The web is only getting bigger and it seems to me, that the it's becoming easier for the large search engines to squeeze more cash out of large companies, leaving small start-ups in the dust. So what can you possibly do? How can you create a new website, in this hugely competitive internet marketplace? Is all hope lost for small business?

The good news is, it's still possible to create a new web site, and turn your small business into a big success. It's harder than it's been before, but if you're consistent, you can still get your business up and running. Here are my tips on getting your small business up and running quickly.

Step 1: Make your website simple and content rich. You would be surprised how many people spend 90% of their time on building their web site, and 10% actually marketing it. Make your site simple. Use a simple HTML editor, a few graphics, and get at least 5 pages online. Trust me. Start small.

Step 2: Build links. You need to get links to your site from other sites. The number of links pointing to your site will ultimately drive traffic to it. Before modern search engines, links were the only way people could find information on the web. Modern search engines use the number of inbound links to your site as 'votes' to rank it's popularity. In other words, more links, means more votes, means more traffic. There are a variety of link building tools out there.

Step 3: Give people a reason to link to you. One of the simplest methods for getting people to link to you is to give them a link back for doing so. This is called reciprocal linking, and still works very effectively. There are softeware tools out there that will allow any visitor at your website to automatically exchange links with you once they add a link to your site on their site. You can learn about them at http://www.linkexchangemagic.com/reciprocal.html

Step 4: With your link exchange system on autopilot, you can keep addding pages to your site. Search engines can't see what people can can, but they can (and do) readily crawl pages and index text. So it's really powerful to add pages to your site. The more you add, the more often you will get indexed.

Step 5: Newsletters! If you have visitors at your site, you can offer them a newsletter. This is most likely one of the most powerful ways to keep in touch with your visitors. Simply offer them free, useful information, and build a relationship with them. You can't go wrong by giving out free information, and that information can be used to establish your reputation as an expert.

The tips I outlined here aren't complicated, but you would be surprised how many people don't follow these simple steps. Just try it for 3 months and you will begin seeing the return on your hard work. Remember all big businesses were once small businesses.