Nearly every business has a website and we all know that search engines like Bing and Google help people find products and services they want. The challenge is to make sure that when people look for a business like yours, they actually find your business and not a competitor. This means ensuring that your website is search engine optimised. In other words, help the search engines help you. Check out this article for tips and tactics to optimise your website for search engines.

Every business wants more customers and more sales. Marketing is the art of persuading people to consider buying from your business. This is why we have declared March "Marketing Month" on the Business Answers blog.

We have some great posts planned, including:

• Using a company newsletter
• Writing as branding
• Generating new sales leads
• Using website analytics and metrics to measure marketing impact
• Ten things I learned about building a new company website
• Using LinkedIn to promote your business
• Customer relationship management software

How do become an HP reseller or partner?

You can  register your interest via the HP Smart Portal OR you can contact their HP distributor (see attached list for contact details).

In this thought-provoking guest post, Christopher Jenkins, co-founder and senior partner at Wingrave Yeats, a London accounting firm, questions the role of Facebook, Twitter and online marketing and whether companies should allow their staff to use these sites. 

In this guest post from  IntelITGalaxyUK, Jeff Hewlett, Intel's Marketing Manager for SMB, and Tanya Shirlow, Microsoft UK's Head of Sales and Marketing for SMB, discuss the impact of technology on small businesses. How can refreshing to Windows 7 and Intel's 2nd generation Core processors improve your small business? To listen visit: Small business, Windows 7 and Intel new Core 

HP just launched some new business notebooks. If you depend on notebook PCs in your business, here are ten things you need to know about these new computers - they could change the way you work for the better. Read the rest of this article to find out more.

If you are a small business owner and you have questions about your online marketing strategy, tactics or results, then a recent post by Matt McGee for the Small Business Search Marketing site is well worth reading. He outlines seven questions you should have regarding your online strategy. These questions were the following:

• How do the search results look for my company name? You might rank fine for a particular set of keywords but you also need to know whether you are ranking well for your company name or your name for that matter. Hence, he suggested that you should (at least monthly) type your company’s name and its key employees into Google and Bing plus set up Google, Bing and Yahoo alerts for your company name.
• Have I put all my marketing eggs in one basket, or am I getting traffic/sales/revenue from a variety of sources? Matt noted that relying on one source of traffic can be dangerous. Hence, he suggested using appropriate social media sites where a targeted audience can be developed and to diversify your sources for customers and traffic.
• Have I claimed my local business listings? Customers are increasingly using the internet to find local businesses. Hence he suggested that you should claim any free listings on the internet and build out your profile as much as possible.
• How do my reviews look on Google Maps? Yahoo? Bing? Yelp? Customers are increasingly relying on ratings and web reviews when making purchasing decisions. Hence, he suggested that you need to check your reviews on popular sites on a regular basis but not to panic if you occasionally receive negative reviews as you will be viewed as more trustworthy. Moreover, he suggested that you should respond professionally and politely to any negative reviews.  
• Am I using social media wisely? Social media is increasingly popular with all segments of society. Hence, he suggested that you should at least claim your social media site profiles and to always ask your customers which sites they use. Moreover, he further suggested looking for authoritative blogs within your industry where you can leave intelligent and thoughtful comments.
• Am I focusing on metrics that matter? Matt wrote that you can easily get wrapped up in unimportant numbers such as having a large number of Twitter followers or Facebook fans but the metrics that really matter are leads, conversions, revenue and profits as these will drive your bottom line. Hence, he suggested that you have analytics setup on your site and that you spend time analyzing your analytics data.
• Am I earning trust with everything I do online? Building up trust will be the most important factor in the long-term success of your business. He suggested reading another article (Why Trust Matters & How To Earn It) where he asked three dozen marketers about building up trust.