David Mercer's blog

Finding a great small business Web host is not always easy, and if you've made the wrong choice it is important to move your website to a better Web host as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, many small business owners are reluctant to move their website once they are established, because of the technical issues involved.

Not to mention the risk of downtime, loss of business, domain problems and a potential drop in organic search traffic from Google and other search engines.

Hosted shopping carts, like Bigcommerce, offer a quick and affordable way to build an eCommerce site without requiring any technical or Web design skills.

Bigcommerce provides cutting edge Web design with great SEO (Search Engine Optimization), mobile support and plenty of integration with 3rd party platforms (like eBay) to help drive sales.

In addition, Bigcommerce has already handled over one billion dollars in eCommerce transactions so you can be sure of a safe and reliable platform on which to build your business.

"Are you looking for some creative, new marketing ideas to help your small business attract new customers and retain existing ones better?"

With new technologies and services coming online faster and faster it can be difficult to decide on the best marketing strategies that are both effective and within budget.

Anyone who has tried using PPC ads, for example, will probably attest to the fact that they can be a severe drain on finances if not implemented correctly.

Recovering Web traffic lost as a result of a Google Panda penalty is something every blogger or webmaster should attempt - even if you aren't aware of an existing penalty.

Some statistics indicate that around 60% of websites suffer needlessly from Google Panda penalties without the webmaster's knowledge.

This means that your website could be receiving a fraction of the Web traffic it deserves, because a Panda penalty applies site-wide (so bad content in one part of your site can affect everything).

"Are you focusing on content, SEO, social media, mobile and responsive Web design, or link building to boost traffic to your website in 2013?"

A panel with Matt Cutts & Duane Forrester at the recent SMX West had some interesting insight into how small businesses should prioritize their Web development, marketing and SEO efforts.

While most of the focus was on the upcoming release of Google's Panda #25 (expected on Friday the 15th, March or Monday the 18th), I found two comments by Duane to be more interesting. In particular:

1. Content is the #1 priority
2. Prepare for mobile

Google, and other major search engines, favor local search optimization (especially for businesses) because a large number of searches conducted online are for local information.

Local SEO is a really important part of any Internet marketing or search optimization strategy.

Not only because of the search engines' bias in favor of local results, but also because attracting a local audience is simply more valuable for most businesses.

This article shows how important it is to create and maintain a wide array of local business listings for great local SEO, and how to manage and maintain these listings to drive high converting traffic from local search.

Small businesses using WordPress as their Web platform of choice are at an immediate advantage because of WordPress' excellent design and ease-of-use.

However, in order to start driving plenty of valuable organic search traffic from Google, it is important to take the time to improve the default WordPress platform.

Fortunately, the sheer size of the WordPress community and associated marketplace make it quite easy to come across excellent WordPress themes and WordPress hosting services, that will help to increase your business' page rankings and Web traffic.

Finding the best affiliate programs to make money online from your blog, or Web content, is easy if you work with WordPress and Web hosting/Web design.

WordPress is the most popular CMS (Content Management System) in the world, with a huge community of webmasters, bloggers and developers.

This makes it an attractive niche market for bloggers and affiliate marketers who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty when it comes to discussing Web design and Web hosting.

"Are you looking for the most effective way to spend a small business Internet marketing budget?"

Creating high quality content is arguably the single most effective Internet marketing strategy that any small business can use.

Great content can drive valuable organic search traffic, build social influence, and generate a long term, stable return on investment.

Starting a small business online is now quicker and easier than ever, but you still need a good idea that's going to allow you to make money fast.

In fact, one of the most important aspects of succeeding in online business is the ability to generate a cash flow as early as possible.

This means that good startup ideas need to be easy to setup without requiring a huge capital investment.