It doesn’t take a global pandemic to realize the importance of an online presence for any type of business, big or small. Regardless of the current climate, we have been spending a lot of our time on the internet.
According to The Digital 2020 Report by HootSuite and We Are Social, the average user spends a whopping 6 hours and 43 minutes online daily, which is the equivalent of more than 40% of our waking time.
If you add to that the fact that 4.54 billion users now have access to the internet, you will understand why your small business simply can’t afford to go unnoticed in the online environment.
Here are seven tips that will help you increase the visibility of your small business online.
Become a SEO Champion
Search Engine Optimization is absolutely vital to any company looking to build brand awareness online. Thorough keyword research will drive the right traffic to your website and increase your ranking on Google’s Search Engine Results Pages.
But, in this constantly evolving environment, being good at SEO is not enough. If you are to reap the benefits and become a real contender, you must continuously check and adapt your SEO strategy, to make sure it stays relevant and up to date.
For example, using long-tail keywords will both address the matter of the increasing popularity of voice searches and help you stay ahead of your competition.
Use Blogging as a Tool
Building a blog and posting content regularly will not only help you rank higher in Google’s search results but also contribute towards creating brand awareness and brand identity.
The quality of the content is key here. By consistently providing your website visitors with valuable information, you will create a relationship based on trust. If you do your research and play your cards right, they might even share your posts on social media, which will further increase your visibility.
Of course, by doing this you will be playing the long game, as results will seldom become visible overnight.
Be Active on Social Media
With 2.6 billion active users in the first quarter of 2020, Facebook now hosts a third of the world population. At the end of 2019, Instagram was rapidly approaching the 1 billion users mark.
Each business is different and your potential customers might favor one social media network over the others, but you would be missing out by not tapping into this market.
According to this research, 57% of customers are more likely to buy from a brand if they follow it on social media.
Staying active on social networks will make you visible in your followers’ feed and, when they decide to buy, you will be only a click away.
Encourage and Respond to Online Reviews
Online reviews are getting increasingly important in the customer’s decision process, as this survey reveals.
The numbers speak for themselves. The percentage of customers who read online reviews is 82% and it takes the average consumer 10 reviews to trust a business.
If you also take into account that, of those who read reviews, 97% also read the businesses’ responses to them, it’s clear that you need to take action and be in control of this process.
So start incentivizing your clients to provide online feedback and use it to your advantage. Respond to negative reviews as soon as you can, ask for more information where needed, and turn the situation around. That is sure to provide your brand with credibility and consolidate your position on the market.
Use Google My Business
For those interested in reaping the rewards of local search, having a Google My Business page is essential.
Your online visibility will be directly linked to the quality and accuracy of your profile information. Make sure you’re not missing the below:
- Contact Details
- Opening Times
- Website Link
- Services
- Address
Make sure to also request ownership of your business profile, so you can rank higher in local search.
Don’t Underestimate Email Marketing
You might have heard prophecies about email marketing’s demise and come to believe them, but such claims couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Even with social media taking the world by storm, over 111 trillion emails are still being sent and received every year and that number is on the rise.
With an ROI of $42 for every spent dollar, email marketing is far from obsolete and must be present in any solid content marketing strategy.
And if you’re stuck for ideas, this Campaign Monitor study reveals that 72% of customers are more likely to open an email if it offers a discount.
Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices
With the use of smartphones on the rise, mobile search is becoming very popular. In June 2019, 50.71% of searches were conducted on mobile devices rather than desktops or laptops.
This means the user preference has changed and we will probably see an even bigger increase in the number of mobile searches in the future.
Such a change in user behavior has huge implications for SEO. According to this study, only 13% of websites rank the same on SERPs across different devices.
To top it off, there is research that shows that 21% of consumers find the lack of mobile optimization to be the most annoying thing about reading an email from a brand on a smartphone.
With all this in mind, optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial if you want to reach your customers online. If you fail to do so, your online presence will suffer and you might even lose clients.
The Bottom Line
Maintaining a strong online presence is a necessity in today’s climate. To do it right, you must stay up to date with industry changes and content marketing best practices while keeping in touch with your customer’s needs.
As long as you successfully perform this balancing act, you won’t have to worry about the online visibility of your small business.
