5 Ways to Promote Your Small Business [Infographic]

You came up with a great, unique idea and you have a product that you want to sell. You tell all of your friends and they all recommend that you start your own business! After taking the time to think about it, you decide you’re going to do it. You are going to start your own small business. You may be thinking, “Well, where do I start?” or “How am I supposed to get my product out there?”
Today, we’re going to discuss five different ways to promote your small business.

Build a Website

The first thing you want to do is build a website. Your website is your online storefront. A well designed website is essential for your business, whether you’re selling products or offering services. To get started on a website, you first need to decide on a domain name and a TLD, your top-level domain, such as .com, .net, or .biz. Once you decide on one, you will then purchase it through a domain registrar such as GoDaddy, Squarespace, Wix or Web.com. Your next step is to choose an established content management system to manage your website’s content.
This will allow you to manage your website’s content without significant coding experience. You’re going to want a platform with a large and growing user base because a large community means there is a large community of developers, agencies, and businesses contributing to the forward momentum of the platform. The primary goals of your website are to clearly communicate your company’s value and services, to stay relevant, and to update your website frequently with blog posts, current events, new offers and company news to keep consumers coming back to the site.

Optimize For Mobile

Having a website is great but you want to make sure that it’s optimized for mobile. To do that, you’ll want to use responsive design. That means that your site will automatically adjust when it senses the type of device it’s being viewed on. When it comes to mobile design, navigation should be your main priority. Making sure your website loads quickly is essential for a mobile user. They want to see things quickly, especially if they’re on the go. One way to guarantee quicker loading times is to compress your images.
Because there is a higher chance of your consumer being on the go when using their phone, make sure that your business is easy to find on mobile search engines by utilizing an effective SEO strategy. You’ll want to make sure that as much of your strategy focuses on the local user. When they come to your site, they’ll need to see your phone number, address, logo, website URL, and a short description of the company. Having as much of these above the fold is going to give you more foot traffic because they don’t have to spend time searching for the information. Having a good mobile site makes you more memorable.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media is the biggest and easiest way to get your business out there. According to Clutch’s survey, in 2016 alone, an additional 18 percent of small businesses plan to engage in digital marketing activities. And, by 2017 or later 70 percent plan to implement a digital marketing strategy.
Small businesses choose social media as their digital marketing channel of choice for 2016. Specifically, 73 percent of small businesses currently use or plan to use social media in 2016. Once you go online, anyone, anywhere in the world can find you. You can become global. The best part about social media is that you can use targeted posts and ads to reach people in certain geographic locations and people with certain interests, so you know those who are most likely to purchase your goods or services are seeing your posts and ads.
Tips for Social Media Marketing

1. Target your customers where they hang out on social media.
2. Don’t be afraid to sell direct online.
3. Use stunning imagery to grab customers’ attention.
4. Market to your customers how they like to be marketed to.
5. Hire a marketing agency so you can do more of what you love.

SEO

SEO requires a strong mix of many tactics such as web design, technical on page SEO, PR, content creation, link building, social media,claiming local listings  and much more. As a small business I would focus on some of the basics such as quality web design, a blog for content creation, social media, and local listings. Claiming all your local listing sites like Google Places is critical for local search, which is a cornerstone. One thing to remember is that Google has reduced its “Local Pack” from seven listings to three, so you need to make sure that you’re ranked well.

Start a Blog

Small businesses should take the time and effort to have a blog. This type of content will not only generate more leads but it will also give your consumers more to look at more frequently and drive more traffic to your site. Consumers don’t necessarily just search the web to buy things. They also go to look for more information on a specific product or service. Having a website that has general information is a great start but it might not be the selling point that your consumers need to buy.
Blogs are a great place to provide extra content, find your customers, build relationships with your customers, position your value and in the end, generate sales. A great tip to ensure your blog is reaching the right audiences is to add a share button to your posts. When a consumer shares your post, like-minded followers will see it and go back to your site! It has been found that 60 percent of consumers, upon reading a small business’ blog, come away with a heightened feeling of positivity about that business.
Blog Statistics

1. Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads.
2. 81% of US consumers trust advice and information from blogs.
3. 61% of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post.
4. 14% of bloggers earn a salary through blogging.

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Small Business CMS Platforms

1. Wix
2. Squarespace
3. WordPress
4. Bigcommerce
5. Shopify