Tips For Taking Your Business Online – Build It, Optimize It, Spread The Word

Of the nearly 350 million people living in North America, 74 percent are Internet users. So it’s not surprising that this powerful, universal medium for information consumption, networking, and commerce has also emerged as one of the essential elements in almost every business toolkit.

But for many small business owners, the Internet is more than a tool – it’s a lifeline that has helped them survive and prosper through the current economic climate.

1. KNOW YOUR MARKET

Customers today want to feel like brands are talking directly to them. Consider the fact that:

• 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that personalize their outreach
• 72% only engage with marketing that is geared toward their interests

When you take the time as a brand-new small online business to learn about your audience, you can offer appealing personalized content from the get-go.

2. IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE

You can use their data to create a preliminary audience profile if you have customers already. Helpful data points include:

• Age range.
• Family status.
• Occupation.
• Spending patterns.
• Interests.

How you collect this information is up to you. For example, some new businesses like to go directly to their customers and survey them. However, it makes more sense to draw from social media marketing and use the analytics tools on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for other companies.

3. CREATE YOUR WEBSITE

Especially for an online small business, a visually pleasing, easy-to-navigate website is crucial. Keep in mind the kind of customers you’re trying to attract and what they want in an online experience. Should the tone be more relatable or informational? Are they mostly doing research online, or will they want to order products directly from your site? If you already have an existing eCommerce website, connect your store to Mailchimp to maximize your marketing.

Think about your customers’ needs while planning and designing your new site—this inherently leads to effective search engine optimization (SEO). When you know more about your audience, you can create the content they’re looking for, driving traffic and conversions. The first step is to use the right keywords to improve your site’s search engine rankings and get your brand in front of the right audience.

For your customers to find you online, you first need a domain name. When you buy a domain name, you want it to be memorable for your customers. Therefore, it should be as close to your company name as possible—an exact name or an analytical approximation if your business name is already taken as a domain.

For example, you might be the only Rick’s Pizza in your town, but someone in another state has already registered  rickspizza.com. Not to worry—you can pick something like rickspizzaboston.com or rickspizzarestaurant.com, and customers will still be able to find you.

It’s also good to get some of your keywords into your URL. Using a keyword in the domain name can help a site rank, but it’s not strictly necessary, so don’t force it if it doesn’t fit naturally.

Web design can be expensive—up to $10,000 even for an online small business. You’ll save a lot by using a tool like Mailchimp’s website builder that lets you customize and update your website. If you need to get your business and start selling online quickly, consider creating some shoppable landing pages to get started selling and building an audience while you’re creating your website.

On all of your landing pages, including your home page, you’ll want to create engaging content to help your site rank in SEO. Follow SEO best practices, such as hyperlinking to other landing pages on your home page. Remember to use Google’s keyword planner so your site will appear in front of the right audiences.