11 Tips to Help Small Businesses Develop an Online Presence

12/06/2017

Developing an online presence for a small business owner can feel like it’s not worth the hassle. Creating a website sounds intimidating if you want to go the DIY route and can seem expensive if you want it developed by a professional. On top of that, once your website is up and running, it looks like you have to work twice as much to get noticed. But in all honesty, the only reason that it feels like that is because of choice overwhelm.

Developing an online presence does take some work, but the workload can be managed rather simply with use of consistency. Getting noticed online is all about producing quality and establishing relationships, just like you already do in your day to day business.

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Start With Your Website

Your website will set the foundation for everything else. It is the online home for your business and the center of your brand. Thankfully, setting up your website doesn’t need to hard nor expensive. Using a CMS like WordPress will allow you to get up and running in a matter of hours. Thanks to the sheer amount of themes on the market, you will also have a functional and beautiful website ready to go.

But your website is only as good as your hosting provider, so make sure your chosen hosting provider satisfies the needs of your website. Choose a company that has different hosting plans so your website can grow without the fear of being suspended due to traffic overload.

Grow Your Email List From Day One

A mistake many business owners make is not building your email list from the start. Don’t be one of them. Start working on your email list from day one. This will allow you to turn your visitors and readers into subscribers and then customers. Use an optin plugin to show your email optin forms and allow visitors to subscribe to your newsletter.

Get Mobile Friendly

The number of people who use a desktop or laptop to access the Internet pales in comparison to the number of people who use a smartphone or tablet. This is not limited to just browsing either, this also carries over into online sales. Another reason to make sure your website is mobile-friendly is that Google penalizes those who don’t conform to this standard. And if your website is penalized, it won’t show up in search engine results which hurts your online presence.

Start A Blog

Blogging as a small business is all too important aspect to ignore. It is what will help drive organic traffic to your website. Once on your website, the blog will play a huge role in converting visitors into subscribers and then into customers. It’s the way you let people know who you are and what you do. It’s also going to be the main reason why people will sign up to your email list. Starting a blog has never been easier so there is no reason to miss out on all the benefits it can have for your business.

Get Social

Social media presence is a must nowadays. Not only does it give you a place to share your content and what you have to offer, it also an excellent opportunity to grow your audience, cultivate relationships with your customers, and show your expertise. All of this will help you get more traffic for your website.

Get on the Business Listings

If your brick and mortar business is going to thrive, your target audience is going to have to know how to find you. Yelp, Google Business, and Apple Maps are all great places that you can list your business and get more visibility.

Set Up an Alert

You will want to know when someone says something about you. This helps you monitor your brand and respond in a timely fashion to your customers or potential clients. Once people see your name mentioned along with your reply, your reputation will grow and you will be able to focus on maintaining a positive online presence.

 

Focus on Customers

Your customers are the backbone of your business. Always lead with your customer in mind and go above and beyond to meet their expectations. Make sure to grab their testimonials and reviews and display them on your website. You can also share them on social media. Pretty soon, word of mouth will do its wonders and you’ll have more customers than you ever dreamed of.

Use High Quality Images

A picture is worth a thousand words so ensure that your website, your content and your products are accompanied by high quality images which align with your brand. Use them consistently across your website and social media to establish a cohesive online identity.

Open Up a Digital Shop

Even if you have a brick and mortar shop, consider offering your products online. Make it as easy as possible for people to browse your goods or services. An online shop will help you expand your market which turns into more revenue down the line. On top of that, because of your online and offline presence, you’ll be more recognizable, no matter where your potential customers run into your product.

Become a Presence in Your Community

It’s often said “It’s not what you know but who you know.” Building an online presence is all about building relationships, so take advantage of offline networking to meet others in your industry. Hand them your business card with your website on it and they are sure to visit you online as well.

Get Started With Your Online Presence

It may seem like an impossible uphill climb to get some online presence, but all the hard work is in making the connections and developing relationships. And if you want to see all your hard work pay off, consider investing in a powerful analytics tool to help you monitor your website’s traffic and your visitors. Having an in-depth overview of those stats will help you improve your website and stay on top of your customer’s needs.

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