Deciding what kind of online presence you want for your business
Online marketing is quite possibly the most important type of marketing for your business. Getting a website up and running and finding an online consumer base is equivalent to getting customers on the sales floor.
Here are a few ways to get things going, or boost your presence online.
Decide what you need
Before launching a website, you need to know what that website needs to contain. Do you need a merchant service? Are you planning to run a blog alongside your site or a newsletter? Some sites are read only – basically, people can look at your site and browse around it but not post, comment or purchase. These sites are far less popular, thus less likely to attract business, than an interactive site where people feel they’re contributing.
Make sure your content is good
Poor content and bad graphics are a big turn off, so make sure you get a decent writer or two and a good web/graphic designer. A good face will draw people in and good content will keep them there.
Try to keep your content up to date too – if you only post or update your site every two or three months, very few people are going to want to revisit your site.
Compare
There’s nothing to say you can’t model your website after Ana Heart Yoga Store. Point out some of your favorite aspects to your web designer so they can model the same thing for you. You could even get the same design company to do your site for you.
Social Media
Keep up with social media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – it’s a great way to stay visible to your target market. It also makes it really easy for you and your customers to share new products and services, promotions and competitions.
Optimize your content
On your own site’s posts and others, using the right links and keywords makes your site easier to find. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) increases your natural or “organic” rank in a search engine, meaning your website is more likely to show up in the first few results, rather than the last few, without you having to pay to get it there.
Mobile Friendly
Even when they’re looking for products and services or doing business online, a lot of people use their smartphones. Make sure your website is mobile friendly or has a mobile version. If you want to do the thing properly, you could even set up an app for your business.
Be Responsive
Everybody loves a people person, if your company comes across the same way, people will want to use your company. Respond to comments, answer emails and queries, if your customers feel like they’re being cared for, they’ll be loyal to you over a rival company.
Market Smart
Finally, there are a lot of online marketing strategies out there, not all of them will work for your business. Work out what does and make it a priority.