4 basics of creating an online presence for small businesses
Every business starts somewhere.
We’re here to walk you through the basics (and beyond!).
Marketing for small businesses should be simple. The goal is to be present online with clear information readily available for your prospective audience. Here is a list of the basics for small businesses to be present online and tips for how to improve in each area.
Have a Website
If you don’t have a website, do you exist? We’re kidding, but some may agree with us. We aren’t talking about a Facebook page or an Etsy store either. Your business needs its own domain name. Your website should contain useful information about your business, including where to find your products and content, FAQ, images, and videos of your products in use, along with your brand’s mission and message.
Tips to elevate your website
Make sure your website rocks. It needs to capture the attention of your audience, so it needs to load quickly, look beautiful, and function seamlessly.
Use Test my Site to see statistics about your site speed
Use Responsinator to see how your site looks on different sized screens
Set up Google Analytics as soon as you can, to capture data about your traffic and their experience on your website. Here’s how information from Google Analytics can be used to improve the functionality of your site. Carson and I are both certified in Google Analytics, so we can walk you through how to set it up, understand, and use the data (or we can do it for you!). Give us a call if you’re interested.
Add an e-commerce page to your website (if you haven’t already). Sending your entire audience to Etsy, where you pay commission, is equivalent to giving your money away.
2. Show up at the top of search engines
Search engines are interwoven into the fabric of our society. To be successful, customers need to easily find your business. People are searching for your product or even the problem that your product is a solution to. Optimizing your website for search engines will make it easier for people to find your site and therefore purchase your product.
Clearly label all fields in your website settings for each piece of content. Include industry-related buzzwords to reach broad search queries. Make sure your site titles and subtitles are informative and set up with the correct heading tags, to make it easier for Search Engines to crawl through your page.
Set up a free Google Business account to display your logo, location, hours, reviews, phone number, website, and additional information toward the top of the search page.
Enhance your standing in search engines through research
Go to several different search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, etc) and conduct multiple searches. Search for your business name, then try different phrases for your product, industry, businesses in your area, etc. Take note of where your page(s) rank compared to your competitors, and update or add content accordingly. Pay attention to the autofill search suggestions as you type in each search, and explore them. Google autofill provides insight into popular searches. The same goes for the “people also search for” box toward the bottom of the search results.
Google Search Console, another free tool from our beloved friends at Google, will show you which keywords your traffic is using to get to your site.
We use Answer the Public for insights on search engines’ trending keywords and questions.
3. Be active on social media
Social media is a great way to engage with your audience, learning more about them while spreading the message of your brand. By keeping your social media page up-to-date with valuable information about your business, you prove to be trustworthy and reliable to those interested in purchasing your product. Post frequently and consistently, keeping track of what works. Add to your story daily, and be responsive to any messages or comments from your followers.
There are many benefits to being active on social media. It is one of the easiest ways to capture an audience that is actively looking for your products. Social media efforts should be conversion-driven, meaning everything should relate to your brand/product and how to purchase it.
Take your social media to the next level by participating in industry-related online communities
If you organically engage with others in your industry, you’ll quickly capture the attention of an audience. By “organically engage,” we mean having genuine conversations with people that are talking about topics in your industry. Join a group or follow industry-related hashtags and experts. Try asking and answering questions, or give credit where it’s due. The more you engage with others, and the more they engage with you, the more the algorithm will boost your content. Learning more about social media algorithms can help your marketing efforts be more efficient.
4. Make it easy for customers to purchase your product
If people are looking at your website, they need to be able to purchase your product right away. Make it easy for them to do so by directing all website traffic to your e-commerce page. Your online e-commerce store should walk them through your site toward a purchase. If you are relying on sites that charge a commission fee (like Etsy), it’s time to add an e-commerce page to your own website. If you already have e-commerce on your website…keep reading.
Optimize your e-commerce page
Optimize the functionality of your e-commerce site by using Google Analytics to see where improvement is needed. Make sure each feature in the check-out process works seamlessly.
Optimize the content of your site by adding informational videos. Add a product-specific video to your product page to give visitors a clearer vision of the product.
There are many things you can do to make your e-commerce site even better, such as automated emails for abandoned carts, payment options, etc. Check out our blog about consumer expectations for small business e-commerce for inspiration on areas to improve.
To wrap it up
The basics are a great place to start, and taking the basics to the next level can be time-consuming. Research is our best friend, and we recommend researching ways to improve on each topic continuously as your business expands. We have knowledge and experience going through each step, so give us a call and we’ll walk you through it. We offer free consultations to anyone and everyone because we genuinely want to help small businesses thrive in any way that we can. Our services page lists price estimates and we offer free consultations for our services. Give us a call or shoot us an email today!