Dean Kissinger, Negosentro | As much as the technology has expanded competition by increasing the availability of certain services, it has also helped us a lot by allowing greater and cheaper ways of advertising and reaching out to customers. There are numerous ways of doing this with knowledge and creativity being key ingredients, but if you are having a dull day you can always fall back on classics.
Do your research and come up with strong keywords
As a small business owner, you should be the one aware of the demands of the market. Use your experience and that of your staff to create keywords that will take all the hits on Google. Think of the way customers formulate their requests when they visit your business and interview people to see what it is they type into Google when looking for a business in your industry. Use Google tools to get an idea on how popular the keyword may be.
Be available to everyone
By available, I mean visible. With the number of mobile devices growing, the need for a mobile optimization of your website is at its highest. If your viewers end up having to scroll from side to side and zoom in to click on a link or see things written, the chances are that they will leave as soon as they realize what’s happening. If you are lucky and they are patient enough to stick around, which is really rare, they will most certainly miss potentially valuable information in scrolling left to right, and up and down.
Appeal to society
Use social networks to your advantage. Create profiles for your business, maintain them and update regularly with news, offers and interesting content. Make them feel close to you and more available than ever. Link the profiles to your website. Also, make sure your potential customers know what other people think of you. Encourage your users to comment on your posts and leave genuine reviews on social networks, where it is linked to an ‘actual person’, or a reputable review site from your niche. This will make your reviews and testimonials sound more convincing than if you had them simply quoted on your website.
Be a part of a network
Update a Google location so you come up on a local search for your area. See to find complementary businesses around you and see if they are happy to be linked to you (and your website), thus creating a network and offering a full service. For example, if you own a landscaping business, you can link to a real estate agency or home decorators or anyone else for that matter that could possibly be of use to a person who just bought a house. Have yourself listed in a local directory. The more places you can be found at, the greater chances people will approach you to do business with you, do not let them miss you.
Have a strong website
All of the things mentioned above have one purpose which is to attract people to your website, possibly with some idea of what your business may be. You have to seal the deal with your website, at least when it comes to creating an impression or an image of your company. Hire an SEO Reseller service, or talk to them about training or advice on how to structure your website and how to use the tags correctly. Make sure your content is updated and engaging especially if you are offering an ongoing service. You need to work on customer loyalty and you want them to go back to your website even if it is just for information. Be clear on how they can contact you and encourage them to ask questions. Answer the question publicly, this will help you maintain the relevance of your content and ensure that it will interest the readers.
Don’t be scared of what the Internet can do or confused by a number of opportunities. Do a bit of research and start simple, there will be plenty of time to learn and develop your strategy as your business grows.
