Introduction: If you’re a business owner and you’ve never considered expanding your online presence, you need to start thinking about it. While brick-and-mortar businesses have been around for hundreds of years, in this day and age, there’s no reason not to expand your business into the digital realm. In fact, if you want your company to stand out from the crowd (not to mention grow), then an online presence is essential.
Create a clear brand and tagline
A brand is a way for you to differentiate your business from others. It’s how you communicate who you are and what value you offer the world. The more consistent, memorable and unique your brand is across all of your marketing channels, the easier it will be for people to recognize who you are and what value they can get from doing business with you.
When communicating your values through branding, it’s important not to confuse being “you” with being “uncool”. This also means not having too many rules about how things should look or feel – this can lead to an overly formalized style that doesn’t match the personality of either the company or its customers (or both).
A good tagline can help stand out in a crowded market space by providing clarity around what makes one company different from another (e.g., “We’re better at X than anyone else”). A tagline should feel personal but also convey confidence: if there’s any doubt about whether something works well together then consider rethinking it until there aren’t any doubts left!
Build website traffic
Targeted traffic: The most effective way to build site traffic is by targeting specific keywords that are relevant to your business and industry. If you search for “makeup tutorials” on YouTube, there are over 8 million results—but if you search for “how to apply foundation” or “best liquid foundation for dry skin” there are only a few hundred thousand of those searches.
This means that when people search Google (or another search engine), they can find what they’re looking for much more quickly than they would if they looked at the entire index of all videos ever posted online! You want to narrow down the field so people searching in the future will land directly on one of your videos instead of having it buried among millions of other results that don’t apply directly to their needs or interests.
Build an email list
Email is still a powerful marketing tool. It’s the best way to communicate with your customers, and it can send out newsletters, discounts and exclusive offers that keep people coming back for more. In fact, studies show that email marketing has had an average ROI of $38 for every dollar spent on it. So what are you waiting for? Build an email list of people who are interested in your product or service and start sending them promotional emails today!
Advertise with search engines
There are a lot of ways you can advertise your business online. Some are better than others, and some will cost you more money! But the best way to advertise is with search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! (They’re not really called “search engines” anymore—they’re called “marketplaces,” but that’s boring!)
You can also use Facebook ads, Twitter ads or LinkedIn ads to get people to come to your website. These work especially well if you can get someone else who is popular on these platforms (like an influencer) promoting your products for free by using their social media accounts!
However, there’s one type of ad that is both cost effective and performs very well: Instagram advertising. The reason why it works so well is because Instagram users tend to be younger people who are interested in buying things through their mobile devices while they’re out shopping. That’s why Instagram has become one of the most important social media channels for making sales as a small business owner!
Get found in local searches
Now that we’ve covered how to get found in the big search engines, let’s talk about how to get found in local searches.
Local search engine optimization (LSEO) is about optimizing your website for local keywords, which are often shorter, easier to spell and pronounce than their national equivalents. The most common types of local searches include:
- Locality or city name + keyword-for example “pizza places near me” or “best pizza delivery in Chicago.”
- Zip code + keyword-for example “gyms near 60611.”
The good news is that you can find these keywords using one simple tool: Google Keyword Planner! The bad news is that it doesn’t tell you what they are; it only gives you a range of expected monthly searches per keyword phrase (e.g., between 5,000 and 50,000). But if your business has a geographic focus—like a pizzeria or fitness studio—this information will help guide where you focus your efforts on generating reviews and creating citations for local listings (more on this below).
Develop quality content
The second important part of creating the right environment to grow your business is creating quality content. Quality content means that you are providing information that people find useful and valuable. You can write about anything, but it has to be of value to them so they will come back for more.
The first step in creating quality content is understanding who your audience is and what they want from you. What do they want? If you don’t know, ask them! Then write about it!
Your readers will know if you’re writing with any other agenda than being helpful to them. Be authentic in your writing and focus on connecting with them as people rather than bragging about yourself or promoting something else (like an event).
Blog about your business
- Blogging is a great way to build trust with your customers.
- Blogging is a great way to build relationships with your customers.
- Blogging is a great way to help your customers solve problems.
- Blogging is a great way to build your brand.
Promote your business through social media
When you use social media to promote your business, you have the chance to connect with customers in a way that’s not available in other channels. This can be as simple as posting relevant links on Facebook or as extensive as running a campaign on Twitter.
However, it’s important not to just post and run—you should engage with your audience! Responding to customer questions or comments is one way of doing this, but you could also create opportunities for people to interact with each other by hosting contests or holding Q&A sessions.
Encourage online reviews
- Encourage online reviews. If you want to attract new customers and increase your business, make sure you’re getting as many positive reviews as possible. Look into platforms like Yelp and Google My Business; they allow you to build up a profile that helps potential clients find you.
- Respond quickly to negative reviews. Even if someone leaves a review that’s less than complimentary, respond with kindness and professionalism. If the customer has a legitimate complaint, thank them for bringing it up so it can be addressed—and don’t be afraid to offer refunds or discounts in return for their time spent giving feedback on your business!
You can expand your online business by focusing on your customers and quality content
To grow your online business, you need to focus on your customers and quality content. Customers are the most important part of any business, but they’re also the most difficult to keep happy. Quality content is also very important because it can help you attract new customers and retain old ones.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to grow an online business. You don’t need to do everything at once or even all of them at all. The most important thing is to start with one or two that suit your needs and work from there.
