If you own a brick and mortar business and you’ve done some Internet marketing then you’ve likely discovered that there are some great ways to promote yourself online – some for free and some for a fee. But can an online business promote itself off line?

First, let’s define an online business. If you do business online, even if you have a website that promotes a brick and mortar business off line, then you are an online business. The way I see it, your online presence is pretty much a business of its own. It may be a reflection of your brick and mortar business and be branded under the same image, but your virtual business has its own drive as well.

So for the sake of this blog post, consider your website and online business presence a separate entity from your brick and mortar store. Can you promote it off line?

Not only can you, but you should. There are some online business models, of course, that would not do well with off line promotion, but if you are a local small business with an online presence then off line promotion should be one of your major initiatives. When you run your TV and radio commercials, mention your website. Add your URL to your newspaper ads and billboards. When you give speaking engagements, mention your website. These are all legitimate ways to promote that website of yours and the payback is tremendous.

Whether you have an existing online business or a traditional storefront with an online presence, you will likely find yourself in situations in the real world where you’ll discuss your online business with people in the real world. Off line, that is. How do you take advantage of those situations?

There are a variety of ways to take advantage of off line promotions. One of the most powerful and effective ways is to simply put your web address on your business cards. People do read those and they keep them for future reference.

But I’d consider the business card a starting place, not a stopping place.

You’ll also want to utilize other ways of self promotion. You can use car magnets, which usually work while driving around town (and if you do a lot of driving a car magnet can increase your visibility tremendously), T-shirts, pens and pencils, banners at trade shows and such, and even billboards. If you have the budget for it, you might even try T and radio advertising.

The idea is to use off line methods of promotion to drive traffic to your website. This is perhaps the best way to get new traffic to a new local website since you are active in your community and doing business with local people. Become a master of off line promotion and you’ll see your online business survive and thrive.