Building an internet presence for your small business

Building an internet presence for your small business

As the world and technology begin to evolve, we have more opportunity than ever to make your business available to people from all over the world. The world can be your customers. It’s important that small business owners begin to take advantage of the opportunities online and create a strong internet presence for their business. We understand that building an internet presence can be confusing, daunting and frustrating for business owners who might not be the most tech-savvy. There are so many different options and avenues out there so we have broken it down to help you find the right medium for your business.

Create your own website

The key to making the most of the web is making your business as accessible as possible, letting people interact with you in a way that suits them, whenever they want to. People expect to find your business online, so it’s important that you begin by building a website for your business. Don’t worry too much about other social media platforms just yet, and let’s focus on the flagship store for your business which is your website.

If you’re looking into building your own website, then you will find after research that one of the best platforms (and we agree too!) is WordPress. You can do just about anything with WordPress. From building an online store, creating a portfolio, making a blog and content site to even building an affiliate site. There’s so much possibility with WordPress. In our experience, we know that WordPress is the best platform to use as its a super flexible and trusted platform. Over 25% of all websites online are powered by WordPress. This is why we use WordPress here at SaneChoice when building websites for our customers as it’s affordable, fast and scalable for our customers need. Want to get your business set up with its own website? We can help you today, so just drop us a line here!

Investigate and Leverage SEO

Once you have a website, it’s important that it can actually be found by search engines. Around 89% of consumers use search engines to research a product, service or business before making a decision. So, knowing this knowledge, it’s crucial you leverage the opportunities that search engine optimisation can do for you. So, why is it so important to take advantage of SEO? Well, as mentioned previously, people like to research online and users tend to trust search engines and their recommendations. Websites that appear higher on the results page are more likely to receive traffic. If your website is in the first page of results on any search engine, you are more likely to have organic traffic to your site which can result in genuine sales or following. SEO is an ongoing process. It’s crucial you are always updating your site when needed. Search engines love new content. Think about what your customers would like to see on your website and this too can bring in organic traffic. A good thing that website owners do is start a blog for their site. Blogs can work wonders for your SEO, so it is worth considering.

Set Yourself Up On Social Media

Not only is it important to have your own website, business owners are now understanding how important it is for their business to be present on social media platforms. Being present on social media improves your chances of generating additional revenue and building customer loyalty. Businesses can use social media as a point of contact for customers and can be primarily used for this purpose, so it is important to be present on a few different platforms. It allows customers, potential customers and other interested parties to engage easily via a channel that plays an important role in their everyday lives. Although, being present on social media might not suit every type of business, however, it is worth looking into your options.

There are so many platforms that you can be active on. However, research is key. Find out the different features on each platform and decide if they will work best for your business and if they could help with interacting with your customers or could help you increase revenue. The most popular platforms being Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest to name a few. Instagram, for example, is a photo sharing network. This platform would work well for businesses who rely on selling eye-catching products. It’s important you find out the right platform for you. If you need more information regarding this topic, then read our other blog post which talks more about why it’s important to have a social media presence.

Build relationships and BE PRESENT.

As important as it is to have your own website and have your business set up on social media, the next important thing you need to be doing is actively building relationships with your customers and other business owners. In relation to your customers, this means you need to be interacting with their feedback, questions and enquiries on a daily basis. With other businesses, interacting with other businesses and their owners via social media can really help you be seen in your industry. Be active in getting involved in your business niche on Twitter, talk to other business owners, ask for advice, read what they publish, publish your own thoughts, interact and engage with different discussion happening with the community. Soon, you will see that you can easily become the go-to person regarding in your community. Along with building professional relationships with other business owners, building meaningful relationships with your customers will go a long way. Interaction with real human beings is increasingly scarce in the online world, so customers really value a business who values their customers and interacts with them in a meaningful and authentic way. Building this connection with your customers helps you stand out as people start to see you as being active and present online. It takes time to do this, however it is a worthwhile and necessary investment for your customers and your business.

If you have any other questions about how you can increase your business’s presence online, then tweet us at @SaneChoiceLtd, we’d love to talk to you!