If you want to succeed, advertise.

Do you choose advertising by website, blog, or newsletter? Or take a more traditional route?

Whether you set up shop in a physical location open to foot traffic, or your business is nontraditional and without a storefront, you’ve got to be able to attract clients. So how do you get the word out to your potential customers?

There are several ways to advertise, and the more you can afford, the more visible your presence will be. You no doubt know something of each of the methods – from traditional print and broadcast ads to online. And while it’s true that going for print, radio, or tv can prove to be pretty expensive, advertising by website, blog, or newsletter doesn’t have to be.

You can establish a Facebook page, register on LinkedIn, or set up a Twitter account, all free. None are that time-consuming and you don’t need to be a computer geek. You can also build a website, start a blog, or send out newsletters. All of these require money and skilled labor, but like local print advertising, can be had relatively inexpensively if you do it yourself.

What’s the difference between a website, blog, and newsletter? A website’s a page or group of pages that fall under one umbrella, the site’s domain name. It’s usually the company’s primary presence on the web. A blog is a series of journal-like entries of individual related articles. A newsletter is a regularly produced source of company news and events that can be sent via email and/or regular mail.

So what advertising routes will work for you?

Today, most business owners find that they need a web presence. Your clients and customers increasingly rely on websites to find a company’s location and hours and use them for comparison shopping. The US Census 2015 American Community Survey found that 77 percent of households had an internet connection. And according to a 2019 Pew Research Center study, just 10 percent of American adults do not use the internet.

The vast majority of Americans – 81 percent – rely on their own research before making important decisions. Nearly half of them – 46 percent – turn to the internet to help them decide. Granted, not all major decisions involve spending money, but most probably do.

So, does your company need to be online? If you want to reach the majority of current and potential customers, you probably do.

Whether ‘tis smarter to go digital, or not.

There’re lots of considerations in deciding if you should go digital. First, of course, how likely is your company going to benefit from being online? Then there’s cost. Website building outlay can be minimal, less than $100 annually if you build your own simple site, or can stretch into the thousands of dollars. What are the costs and other considerations of building a website and going online with it?

• First, you need a domain name. Sometimes a domain name comes as part of a package deal, or you may have to purchase it on its own. When you buy it alone the annual cost is generally quite cheap.
• Then there’s hosting, or where your site will “live” on the web. This can also be free or a few dollars a month on up depending upon what features are included. For a breakdown of hosting sites, see WP Beginner’s How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting in 2020 (Compared). The article includes a quiz to help you determine what hosting to choose according to what you plan on doing with your site.
• WPCity.com has another great article on two hosting providers, "Flywheel vs SiteGround 2021: The Ultimate Managed WordPress Hosting? (Our Pick)." This article provides an in-depth comparison of two hosting providers, SiteGround and Flywheel. The site also has a huge repository of all things WordPress. You should browse their website if you choose or already use WordPress.
• Next, you need a website builder. Many are your choices here. I’m partial to WordPress and find that I can do most anything with it, from setting up a basic blog to building an e-commerce site. So how do you choose? Determine what you want to do with your website. WP Beginner has a good rundown on the top ten builders in their article, How to Choose the Best Website Builder in 2020 (Compared).
• Then you need a theme, which is like the skeleton of your site. There are free themes out there, but for more functionality and the ability to customize your site to your needs, you may want to go with a paid theme. I work with Generate Press and find it to be full of customizable features. Generate Press can be free or paid, depending on the features it comes with.
• Plug-ins give added functionality to your site. There are literally thousands of WordPress plug-ins available. Some are free, and others must be paid for. A few of my favorites are:

Beaver Builder – a WordPress page builder. You can use their free version or purchase one. There are three paid levels. See the Beaver Builder pricing chart for pricing and a comparison of the features of each version.

PowerPack is a Beaver Builder add-on. It has loads of templates and gives you the opportunity to further customize your site. Like so many website components, there’s free and paid versions, with the cost structured according to how many sites you need. Comparison shop with the PowerPack Pricing Plan.

Yoast SEO is a useful plug-in for search engine optimization (SEO), which is a fancy way of saying you’re setting up your site to be found by search engines like Google. Whether you choose Yoast or another SEO package, this is a must-have plug-in to be found by potential customers. Yoast has free and paid price packages.

G Suite comes with email that you can personalize with a staff member’s name and use @YourCompanyName. It also has document and spreadsheet building and sharing capabilities. There are different levels of plans (and payments) starting with the inexpensive Basic plan. Find a closer look at G Suite for plan comparisons.

• Now, whether you contract out or have your site built inhouse, don’t forget to include personnel costs for staff or freelance contractors.
• Finally, you can’t forget about your website once it’s up and running. Maintenance can cost money too. This can include everything from updating themes and plugins, to changing existing pages, writing and designing new pages, or doing blog posts.