posted by Amir

This is an important question for any business owner or online marketer, and one that isn't easy to answer. While some businesses will devote all, or nearly all, of their advertising and promotional dollars into a web strategy, most companies face a dilemma when it comes to finding the right mix: put in too little, and they might see sales drop off; throw too much money at finding customers on the web, and their expenses end being counterproductive.

A lot of advertising “experts” advise putting anywhere from 10 to 75% of your marketing budget into Internet ads and promotions, but they aren't running your company... you are. For most businesses, the answer is going to fall somewhere in the middle. Here are three questions you should ask yourself to help find out where that middle is:

Where are your current leads and sales coming from? It's never a good idea to stop doing something that's working, especially when we are talking about finding the money that's helping you make payroll, run your business, and earn a profit. Regardless of what your future plans are, take into account where you are leads and sales coming from at the moment and make sure that revenue stream will continue.

Where will future sales be coming from? Are you likely to gather lots of new buyers from the Internet? If so, then try to start moving more of your marketing expenditures in that direction, until you can either find a flood of new business, or figure out that the money would be better spent elsewhere.

How profitable is your online marketing effort? Every form of marketing or advertising faces diminishing returns at a certain point – people stop responding to more of it, or you just end up chasing customers that aren't worth the money. Monitor your online marketing expenses closely so that you can identify the point without going past it.