Google has a great little tool that (surprisingly) many of the business owners I come in contact with still don't know about.  The tool is Google Webmaster Tools and there are tons of great reasons why you should be using this tool for your website too.  The most obvious is for Google Sitemaps, but let's look at a few additional uses for Webmaster Tools aside from allowing you to add and monitor sitemaps. 

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These days, more and more people are realizing the insecurity of having a traditional job and are venturing out on their own to start their own business, whether it's a part-time endeavor to supplement their income or a transition to becoming a full-time entrepreneur.  You may be wondering if having a website is really the best investment to make at this point in your business.  As a web marketing consultant, I'm obviously a bit biased in this regard and feel that having a website is an important part of most modern businesses.  That being said, if you're still on the fence on this decision, here are a few things to consider as you make this decision. 

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I've been talking to more and more business owners who are interested in learning more about marketing their business online.  I guess that's to be expected with the way the economy is going.  Marketing online has so many advantages in terms of cost, being able to track what's working, and being able to reach people EXACTLY at the time that they're looking for your products or services. 

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I wrote an article on 5 Strategies for a More Profitable Business Website awhile back that ended up getting posted on quite a few sites online.  After checking out some of the comments on one particular site, it seems like a follow up article on tracking would be a good idea, specifically focused on Google Analytics.  If you're not using Google Analytics, this free service is a powerful way to get insight into how well your site is performing.  But since there's so much information that Analytics can provide, let me give you a few tips for which metrics really matter and what you should try to improve. 

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Like any good entreprenuer, I've been a subscriber to Entrepreneur Magazine for quite awhile.  If you haven't had a chance to take a look at one of their latest issues, you might want to at least visit their website and read their suggestions for 21 Low-Cost Marketing Ideas.  I think it's pretty telling that 7 out of the 21 tips in that article have something to do with online marketing.  So I figured I'd write a little follow up article of my own to add my take on some of the ideas they suggested. 

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