There was once a time when you had to be extremely creative to promote your business in as many ways as possible. You could get ads in local newspapers, national papers or magazines. You could also put ads in shop windows and even create promotions to appeal directly to your existing customer base.

But all this has changed since the Internet came along. You can still use all the above methods of advertising, but you can also advertise your business to people all around the world using the Internet (sometimes without paying a single penny to do so).

One of the easiest and best ways to promote your business - whatever you might be involved in - is to create a website. This could be something as simple as a Wordpress blog site which gives customers information about what you do and where you are located. At the other end of the scale, you could have a website with hundreds of product pages and an integrated shopping cart, enabling people worldwide to pick and choose what they want to order and get it sent to them by post.

However, one of the most important things is to be online in the first place. Even though there are already millions upon millions of websites on the internet, there are still businesses that have yet to get in on the act. If you are one of them, then you are leaving money in the marketplace that could otherwise be yours. Even if your company only caters for people in your immediate area, you can still access them more readily by having a website they can go to for the latest information on your business.

Some people are still intimidated by the idea of going online. This is more common in people who have little experience of the internet or of the skills that go into making a website. However, you can hire someone to do all the hard work for you and you might even decide to keep them on board for the future to make changes and alterations to your site whenever necessary. So, there is no need to be worried about going online - the chances are it will be one of the best leaps forward your business has ever made.

The important thing to bear in mind is that lots and lots of people are online now. Many of us go online to get shopping or purchasing information before we decide to buy. Internet purchases are often cheaper than high street ones, so if someone uses their fibre optic broadband connection to surf the net and they find your store, they are very likely to make a purchase from it. All of which bodes well for the future of your business.

Fiona Roy writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.