time for the holidays - people will latch on to it.
• If you haven’t already hired an internet marketing specialist, consider doing so, even if it’s only to get you through the holidays. Most good companies offer month-to-month contracts where they’ll make sure your site is properly optimized for the search engines, and will get you listed in good directories or write you up a press release or two that should help you get a little more traffic.

Popularity: 49% [?]