Turn Make Offline Business an Online Winner

by Andrew Bagel-Brown Business and Marketing

Whether your business is online or not, the online marketplace is already impacting your revenue, client base and potential business growth.

Whether you're a new business owner or have a well-established business already, now is the time to get online. Looking ahead, Joining the digital marketplace is likely to be the only way to maintain your competitive edge and grow your client and customer base into the future.

With more and more internet users relying on search results and online information to find products and services, the web is made for business. It's an ideal place to communicate and Transact as well as reach new markets.

If you've decided to bring your business online, here are five fundamental principles to a successful digital business experience.

Develop a Compelling Website

Whether hiring SEO services or doing the work yourself, your first activity should be to build your online presence with a clean website. The key points will be:

Deciding on a relevant name for your URL
Purchasing hosting
Building a clean, well-optimised website
Creating SEO-orientated content
Developing an email marketing campaign
Creating user-friendly content
Including a Call to Action
Ensuring compatibility on all devices

Your website should be viewed the way you would view any other real estate investment. This is real property, owned by you, with real monetary value.

So, make your web design is great and take the time to audit your site for SEO best practices.

Get Your Local SEO Set up Early

If you are going to deliver services or products to a specific location or locations, you need to get your head around local SEO for small businesses.

If you don't have the skills or the time, you will need to outsource this aspect of your online marketing early.

A local SEO strategy will help you gain traction in Google search results and will consist of:
Setting up Google My Business
Accurately completing your Google Business Listing
Populating available fields with rich images, video, contact details and business details
Verifying your listing with Google
Including location-based keywords in important areas of your website.

Develop a Network of Integrated Social Tools

Make full use of the most relevant Social Media Platforms for your business and begin to gather a following and start a conversation on these platforms.

Some of the most relevant would be:

LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter

You will also need to develop a deliberate, well-branded content strategy. This means you will want to publish to these platforms in a consistent way and in a way that is easily identifiable with your brand, style, tone, etc.

Set Up Your Business on Relevant Directory Sites

Directory sites are a good way of adding a link to your business website, showcasing your product or services and gaining more traffic, customers and clients.

Come up with a top 10 list of directory sites that are most relevant - and which are most popular. Here is a sample list.

Crunchbase
Yahoo
Yelp
Hotfrog
FourSquare.

It would help if you also looked for industry-specific sites where you can be listed.

These will not only help you gain exposure online (often for free) but will also help with your efforts to rank in Google's search engine results. In short, they will help build your credibility and your SEO.

Begin to Network

Networking online is a great way to build up your brand, find new client and customer markets and reach new demographics.

With more and more people relying on user-reviews, you will want to network with both customers and industry experts to increase your own online authority.

Some keys to good networking online include:

Don't sell yourself, provide support and expertise.
Give away your time (within reason)
Invest in new relationships on LinkedIn

Also look for complimentary, non-competitive partners to work with. For example, a hair salon might find a great ally in a car hire service - since they both serve the wedding market.

Look at ways you can collaborate and network with other non-competitive but compatible industries online.

Consider joining a forum where your demographic is gathering to ask questions. Quora can be a good place for this.

A few more things to consider when bringing or developing your business for the online marketplace.

Know the legal requirements in your region
Devise a clear strategy for developing fresh, well-branded content for your site and social media channels
Develop a complete online marketing strategy
Investigate paid media buys (ads) and compare this to SEO and other online marketing strategies

The key to coming online successfully is to do your homework before you start your journey. Avoid nefarious SEO companies which online presence or ability to contact is not clean, functional and professional. Develop a design and ongoing content strategy that is easy to manage, easy to navigate and easy to implement.

One of the biggest setbacks that a small business will face is ineffective - or defective - site technology. Consider used only tried and tested platforms such as WordPress and avoid putting your brand into cheap or free site platforms.

Talk to those who have already come online. Get into groups where you can learn about content, SEO and marketing strategies that lead to greater sales, more significant clicks and higher returns on your investment.

Taking these things into account will help you start out on the right foot and avoid many of the expensive and time-wasting pitfalls that small business often falls into when they first come online.