You may recall a wrote an article recently called, Promote Your Local Business Online and Pull in the Profits. This article is a follow-up to that one which goes a little more into the “how” to get your business online.
Simple steps to get your local business online
1) Get a website – This is relatively simple these days. There are many applications free and low-cost that allow you to create a decent website without having any web design skills. You don’t have to aim for bells and whistles at this stage. Actually, a simple website could work to your advantage. As a small business owner or service professional, your clients need to get a sense that you are accessible. If your website has too many bells and whistles, no personal touch, they may not feel that you are accessible.
My favorite tool for creating simple, yet professional and client-attractive websites is WordPress.org. This is a free platform that is basic out-of-the-box, but can be greatly enhanced with various plugins and widgets (mostly free as well).
2) Establish Social Media Profiles for your business – Get social media profiles for your business which will kickstart your relationship building activities with prospective clients. I recommend the foundational profiles, which are: Facebook Business/Fan Page, Twitter, YouTube and a LinkedIn Personal and Company Page. If you already have logos, brand colors/image, upload these to your profiles. However, if your budget is low in the beginning, just create the profiles without branding. You can always add the branding component later. Be sure to have the same company bio, short and long version where possible across all the profiles.
3) Start establishing yourself as an expert – This can be done by various means. Start with blogging/article writing for your own website on a weekly basis. Submit articles to prominent article directories like Ezinearticles.com Seek out guest blogging opportunities on industry sites that your prospective clients are likely to visit. Continue to establish yourself as an expert by creating videos for your YouTube Channel. Create how-to videos, answer reader or prospective client questions or frequently asked questions. Be as creative as possible, be authentic and don’t try to be perfect. Don’t aim for TV anchor quality, just tasteful, professional and just be yourself.
4) Start building an online email list by offering a free download with an optin form on your website – Create a free report, free ebook, free email ecourse, video series, audio or combination of the above. The idea here is to invite people to sign up for your email list and get your “freebie” in return. Be sure that the topic of your “freebie” is related to your service. Your ideal client will subscribe. From there you can start sending regular emails in the form of a newsletter. Add a personal touch with each one. Give your email list a chance to know, like and trust you. So when you make offers, introduce new products or programs, your sales conversion rate will be good.
This article is not exhaustive. However, there are many more here on the site that talk about different aspects of establishing and building an online presence for your business. I actually help my clients to get their business online and optimize their presence to attract their ideal clients and pull in the profits. If you are serious about using online tools to grow your business too, feel free to schedule a “Get More Clients” session to see how I may be able to help. Click here to set up your session now.
Speak Your Mind