How to Promote Your Small Business Online

• Updated on: 2018-12-15
• Read original article here

The days of business cards and advertisements in the local newspaper are over.

Nowadays, the internet is the only place you should promote your small business.

And luckily for you, promoting your business online is often much more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods. Doing so also allows you to reach a wider audience much faster.

Here are four ways to promote your small business online.

This is the most obvious point on our list, but it’s essential to implement if you want to grow your business.

A custom-designed website does not merely need to look good and provide your users with information on your products and services. It needs to be an extension of your business.

If you offer products, then you should list them on your website. Integrate an online shopping cart such as WooCommerce so that users can buy online.

And if you offer services, then you need to include your contact information. Make it as easy as possible for users to get in touch and enquire about what you do.

Make sure that you’ve got accounts on all of the biggest networks. These include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Post engaging, relevant content on a regular basis. Make sure you do your homework and see what your competitors are posting about. From observing them, you’ll be able to see what works and what doesn’t.

Social Media Examiner has put together a great guide to social media for small businesses.

It includes info on coordinating your channels, sharing relevant content, creating a daily posting plan, and boosting your results using social media advertising such as Facebook Ads.

Pay-per-click advertising, also known as PPC, might be one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, but it’s still incredibly effective.

Google AdWords is the world’s most popular pay-per-click option, while Media.net, Facebook, and Advertising.com are other contenders.

Unlike your website or social media, pay-per-click advertising gives you control of your marketing budget.

If you want to promote your new hat company, for example, you can appear at the top of all search results for “hats.”

Then you’ll pay Google every time somebody clicks through to your website. It’s a cost-effective way to bring traffic to your website, and it can be incredibly rewarding when done correctly.

What PPC doesn’t do, however, is guarantee sales or engagements. Sure, you can pay big advertising agencies to drive traffic to your website. But you need to have an attractive proposition for visitors, or they’ll leave as fast as they arrived.

Make sure you invest in attractive landing pages and sales funnel techniques to convert visitors into customers.

“Content is king” is a phrase you’ve probably heard once or twice before—and that’s because it’s true.

The benefits of content marketing for small businesses are immense.

Not only can you create content that offers genuine value to your readers but you can also use your content to establish yourself as a go-to resource in your industry.

That way, you’ll drive repeat visitors to your website, which in turn could lead to repeat customers. 

Content marketing can take many forms. One of the best ways to implement a content marketing strategy on your website is to launch a blog and post content on a regular basis.

Other options include guest blogging on authoritative websites and posting content on websites such as LinkedIn, Medium, and Inbound.org.

You should also keep your social media handles updated with original content, such as infographics, GIFs and videos.

While it might appear as though it is expensive to promote your small business online, you can actually do so for free if you follow the right tactics.

Don’t forget, though, that you will spend a lot of time writing blog posts, keeping your small media channels updated, and working on your website.

This is time that you could potentially put to better use in other parts of your business—especially if you’re slow to pick up the basics of digital marketing or don’t have the time to do so.

Be sure to weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing your small business marketing to an agency if you can afford to do so.

But also note that the skills you learn marketing your business will be able to carry you through and enable you to enjoy more success as time goes on. Good luck!