Is Your Small Business Online Savvy?

The online world is a fast-moving place. Some businesses can keep up. Others are feeling their way as they go. Many feel lost and can’t keep up.

But… You need to keep up! Because your audience is online and you need to be showing up in all the right places.

Let’s put this into perspective: The average internet user is online on average for six hours and 58 minutes per day (We Are Social & Hootsuite 2022). This is 40% of the average person’s waking hours. So as a small business owner, you need to know where your audience hangs out to get your brand seen.

So are you doing enough to market your business online?

Let’s take a look at four digital marketing techniques you can employ to start promoting your business online properly.

1. Take A Look At Your Website

Every small business needs to understand the importance of a website. If you’ve built it yourself are you sure it’s up to today’s high standards? And even if your website has been professionally designed, when was the last time it was updated? If it’s not had a makeover in three years, it’s time to upgrade. Because web design trends change at an alarming rate.

Put it this way, if you had a shop on your local high street, you wouldn’t wait months at a time to clear leaves from your front door, wipe away offensive graffiti, oil that squeaky door and touch up paintwork. First impressions count and if you want new customers onboard you need to keep up appearances. And that includes the virtual window into your business.

Just as many people will see your website, if not more. So avoid letting it become outdated, unsecured, slow and sluggish, and compared with your competition, irrelevant.

If you don’t have a website – get one! You’ll need a domain name and a reliable hosting provider. Plus a trustworthy web designer – that’s us, Cyber Sushi Design, just saying!

2. Optimise for Search Engines

Have you heard of search engine optimisation (SEO)? This is the process of boosting where your website ranks on search engines like Google. Imagine your website is only found on page 10 of Google. That’s ten whole pages of results that someone needs to scroll through to discover your business. That’s a lot of competitors a searcher will see before you show up. That’s if they even bother to click past the first page. After all, “75% of internet users never scroll past the first page of search results.” (Search Engine Journal)

With an SEO strategy, tactics are employed to help your website rank better. Helping you get more eyes on your website and stand a greater chance of visitors clicking through to your site. Of course, you won’t show up on page one overnight. But if you don’t invest in boosting your position you’ll miss out on traffic long term.

3. Get Social – Engage – Grow!

Love it or hate it, your business needs a social media presence. It’s a popular way for businesses to promote their products or services, target their audiences and gain followers for free.

There is an abundance of social media platforms available, and choosing the right ones is important. Choose too many and you’ll spread yourself too thin. This will make it difficult to find time to respond to comments and commit to a consistent posting schedule.

If you understand your audience, you’ll choose the right networks. And you’ll use appropriate hashtags to help your posts get discovered, ensuring people can find your posts easily.

Popular social networks for businesses include:

Facebook – allows you to create a Page for your business. Enabling you to connect with potential customers, share important insights and answer queries.

Instagram – is perfect for start-ups or established businesses. You can manage your page using hashtags to target your content and gain exposure.

LinkedIn – a great enabler for networking with potential customers, meaningful industry conversations or even collaboration with other business owners.

Tik Tok – enables businesses to create trending videos to make their business popular with the masses.

4. Your Content Matters

What is the one thing your website, SEO campaign and social media profiles need to flourish? Content, that’s what!

Your business needs to share company news, products or services, text, images, videos, infographics, testimonials and reviews; content to help promote your business online.

Content marketing will help you succeed across the digital playing field. These methods will support your SEO campaign, enhance your social media profiles and make your website an enticing place to visit. The place to go for an abundance of information that educates, entertains and inspires visitors.

Talk to Digital Marketing Experts

Avoid missing out on the opportunities online marketing can offer your small business. Connect with us to discover how you can gain customers and make more sales with a digital marketing strategy to transform your business.