5 Things You Need to Grow Your Small Business Online

You’ve got a great business idea and a great product. But are you promoting your business online? Customers expect businesses to be online -- it is a no-brainer in this day and age that you are going to need an awesome online presence in order to make sure you’re a success.

Here are 5 things you must have to grow your small business online, so that you stick out from the crowd and show the world why they absolutely must do business with you.

A Website

Digital marketing starts with a professional looking business website. Your website should not only look aesthetically pleasing, but it should be easy for customers to navigate around so they can easily find what they need. Nothing is more frustrating for a customer to find their way to your website only to be unable to find what they came there for (although, come to think of it, losing customers because of a bad website might be more frustrating!).

SEO

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It’s an important concept when you are trying to promote your business online – if you get SEO right, your website shows up very early in the results of search engines (such as Google and Bing) and customers are more likely to click on your link. It seems complicated, but it gets easier the more you deal with it. And thankfully, there are plenty of resources out there to help you figure it out.

Social Media

Most everyone is on social media these days, of one type or another. If you don’t have a social media presence you are missing out on an inexpensive, easy way to get the word out about you and your company. Yes, you can advertise on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but just opening accounts and consistently posting with them is a great place to start (and, it’s free). There are a myriad of ways to use social media: get on Twitter to announce that your latest product is about to hit the market; put a picture of a customer enjoying it on Pinterest; and then when the compliments start rolling in, post them on Facebook.

But you don’t have to stop there. Posting fun, cute content is a great way to build followers and customer loyalty, even if the content isn’t directly related to your company.

Patience

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you probably already know that it is important to have patience. This is true when you are building up your business online as well. It takes time to grow an audience on social media, and there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to SEO and upkeep of a great website. It is a marathon, not a race. You can learn as you go. The important thing is to get started.

Persistence

Have you ever looked up a website only to find that it seemed very outdated? It probably made you think that the company was no longer in business, or perhaps that they just didn’t care. Did you even bother going any further on the site to find out if that company was still around?

Once you set up your social media and website you can’t just forget about it. In order for you to get the most out of your online presence you have to keep up with it by constantly posting new, interesting, useful content. This not only keeps customers coming back to your site, but it lets them know that you are still open and anxious to do business with them!

The internet isn’t going away anytime soon. It can seem daunting to learn about the online world and how to use it to its full effect. However, once you get the hang of it you’ll find that growing your business online is necessary, very effective, and maybe even fun.