In today’s highly technologically commercialized and exceedingly competitive world of ecommerce, it isn’t enough for small businesses to simply own a site that looks good and does exactly what it is supposed to do – no matter how much is put into its design or programming.
Business owners, especially if they are small to medium sized, cannot afford to sit back satisfied with their online presence. Like it has always been in the marketing world, they should go out to their clients and reach as many people as they can if they are to succeed and even stay ahead of their bigger and better established competitors.
It is critical that they keep pushing their sites out into the world and exposing them to as many visitors as possible. This will increase the chances of their being viewed by a larger audience which in turn can then, hopefully, be converted into paying clients and returning customers.
But how exactly can small businesses enhance their online presence? To answer that, here are some methods they can adopt to achieve that purpose:
Keeping an Ear to the Ground…
…and reacting as soon as possible. It is easy to set up Google alerts, for example, to keep track about what it being said about either a business specifically or the goings on in the industry it is in. Businesses can use their names as keywords to have links to sites that mention them sent straight to their inboxes.
Crucial upon receipt of bad news (negative reviews, slander etc) is the reaction that is taken to assuage dissatisfied clients (should it be the case) and the countermeasures to set straight facts and records that are not true – even if it means heading to court.
Listening to Customers and Clients
The customers know what they want and it would be a grave mistake to assume businesses know it better than they do. A smart business will take everything their customers (or even those of competing businesses) to heart and act upon their wishes.
In fact, analyzing what customers say or suggestions they make could lead to an innovative approach of delivering services to them that no one has as of yet considered. This could be a huge leg up and advantage over much larger competitors who could see their customer base shift to the new way of doing things.
Projecting Success and Profitably
Everyone loves a winner, or so the saying goes. One thing is for sure though: people would rather work with a business that has a proven track of financial wizardry, longevity despite hard times and the ability to overcome obstacles thrown in its path.
Businesses should push any achievements they have attained and put them where they can be seen by everyone. It boosts confidence and trust – two things that are critical in creating a strong and long-lasting bond between businesses and their clients.
To be taken into consideration are things like: new products and inventions, recent acquisitions, awards for excellence in service or from winning competitions, recognition from acclaimed and influential institutions and even healthy year-end fiscal reports.
Getting on a Map
Most of the customers that small businesses cater to come from within the community they themselves are located in. It would therefore make a lot of sense if everyone in the surrounding community could figure out where to go to if they wanted to transact with them on a more personal level.
The best way of doing that is by placing a map that shows everyone where they can go to meet the actual people that are behind the website. All the major search engines – Google, Yahoo! and Bing included – offer free sign ups to their map applications. It would simply be too reckless to not take advantage of them.
Riding the Coattails of Bigger Businesses
A great way for a business to get exposure is by being seen in the company of another one that already has it: a bigger, non-competitive business that has already earned the respect of its clients and customers. The relationship needn’t only be about advertizing agreement, though. Two businesses can partner to work on a project, agree to exclusively use each other’s services etc. and then announce it to the world.
With the larger audience the bigger company has, the smaller business can reap the curious (and envious) queries that are channeled through the former’s website.
Not Ignoring the Old Ways
Apart from all the points mentioned above, businesses shouldn’t forgo the “old, true and tested” ways. They should keep updating their content on a regular basis, sharing news and information on social media networks and blogs, working and expanding on an SEO strategy as well as continuously and consistently being the source of value-adding information and services that can be released via newsletters and emails.
The old methods should actually form the base from which businesses launch and build their attempt at enhancing their online presence – because they still work very well.
So, on a final note, when businesses choose to implement the methods listed above they should also make sure they keep track of any progress (or otherwise) that is being made by monitoring numbers pertaining to things like increase/decrease of visitors, rise/drop of sales and profits made/lost through online sales. This will help in further fine-tuning them to produce better results.
