So, youve decided to start your own small business. Youve chosen the products or services you want to sell. Now, you know its time to dive head first into marketing.

Many people mistakenly rush into this process without thinking it all the way through. You are so excited to get your new companys name out there and to see your web page start popping up on the search engine results pages. It definitely can be a bit intoxicating to see things you created on a medium available to the entire world. But this is where you must force yourself to be more forward thinking.

What do I mean? Well, the easiest way to get your site and your products out there is to just start getting links, links and more links. And of course, youll want to start running ads everywhere you can possibly afford to put them.

This is where my Green Eggs and Ham Theory comes into play. Now, green eggs and ham have arguably one of the highest name recognition factors in the world. However, how many people do you know that routinely make or want to purchase them?

What does this have to do with your product or service? Well, many experts agree that bulk acquisitions of links and ad placements are one of the fastest ways to get your site to show up in the rankings and searches. But what could they really cost you in the long run?

You must consider what the long term effects of these quick fix strategies could be and how much value to place on those effects. First, lets say that youve purchased the cheapest 500 links to your site that you could find. Now, are any of the sites those links are coming from actually relevant to what youre trying to sell? Are the audiences of those sites potential buyers for your product or service? Or on an even more basic note, are you even able to know what sites your links are going on when you purchase them? These are all important questions to ask yourself because the answers have a very real impact on the long term integrity of your site.

As far as purchasing ads, again the same principles exist. Where are your ads being placed? Do you know for sure that the sites are relevant to yours, while at the same time not your competitors?

It may be a lot more time consuming, but to be confident in your marketing strategies and the integrity of your strategy youre best off searching for relevant places to place ads and links.

If theres one thing Green Eggs and Ham can teach us, its that name recognition is not a surefire ticket to the top of the sales ladder. People must recognize the service or product were selling, and they must see it as desirable!