A small business is a ton of work. And usually there are very few employees to be doing all that work. A lot of times there’s only one! This is where you should lean into the 80/20 rule. Here is the wiki if you’d like to read more, but it basically states that 80 percent of the return can come from the most important 20 percent of the work. One of the areas that sometimes suffers from just a lack of time, is the online presence of your business. The problem with that is, your online presence is where people find your business! So if you only have a certain amount of time to put into your online presence, what are the 5 things you can do to give you the highest return for your business? These are 5 easy ways to help your small business online presence.
1. Claim Your Business On Google Maps
Most people don’t know where they’re going when they get online to look for a business. Honestly, they go to Google. Then they search for something like: “Donuts near me”. (at least, that’s what I always search for) The key part of this search is “near me”. Your business may or may not exist already on Google Maps without you creating it. Google is pretty good at stalking new businesses. However, Google allows you to go claim your business on their platform.
This puts your business on the map, literally. And the key here, is that this brings you up when people search “near me”. You don’t even have to have a website to come up in Google Search if your business is claimed on Maps. This also allows you to upload quality photos of your business that show up in Google. You don’t want your only photo to be a grainy picture of half of your office sign that someone else uploaded! Similarly, you can respond to Google reviews customers have left about you. Claiming your business on Google Maps can take less than an hour and have HUGE returns.
2. Set Up a Facebook Business Page
Like it or not, the world is on Facebook. For example, 1.15 billion people log into Facebook every day. If you, as a business owner, happen to be one of the select few who haven’t given in, it’s time to suck it up. A lot of times, people feel embarrassed to put their business out in front of all of their real life friends. You are a business owner! Take pride in that! Now, at the same time, don’t be obnoxious about it, but don’t be afraid of your peers. Facebook posts can spread from your friends, to friends of your friends, and so on. This can give you that little bit of extra reach.
And again, setting up a company Facebook profile can be done in a few hours. A profile picture, some contact information, and a basic “about us” section. Share it out from time to time, and boom, instant marketing.
3. Input Your Company on Trade Sites
While Google Maps is universal recognition, likewise, trade sites offer local recognition. For instance, if you are a lawyer, there are sites like Avvo.com. If someone just searches for “Best Lawyers”, Avvo comes up very high in the search results. Taking a short moment to fill out a profile, put up a good picture, and write a small amount about your firm, could land you customers! Whatever your company does, just pretend you’re a customer who is Googling. “Best Roofing Companies”. “Best Financial Advisers”. The first organic, non-ad links are usually these new form of online yellow pages. You could spend just a couple hours searching, finding, and setting up an account on these sites. This will put your company if front of so many internet users.
Additionally, It gives an added bonus if you have a website. All of these profiles will have a back-link to your website, which will make your website appear higher in searches!
4. Quality Content on a Basic Website
While having fully built out website will usually give you a larger online presence, we’re talking about the most bang for your buck. Thus, a basic, yet quality landing page on your website will give you the largest part of your desired result. Most of the time for a company, this is a single page, that has the following sections:
- Who we are
- What we do
- Here’s how to contact us
It’s as simple as that. Now, if you’re a restaurant, your menu is included under “Here’s what we do”. As we’re going down the list these are becoming a bit more effort. Building a basic site includes figuring out where the site will be hosted, and making all the content. However, tools like Squarespace and GoDaddy’s site builder have made this a task even a non-tech person can accomplish. You can have a generally respectable website, with a couple days worth of work. Now, this doesn’t include making your site show up higher in search results. Therefor, think of this step as more of a review people read after they already know you exist. Search Engine Optimization, is actually our bonus step!
Bonus. Search Engine Optimization
Remember, our list has been ordered in greatest bang for your buck. At this point, we’re talking about something that will require a bit more work. It would help if you’re a little more tech savvy for this one. Earlier in tip #3 we mentioned pretending you’re a customer Googling things that might bring up your business. Well, here is where we take that to the next step. You can actually write your content around one of those specific searches. Now SEO(search engine optimization) is a rabbit hole that you can continue to go down for days. But, at that point, you’re probably taking too much time away from your actual business. In order to get the most bang for your buck, just keep a specific search in mind when writing your content!
Contact Us If You Want a Specialist
These options range from the relatively simple, to something that’s going to require a fair bit of effort. Building a bit of an online presence will not only help sell your business, but give it a legitimate home when people start to research you. However, if you’re not interested in doing any of this, or just want to leave it up to a professional, contact Brand Kahuna! We have experience in all of these options and much much more!
