Top Eight Tips to Get Your Small Business Noticed Online
Today, online-based businesses are becoming the new brick and mortar. In fact, even the traditional brick and mortar businesses have vastly expanded their sales and clientele by using the Internet as an extension of their business. In the information below, I will describe how to make your small business an online success by using eight simple techniques.
1. Website
The most important feature of a website is that it is well designed. If the design of a website does not capture the attention of the viewer, they will move on quickly. The design alone needs to reflect the style of the business and look like a credible website.
In order to reach the largest amount of visitors possible, make sure that your website is compatible with all web browsers, including Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. If your website is not compatible with a specific browser type, that cuts out a large amount of possible visitors to the website.
The website needs to be user-friendly, otherwise people will become frustrated. The tabs should be immediately visible on the home page of the website and should be clearly marked. Make sure that the important information about your business, such as contact information, is easy to find.
2. Content
Content published on your website should be relevant to your business. When the content reflects the interests of the business, it creates a brand. It is important to keep the content relevant to the topic and style of the business so that customers can become followers.
If your website has a blog or other similar posting forum, it is important to make regular contributions. Also, it is helpful to set a specific day of the week when the posts will be added. Customers will become followers when they are constantly provided with new information to keep them interested.
It helps tremendously if the content provided on your website is unique. Providing generic information that can be found anywhere will not draw loyal followers. Also, make sure that all content posted is your own, not plagiarized. This affects the way that search engines view your site and also could cause legal ramifications.
3. Target Market
As discussed above, it is important to brand your company. To do this, you need to pick a specific market that you are trying to reach. Direct advertisements and design of the website toward that group. For example, a website geared to teenagers will not have the same effect on middle-aged professionals. Design your website and content wisely so that you can reach your ideal audience.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Using SEO is a great way to draw attention to your website. Essentially, it makes your website more search engine friendly, causing it to be listed higher on the search engine pages. While there are many techniques to this, it involves repeating a key word or phrase in strategic places of the content. This is a great way for a small business to get noticed.
5. Online Marketing
As mentioned above, using SEO techniques is a great free way to drive traffic to your website. However, you can also pay search engines to display your website as a sponsored listing. This is a great way to improve visibility.
Additionally, setting up a page on a social media website is another great way to get free advertising. You can also use these websites to your advantage by purchasing an advertisement through one of these social media platforms that links either to your page on the site or the website of the business.
6. Social Media
There are a lot of different social media options to draw attention and traffic to your business. If set up correctly, social media platforms can provide free advertisement for your small business.
On Facebook, a small business can create a page where they can provide important information about their business and encourage discussion about the service or product. When users ‘Like’ the page, they subscribe to all of the updates from your small business. This gives customers an easy way to contact you, which is helpful only if you respond helpfully and promptly. Also, customers can post product/business reviews on the Wall as well as talk amongst themselves about the business, basically providing free advertising and testimonials.
Twitter is an easy way to share information with clients. In a short paragraph, you can Tweet important information to Followers. If set up correctly, your business’ Twitter page could accumulate thousands of followers, which draws traffic to your business or website.
On Pinterest, you can set up a page, then upload pictures of products to boards. Then, other users are free to share the images and add them to their own pages. This way, your products can circulate and reach an unlimited amount of other users, which is a great way to advertise for free.
On the pages for every blog post or product image, you should provide ‘Share’ buttons so that visitors can post to various social media platforms. If this option is readily available and visible, customers will be more likely to share. Also, have the links to your Facebook and Twitter account available on the website so that fans can Like or Follow your business.
7. Interaction
Guest blogging is a great way to drive traffic back to your website and to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Essentially, this involves contributing an article to another blog. When guest blogging, only do so for blogs that are focused on the same topic as your business. You want to be consistent when branding your small business.
When commenting on articles or blogs, it also establishes you as an expert and brings traffic to your website. Like with guest blogging, only do so for topics that are relevant to your business. Make sure that readers can link your comment back to your small business or website. Always write in a clear, intelligent manner so as to remain professional and credible.
8. Be Aware of Growth
After using the provided tips, it is important to track the growth of your website. Google Analytics is a great tool to track and analyze your growth. If you website or blog has enough traffic, you can even insert ads into your website so that you can earn money with each hit.
Lola Sosanya completed her Master of Science degree in Business Analysis and Management from Loughborough University, United Kingdom.
She began her Internet marketing career by promoting her own blog, Inspiretheentrepreneur.com. She noticed that many people wanting to promote their businesses through their websites were not able to achieve the desired results due to lack of proper Internet marketing strategies. It is because of her desire to assist organizations and individuals to achieve their revenue objectives that she continuously researches and finds new ways for improving website traffic that ultimately increases revenues for her clients.