Be you a plumber, a carpenter, a lawyer, an electrician, run a bakery, a florist, a mechanic, have a dental practice or be any other type of service provider you must have an online 'window' to display your offerings.
What would happen if a potential client looked for your business online right now, what would they find? Perhaps a negative article written about your business from the local paper or a negative online customer review, a website that hasn't been updated since it was launched or worse - nothing at all?
Many service related business people fall into one of the following categories where their online presence is;
- only their own personal social media accounts
- what other people say about their business without any knowledge
- a website that hasn't been updated in years
- nothing at all
Creating a business online presence is more than just having a website where people can read about your company, see your services and order from you. Its how a person finds, follows and connects with your business online.
10 tips to create an online presence for your offline business:
- Get listed locally on Google Places- Google Places local listings provide you with maximum visibility on the 1st page of the Google search engine allowing consumers to quickly find you.
- Get on the map- claim & optimise your Map listings on Google. At the desk, in the car & on the go Maps lead customers to your door.
- Put the word out through Google reviews- reviews & promotions are important ways to influence customers. Let them know how great you are!
- Get a domain name- Having a professional sounding email ending gives more credibility to your business than one that ends in 'hotmail.com' or similar which could suggest you're not a business to be taken seriously.
- Add video - videos provide a dynamic, interactive experience for site visitors. The engaging nature of video encourages users to spend more time on a page, thereby increasing stickiness and ad revenues.
- Get a website - not having a website can now make even the smallest business appear...well small. Give your customers the confidence that you're a thriving professional business no matter how many staff you have or the size of your premises.
- Do SEO - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an online marketing strategy to help your potential customers find your website in the search engines. SEO targets various aspects on your website (i.e. your content) and off your website (i.e. links pointing to your site)
- Start a blog - at the core of every successful blog is great content. If you're passionate about a subject like your business, blogging could be a great way to communicate this to your customers.
- Social media - it's the future and it's here now. Start with Facebook and then think about Twitter or LinkedIn if you think it's relevant to you and your customers.
- Everything else- you then get into things line Affiliate marketing, Text marketing etc etc, the list is almost endless. Get the other 9 in place before you even start to contemplate more advanced online strategies.
The key concept about marketing is to think of it like a Roman temple.
The roof is held up by pillars and the roof represents your business, and the pillars are your marketing efforts. You need several pillars of marketing activity that will support your business. If you rely on only one activity like referrals from local people, what happens if they dry up? Do you lay off staff as business declines, make less profit, possibly go bust because your regular routes to market dry up?
Hopefully not but you must use multiple methods to market your business so that if one fails the roof doesn't come crashing in.
© 2012 by Marketing Solutions for the Small Business - All Rights Reserved. Marketing Solutions for the Small Business has one purpose in mind and that is to show you how to start & build an online presence for your offline business. Through our small business focused site http://marketing-solutions-for-the-small-business.com we can provide you the knowledge to create a great Google Places business listing or even do this for you. We can create a mobile friendly website which you will then have full editing access to with our simple drag and drop website system. We also offer no fee website hosting for the first 3 years. For more information please visit our site.
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