You’ve worked hard on your business, putting in long hours, doing every job in your business – you’ve LIVED your business. And as your business grew, you were smart and started delegating tasks to others that either you knew weren’t in your wheelhouse, were taking up too much of your precious time, or that you just didn’t want to do.
Maybe you’ve always had enough word-of-mouth referrals. But lately you’ve noticed that you would like to have even more business. You’re doing print advertising which is working great, but you realize that in today’s market you also need to be found on the web or your competitors will take your business. Where do you start?
Following are the top ways to get found on the web:
1. Have a website.
Seriously. You need a website. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a website, either, unless you want lots of bells and whistles which we don’t have time to get into here. But do yourself a huge favor – talk to a couple of different web designers before you make a decision, and ask the right questions.
2. Social Media.
While there are plenty of social media sites out there, if you’re just starting out, you should stick to a few sites so you’re not overwhelmed at first. And different sites are better for different businesses; find out where your customers or clients go the most. If you have no idea, you should consult with a marketer.
Facebook
Create a business page to interact with people so they get to know you and your business. There are over 1.23 billion monthly active Facebook users, a 16% increase year over year. As of January 2014, there were 82,000,000 males and 96,000,000 females worldwide; 180,000,000 total in the US alone. Post events, specials, tips – whatever you or the business does that’s noteworthy.
Twitter
Interact, retweet, post valuable tips and information – talk to people! As of February 5, 2014, there were 241 million monthly active users, 184 million mobile monthly active users. Twitter may or may not be for your business; but if you feel those numbers can’t be ignored, give it a try – and by try, you’ll need to try for at least 6 months to establish an audience. You will need to get someone who knows Twitter to help you out if you’re new to Twitter; there are many unsaid ‘rules and regulations’ that you will need to follow if you want to be heard.
LinkedIn
Think of LinkedIn as your job interview while setting up your profile; create a separate business page, make sure you are using your keywords in your summary, join and participate in groups, post regularly. There are 277 million LinkedIn users as of February 2014. While it is very important for every business owner to have a profile in LinkedIn, there are some businesses that will really not benefit as much as others. Retail businesses, for example, won’t benefit as much as a sales professional.
Instagram
Post pictures of your business, your products, your team. Having gone from a trendy iOS-only app to a massive social network and with Facebook’s pocketbook behind it, it’s going to grow. There are currently 150 million active monthly users in Instagram.
Google+
Post, +1, share, create a hangout. Google+ can’t be ignored – because it’s Google. It was reported that as of October 2013, there were 300 million monthly active users with 20 million unique mobile monthly users. It’s interesting to note that 94% of the top 50 US law firms have a Google+ page.
Pinterest
Post pictures with comments, videos, items for sale, have people see who you are by your interests and likes. Recent statistics show that Pinterest is now more popular than Twitter; women are more likely to use Pinterest than men. Conversion rates are 50% higher on Pinterest than from other media sites.
YouTube
Post videos about items, tell stories, how-to videos. There are 1 billion unique visitors monthly on YouTube with 100 hours of video uploaded every minute. Videos don’t need to be professionally done; take clips on your smartphone, post and make sure the description is optimized!
3. Blog.
Yes, you really should blog. Repurpose articles from your newsletter in a more informal, discussion-based format, and you’ve got your blog post. Writing not your thing? Hiring a VA copywriter is a good option. The real reason to blog? To increase your website’s organic search rank for targeted keywords. And you’ll need to keep blogging for it to work effectively; it’s a marathon, not a sprint!
4. SEO.
Search engine optimization is what it’s all about. I could write an entire article on this alone; but for now I’ll just say that you should find an SEO company that knows what they’re doing and takes the time to do it the right way. It took me four years to find my SEO team, and it was well worth the wait. But a few tips that will help without rolling out the big guns and $$’s, content is still king. Social media, regular helpful content targeted at your audience, and keeping fresh content on your website will all help with your rankings.
These are the Top 4 ways to be found on the web; there are many more. Take the time to learn your business’ demographics, research what social media sites will be best for your business, keep your website fresh, blog, implement SEO and your business will thrive on the web.
Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC info@ptconciergeservice.com http://www.ptconciergeservice.com
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