I was recently reading a business related article when I came across the term, Portalnomics. Yep, it sounds like something from a Star Wars movie or at least something high tech or space age. In reality, it is just a fancy name given to something that has been common for many years in advertising. Particularly, this deals with the online advertising methods.

Let me give you a pretty simple example of it. AOL recently was given $21 million by Software.net for exclusive rights on advertising in specific areas of their website. They were particularly interested the areas that received visitors who were interested in general computing and ecommerce.

This is the class act of portalnomics. AOL acted as what is referred to as the “portal” site. They are, in theory, the site that should connect Software.net to potential customers. Software.net is hoping to grow rapidly through their business relationship with AOL.

However, you should not think that this option is only available for big businesses. In fact, there are a lot of business deals being made between small and medium sized businesses exactly like this. Regardless of what type of company you have, you should be able to use portalnomics to help your business grow.

For example, if you manufacture ceramic dolls, you might consider an arts and crafts company as a good portal for your business. They perhaps receive the same type of traffic to their website that would be interested in your product.

Do not make the common misconception that just because they are related that they will make great portals. There are plenty of arts and crafts stores that are not in a good position to be a portal. There are a couple of things that are required.

First of all, you should be aware of how much traffic they receive. A portal that does not have any traffic is like Conoco putting brand new advertisements inside a gas station that is no longer running. No one will ever see them, and the end result is that they wasted their time, effort, and often money in trying to advertise in a place that can not offer results.

Second, you should discuss with them what you are hoping to get out of the deal. Often times, by simply talking with potential portals you can get a test trial from them for a short period of time. This can let you see what kind of traffic you will be getting and often times, good portals are confident in what they can offer you if they see that it is going to benefit them in the long run.

Essentially, just do your research and be careful on who you use as your portal. Many small businesses are in such dire need of money that they will tell you what you want to hear in an effort to get your money. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Portalnomics can be a very lucrative method in building up your business.