With an estimated 20 million jobs lost by the end of 2009, it’s clear that the Late 2000s recession will continue to effect the economy fiercely through the end of 2009.

While entrepreneurs and business owners probably won’t be at the sharp end of the axe employment wise, there’s no doubt that they too are feeling the recession. Just as an axed employee feels the burn when they no longer have a dependable source of income to pay the bills, business owners feel the burn when they no longer have a dependable source of paying customers.

Fortunately for business owners, there are a few things that can be done to increase business during the economic recession in 2009.

1. Make Friends in the Social Media Realm

Focusing your efforts toward the social media scene can increase your customer base nicely when practiced ethically – read more about The Power of the Business Owner’s Connection with Customer. The ability to connect with individuals is crucial in a time such as this, so take advantage of the tools available, get social, and take care of business! Be careful not to spam or bombard people with your information – target certain groups, prove you’re a valuable resource by providing free advice, and then let them come to you.

2. Offer Exclusive Discounts

Decide where you can cut cost for the customer. While it’s common for service providers to gradually increase their professional rates based on their experience, scope, and a myriad of other elements, a recession is no time to be stubborn. It’s time to adapt and play to the sound of the economy – if you won’t, you can bet your business your competition will. Consider offering a special rate in light of the poor economy, offer a care package with a few free items if offer products, and explore the idea of time-sensitive coupons. By lowering your rates, customers will find your services more available and attractive. Bottom line: would you rather maintain your standard rate and suffer less business, or lower your rates and enjoy steady business?

3. Blog Your Way to Customers

With over 223 million people using the internet in the United States alone, this one’s a no-brainer. For the business owners out there unsure about the whole blog thing … well, let’s just say that not only is it here to stay, but it’s actually revolutionized the entire internet as we know it – we can thank blogging for accelerating the birth of social media. Read more about How Business Owners Can Take Advantage of Social Media. The internet basically consists of two parties: publishers and consumers. To reach your target consumer, you need to become a publisher, which requires a lot more than a mere website where consumers can read about your company – the fact is, they don’t care yet. The marketplace both on and offline is very competitive, so you have to impress the consumer somehow. The easiest way to achieve that is to share information about your trade, product, service, or what ever your consumer might be interested in; and the easiest way to share information is through a blog. Successful blogs are updated regularly (anywhere between daily to weekly), because consumers have shown publishers that they want fresh information daily. The more you write, the better the chance a consumer will find one of your articles online. In addition to writing a lot of material, you’ll want to publish it in various places, thereby targeting multiple communities of consumers.

4. Reach Further with Article Marketing

As a tired and true marketing technique that benefits both the writer and publisher, you should consider expanding your efforts in the area. The way it works is a writer will provide a publisher with a free article in exchange for a short byline, bio, and link back to their own website. This exchange benefits both parties because the publisher gets free content to publish and the writer receives the exposure to the publisher’s community of consumers as well as a link to their website. This allows business owners to tap into communities of consumers with valuable information, thereby creating a sense of authority. Because article marketing is a form of advertising, business owners would be required to contact a website or blog advertising department and work out a deal.

5. Optimize your Website for the Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful practice in which publishers hone their website in order to rank higher in the search results of a search engine. For example, if you were to search Google for “Plumbers in Los Angeles,” you will see a list of search results from many different sources – the idea behind SEO is to be the first result at the top of the page. A few ways you can optimize your website include honing your keywords with the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, creating attractive titles, writing keyword-rich meta descriptions, creating a lot of content with your blog, and increasing your inbound link count. While it can get very complex and intense very quickly, business owners should optimize their keywords, descriptions, and link at the very least if they wish to increase their business. By optimizing your blog or website, you’ll be able to increase your search engine results placement (SERP), thereby exposing yourself to more consumers searching for what you have to offer.

By setting these five techniques into action, you’ll be able to increase business during this economic recession – or any economic dip for that matter – while the ruthless burn of the recession continues spreading.

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• How Business Owners Can Take Advantage of Social Media
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