Under the ‘Stay Home, Work Safe order’, the majority of small business owners had to temporarily close their brick and mortar locations. Non-essential businesses are banned, but income still needs to be generated. The situation isn’t ideal and many larger companies are helping out, but the unfortunate circumstances provide an opportunity for business growth and new opportunities.
[bctt tweet=”Are you wondering how to start generating business online? Here’s how to increase your web traffic and ultimately start selling! ” username=””]
How to Improve Your Online Presence
The first and most obvious step is to register a domain through a web hosting company. Next, you want to design your website. The best way to get a professional business website is to work with an experienced web developer or web design specialist. But, if you don’t have the funds or resources, you can use one of the free powerful tools online to set up a basic site with your products or services and contact information. Once you have a baseline, you can continue to these steps:
- Get More Traffic to Your Site
- Step Up Your Social Media Profiles
- Start an Online Store
1) Get More Traffic to Your Site
As a local business owner, you’ve probably made countless connections throughout your community and beyond. Now, the question is, how can you get your current friends, partners, and family members to your site? Beyond that, how can you get new users–specifically new customers to your website?
Traditional social networking and word of mouth marketing are effective under normal circumstances. But, since you’re most likely working from home, you want to do this virtually. Digital marketing is critical as more and more consumers are turning online to get the goods and services they need. If you have no experience with online marketing, you’re going to want to study, watch courses, and learn as much as you can about marketing over the world wide web. There’s unlimited knowledge on the internet, you just have to know what to search.
Try the following terms and technologies as a starting point:
- Search Engine Optimization- SEO
- Google Analytics
- Pay-Per-Click- PPC
- Search Engine Marketing- SEM
- Pixel
- Domain Authority
- Bounce Rate
2) Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
Social media marketing provides a virtually free platform to listen and connect directly with your customers. Make sure your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google My Business accounts are completely optimized with your business name, logo, hours, company information, products and services, and frequent relevant posts. You can create a posting schedule to streamline your posts and get ahead.
Pro Tip: If managing multiple social media accounts for your business stresses you out, start small with one or two posts per week!
3) Start an Online Store
If possible, consider starting an online store. This can be as simple as product or service listings with a prompt to call your company to place an order or as complex as a complete e-commerce website where you can browse and shop from one place. Displaying your products online lets customers know that you have items in stock and ready for order. It also gives you an opportunity for better search engine rankings.
Conclusion
Taking your business online is no small task but a great project to work on while we’re all stuck at home. Start small and don’t give up! Remember, your website will never be perfect. It’s better to publish what you have to start generating traffic than to wait for your complete vision to come to life. You could be missing out on potential sales if you don’t get started now!
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