A realistically assigned advertising budget is essential to keeping new clients coming through the door. As such, money needs to be put into areas that are most likely to bring the largest ROI for the least money. If possible, several advertising media should be used to bring maximum visibility.

This is one of the reasons why the Internet took off as fast as it did. For less of an outlay than for TV ads or billboards, a business can be visible to the whole world, 24 hours a day. Furthermore, if your site is lucky enough to get high natural or organic search engine results (without having to pay thousands of dollars extra for pay-per-click advertising) your investment return is considerably higher.

Because the Internet is a cheaper medium than most others, having less outgoings and much higher returns allows the company to diversify the rest of its budget into other advertising forms. I am a firm believer in casting your advertising net as wide as possible This diversification is what I always advise clients to do, rather than putting all of their financial eggs into one basket.

I would much rather see a client spend no more than necessary on their site so they can also invest in other advertising forms. I also strongly believe in data, such as being able to see which advertising does and doesn't work for you. It still surprises me now when business owners call and have no idea how many visitors their site gets, or if it gets any visitors.

The need for such information is the reason that we created the visitor tracking system for our WebUpdate range of sites. Using these reports, a company can clearly tell what is working for them, and remove anything that doesn't.

While the economy has somewhat stabilized, businesses that survived have learned that they cannot just expect customers to fall at their feet anymore. They now know that they need to fortify their advertising.

For many, their web site is their first point of contact with potential clients, so making sure that this portrays them as positively as possible is extremely important if they are in a very competitive market.

Obviously, they want their money to go towards something that can help their business, and have the features they need, but still have enough left to do other things.

Companies need a web site that is not only easy to find, but is appealing to visitors and doesn't involve high ongoing fees. This is crucial when a tight budget has to be kept.

This is where the timing factor comes in. With the last financial year out of the way, many businesses that had their advertising budgets reduced, or had to pay taxes, are now looking for ways to avoid similar penalties next year, while still getting the highest value for their money. Ironically, if such a site had been paid for before the end of the year, their tax bill would have been proportionally less, their new budget would be more, and the company would be stronger for this year.

With such support for advertising in place, companies don't have to lose out completely on their advertising, or settle for the cheapest options. If you are ready to grow your business, now is the perfect time to consider our WebUpdate systems, which employ advanced marketing, promotion and security features designed to give businesses the best competitive edge online.

Terry Young is the founder and CEO of Internet Marketing and Design. Since 1997,
his computer programming and graphic design knowledge have kept his company
at the forefront of the latest technology in web development.