I ran across another great article from eMarketer today that detailed the growing number of baby boomers turned senior citizens who are frequent users of the internet. Such an immensely large demographic group promises to present rich internet marketing opportunities for a variety of businesses.  eMarketer suggests that a company's online business development should begin to also focus on creating a niche website that offers an eclectic blend of products that senior citizens have difficulty finding in the local store.  The graph below details the current and projected growth of internet users aged 62+.

 

Jeff Meuzelaar
Click Rain
Sioux Falls, SD

According to a recent report by Piper Jaffray gas prices are having a significant influence on online consumer spending.  Rather than making a trip from the suburbs to the local mall, many consumers are purchasing on the web.  What does this mean for small business online marketing?  All businesses need to get their act together and develop an internet marketing and e.marketing campaign.  Without online business development, you won't be able to take advantage of this shift in consumer spending mediums.  Drop us a line and we'll help you start the process.

If you peruse the web these days, I'm sure you'll notice how interactive websites and even advertisements have become.  As the world wide web continues to shape our society, it is critical that businesses develop internet marketing strategies to boot.  Quite a few social media applications exist to help develop your online business presence.  Whether you're a large or small company, utilizing these widgets will definitely add an interactive element to your online marketing presence.  Not to mention, they're super fun to use.

Check out some of our favorites.

Sproutbuilder
Makes flash ad and even website design accessible to anyone with internet access.  Easy to embed and share with others.

Twitter
Some say it's a waste of time, but we contend that it can be used to strategically market certain aspects of your service offerings. Similar to updating your status on facebook which actually has its own twitter application.

del.icio.us
A great way to share online bookmarks with friends and complete strangers.  Easy to organize and manage.

ChaCha
Ask a question via a text message from your cell or on the internet...get a response delivered to your phone or e-mail mailbox minutes later.  Maybe not the most relevant application for small business online marketing, but its such a neat application we had to share it with you.

I had a friend ask me today about a site (competitor) that seemed to be popping up organically on a lot of searches - some searches which were related to their business and some which were unrelated.  In looking at the site a bit deeper, not only was there some mad keyword stuffing going on, but they had embedded a small frame on their site which contained a boatload of copy - probably 2000+ words.  Are they benefiting from this in search right now?  Yes.  Will the Google cops eventually bust them?  Probably.  Just as in all walks of business, their are ethical and unethical ways to run your online marketing show.  If you are looking for blackhat seo (define) to cheat your way to the top, don't contact us.  If you want to earn it (through blogging for business, ethical seo, and online business development), we've got the Red Bull ready.   

If you don't have an online business development strategy, you need one. Nuff said. It's Friday. I'm out.

The video clip below has nothing to do with online business development, business blogging, online marketing, or any of the other stuff we post about here.  It's a video that I saw last year and recently stumbled across it again.  Take three minutes to watch this, smile, and I can almost guarantee that you will never forget this story.