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Online meetings for any size business are smart, productive and downright cost-effective. But they are especially beneficial for small businesses, because they not only save your company money, they allow you to “be there”, without really “being there.”

One of the keys to success for any business is constant communications with your client. If you’re in sales you know all too well the importance of picking up the phone and calling your client on a regular basis. Of course, it’s also useful to drive or fly to meet your clients in person, as well. But, with the high cost of travel these days and the amount of time out of the office, sometimes you can accomplish an “in person” meeting by going online.

Online meetings are so easy and cost-effective these days, that it should be part of every small business’ toolkit. Here’s an illustration of how they work. Essentially both you and the client meet at a designated web “space.” This web space is a private area that only you, the client and other designated parties have permission to enter. Any of the parties can display their screens, collaboratively navigate web sites, share documents and even draw on the screen. In fact, you can also give control of your computer to the other party(ies) in order for them to point to something on your screen and vice versa.

Online meetings can also be useful for working with your team members or employees. Let’s say that you are working on spreadsheet budget and one of your employees lives an hour from the office or perhaps even in another state. With online meeting software, you can both be looking at and modifying your budget in real time just as if that person were sitting right next to you.

Online meetings can also be useful for training purposes. In my small business, I have team members in northern and southern California, as well as a few abroad. Every week, we all get online to train each other on new research techniques, marketing tools and even technical support.

Speaking of technical support, one of the side benefits of some of these tools is the ability to support someone remotely. On occasion one of our colleagues has a problem with email access or similar problems. We are able to join a meeting, have that person give the keyboard and mouse control to one of our technical staff and voila … problem solved. This is remote access feature is extremely valuable.

The cost of one online meeting will literally pay for itself by saving you the cost of travel. This is easily illustrated by how much it cost just to go from northern California to southern California, not even including hotel and meals. If you were to drive from San Francisco to LA for example, you could easily spend $200 in gas alone. Alternatively, flying might cost you about $300 and then add another $150 or so for hotel and then meals.

If you are a small business and you work with others; whether clients, employees, partners, etc., you cannot afford NOT to investigate using online meetings, especially if you can try them for free!

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Web site advertising is the most efficient and cost effective option for small businesses these days. This is especially true for businesses who want exposure within their local market, city or county. Examples of local businesses include: real estate brokers, chiropractors, insurance agents and retail shops, to name a few.

There are a number of reasons why web site advertising is so effective. The most compelling reason is that the way people find businesses today has shifted dramatically over the last few years. It’s estimated that 70% or more of people now search for local businesses through online search engines, rather than the traditional methods.

Previously, people searched local listings in the newspaper and the yellow pages. These forms of discovery used to be very effective, especially since there really wasn’t much competition. However, the Internet and search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo have changed the game dramatically. These changes are not just about a local company listing, but also about the company’s listing in context to another company’s listing.

Here’s an example of context-related web site advertising for local businesses. Someone looking for a “Turkish restaurant in NYC” would likely key that phrase into one of the major search engines. Google might display 7 or more restaurant profiles matching those criteria. But, in addition to the restaurant profiles, there would likely be links to their websites, restaurant reviews, and perhaps even 3rd party websites offering discount coupons. This is an example of how the search engines provide substantially more value than a static “print” advertisement.

Website advertising for local businesses also has the distinct advantage of precise marketing analytics. Small, local businesses don’t have the luxury of wasting advertising dollars guessing which of their campaigns was successful. With website advertising, every click and ultimate purchase can be tracked right down to the exact wording that drove the customer to the company’s website. In addition, company’s can rotate ADs to determine which one motivates the most number of people to “click through.”

By now, many people have heard of the phrase “getting on the first page of Google.” Statistics suggest that 80% of people searching on the Internet do not go past the first page of search results. These results include both the “paid” advertising slots and the “free” or what is typically called “organic” slots / results.

Just as in the traditional advertising world (print, radio, TV), website advertising for local businesses requires a thoughtful approach to strategy. For example, in the old cable TV world, one might ask “How large of an audience will see my AD?” or “Can I target only three metro cities, instead of the whole county?” The same thought process is necessary for website advertising. The differences; however, are mind-boggling.

For example, with website advertising you can literally put an AD up “on demand.” No more back and forth negotiating or proofing / re-proofing with the cable company. You can precisely target your ADs to a county, city or even zip code. And, you can turn an AD on or off in seconds.

This is just a primer on why website advertising for local businesses is so compelling. There are a thousand more examples of the advertising power of this new channel. The $64,000 question is “Are you ready for the Internet?”

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The California governor candidates are obviously in this race to win and win big. One of the most fascinating aspects of this race to me is how furiously the candidates have gotten technology religion. Being a technology advocate, I can attest to the effectiveness of online campaigns, especially as they compare to the ineffectiveness these days of traditional offline media of print, radio and TV. A Forrester research survey reported that 60% of marketers will shift their traditional marketing budget to interactive [online] marketing.

It’s no wonder that celebrities, entrepreneurs, news stations and more are moving to online media marketing. This new media allows direct interaction with and between publisher and consumer. No other media exists that combines the speed of implementation with the analytical horsepower of “near immediate” feedback.

The California governor candidates are an interesting test case to see if they can repeat the success of the Barack Obama campaign. There have been many politicians who hopped on to the technology bandwagon after they witnessed firsthand the ferocity at which President Obama took the oval office. The famous words printed in The Book of Job “Speak and ye shall hear” are aptly appropriate to describe the Internet social networks.

The use of technology has completely changed the landscape of political campaigning forever. In the old days, California governor candidates would have produced and mailed campaign brochures, gotten their message printed in newspapers and scheduled speeches. Oftentimes this required months of planning and hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

Today, the use of social networking sites and blogs literally allow you to speak and be heard … or “write and be read.” Of course, this strategy depends heavily on having enough friends, fans, and followers to make a difference. This is precisely why celebrities like Oprah, Britney Spears, and Ellen DeGeneres hire experts to make all this magic happen.

The field of California governor candidates are no slouches either. In fact, a couple of them have reached “celebrity” status themselves. Gavin Newsom has 1.1 million Twitter followers and Jerry Brown somewhere in the 900,000 range. These numbers put the politicians on par with real celebrities like Paula Abdul (ex-American Idol) and John Legend.

It’s interesting to note that, at least at this moment, there is an inverse relationship between campaign spend and online marketing “success.” The two Republicans who have spent the most amount of money, Meg Whitman ($900,000) and Steve Poizner ($100,000) have the least number of votes by a factor of several thousand percent! It’s too early to tell what this really means. Is it because they need a new team of technologists or is it just that they have the wrong message?

Whatever the answer, these California governor candidates have a huge challenge on their hands. With a budget deficit of $26 Billion, an unemployment rate of 12% an unfavorable business environment, and California’s education tanking, employers and families will pick up stakes and move elsewhere. No matter how you slice it, no amount of technology is going to create a quick fix to California’s problems.

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