In recent years, most businesses have started going digital. Even if they run a brick-and-mortar store, these companies and entrepreneurs must have a digital presence. They realize how important it is to have a business website, social media profiles, and online visibility in general.
Web presence has become all the more necessary during this pandemic. As people get stuck at home surfing the net and doing business online, businesses must take advantage of today’s technology and digitalization. They can effectively use the web for their sales and marketing. When done correctly, it can translate into lead generation and even sales conversion.
If you’re running a small business, here’s how to boost your digital presence:
1. Create a mobile-friendly website
In recent years, having a business website for your online or physical store has become imperative. However, it’s not enough to have a website for your small business. Apart from being visually appealing and highly functional, your site must be mobile-friendly as well. That is where responsive web design comes into the picture.
When creating a new website or revamping your existing one, hire a web designer specialized in responsive web design. This design approach ensures your site works fine and looks good on various devices, whether desktops, laptops, or mobile phones.
As most people access the web using their smartphones, having a mobile-friendly website can make all the difference.
2. Employ effective long-term SEO strategies
With the saturation of websites and market competitors in the digital world, it’s not enough to have a business website. Your goal is to ensure that your target market finds your website online. That way, these potential consumers will see what you have to offer and hopefully get converted into real customers. That is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play.
SEO is one of the pillars of digital marketing. It involves improving your website, writing relevant content, and building backlinks. The goal is to get the top ranking in the search engine results pages (SERP). When you achieve a good ranking, you can drive traffic to your website, which can translate into plenty of opportunities for your business.
Remember that SEO is becoming more and more complex with the likes of local and voice SEO. If you’re running a small business, it’s better to find an SEO consultant.
3. Launch a PPC campaign
If SEO isn’t yielding positive results yet, you can try launching a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. Same with SEO, this digital marketing strategy aims to increase your digital presence by displaying your ads in SERP for your target consumers to see.
The difference, however, is that PPC is a form of paid advertising. As the name suggests, you pay the advertiser for every click. But this is all worth it, especially if you see different customers clicking your ads and landing on your web page. As long as you do the right thing, you can generate leads and convert these leads into sales.
4. Harness the power of social media
The latest report shows that there are almost 4.5 billion social media users across the globe. In fact, over nine out of ten users heavily rely on social media, whether Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, or YouTube.
So what does this mean to your small business? This implies that you must harness the power of social media. Doing so helps you reach out to a wider audience, boost your customer engagement, and build an online community of loyal supporters.
What do you need to do then? Be sure to study your target consumers, develop a buyer persona, and choose your social media channels. Then, create social media profiles or pages, strive hard to increase your following, and engage with your customers regularly. You’ll be surprised at how social media can help boost your digital presence and grow your business in the long run.
5. Consistently produce relevant and valuable content
Content is and will always be king in the digital world because most users are looking for it online. Whether consumers want to buy a product or hire a service, they will search for pieces of content that search engines provide. So if you want to boost your digital presence, be sure to create valuable content integrated with relevant keywords. Here are some content types to produce for your small business:
- Blog posts (articles about your products or services)
- Infographics (facts and figures related to your industry)
- Images (photos of your products, properties, or other assets)
- Video content (promotional clips or entertaining videos)
In this time and age, digital presence is everything. To boost your online visibility, be sure to have a website, use SEO, launch PPC, utilize social media, and produce content. All these will not only promote your brand and sell your products or services. They will also help you reach out to a wider audience and put your business in the spotlight. Ultimately, they will boost your profit and grow your small business over time!
