Search for “online business marketing” and you’ll be overwhelmed with millions of pages offering “the best ways to promote your business online.” Inevitably, some of those lists will conflict or present slightly different takes on the same technique. There’s a simple reason for this: there’s no science to marketing your business online, but there are techniques, and they start down at the design phase.Before spending money on attracting people to your site, you want to make sure that your site will be able to hold them once they get there. If you don’t have experience creating professional web sites, we recommend looking into a design company who will create and maintain your site for you. They should have plenty of experience in what works online, but your priority should be a site that’s simple and fun to navigate. That doesn’t mean overwhelming users with pop-ups or animationsin fact, most users prefer simpler templates that allow them to easily find what they want. If your site can do this, they’ll probably tell their friends.Blogging is a fickle but helpful way to attract users by presenting the “human and personal side of your business,” according to William Beutler, who works for New Media Strategies as a senior online analyst. You can use this venue to educate readers about your industry. The better informed they are, the more they should be able to see why your business is the only choicethat is, if you’re doing it right. Look at other businesses’ blogs for inspiration.Search engine optimization is the new buzzword for online marketing, and rightly so. The higher your page appears in search results, the better chance you have of attracting new users searching in your industry. Again, you can hire companies to work on this aspect for youSEO should be a full-time concern for serious online businesses, as the ins and outs of keyword recognition and linking strategies are always changing.Finally, stay in touch with your users. Offer a mailing list on your site and send out professional, informative, and short newsletters with information about current events in your business and industry. Don’t overdo it, and definitely don’t give away contact info for your customers, but use this opportunity to deepen the bond between your business and your consumers.