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This Small Business Week: Don’t Neglect Your Online Presence
Special to The Truth
If you own a small
business, you know that online visibility is one of the keys
to success. And these days, harnessing the Web is crucial to
any marketing plan.
“While most small business
owners know they need a strong Web presence, many of them
are not taking enough action to build and maintain it,” says
Tim Carroll, Vice President of Small Business Engagement at
Deluxe Corp., a provider of marketing services and products
for small businesses.
In fact, of those small
business owners who put a high level of importance on Web
presence, 70 percent spend less than one hour a week
maintaining it, according to a new Deluxe study. In
contrast, only 1.2 percent spend 10 or more hours each week
on their Web maintenance.
National Small Business
Week, May 12-16, is the perfect time to learn how to use the
Internet to keep your business top of mind with prospective
customers. And Carroll offers some top tips for maximizing
your company’s presence online.
• Interact: Since current
and prospective consumers use social media, you can’t
neglect this marketing approach. Social media marketing
isn’t just about gaining followers. It becomes a vehicle for
sharing your company’s message, as well as driving traffic
to your website. This will ultimately help generate new
customers and referrals.
Don’t be afraid to use
Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites to ask
customers for feedback and show your personality. Use calls
to action to acquire new followers, engage them further and
encourage reviews of your services.
Many small businesses turn
to consultants or social marketing services for help with
developing and executing a social media strategy. When
effective, these efforts will place a brand in front of its
target audience. Small business owners should look for a
service that also tracks results in order to gain insight
into how its customers engage online.
• Website: “Today, a
business without a website is a business without a face,”
says Carroll. “A clean, easy-to-navigate, and
mobile-friendly online presence is one your customers will
remember.”
Unfortunately, less than a
third of small business owners think they are proficient or
extremely proficient at maintaining their individual company
websites, which is why many seek outside help developing a
site and building content.
• Search engines: With 91
percent of Internet users utilizing search engines,
according to the Deluxe-commissioned study, search engine
optimization can be your key to better visibility online.
After all, a website is hardly useful if no one can find it.
Additionally, consider
search engine marketing services to help your online
advertising and to make use of local searches by more
effectively targeting your customer audience.
• Email marketing: Small
business email marketing is the centerpiece of any effort to
stay in touch with existing customers, while reaching out
and finding new ones. Use it to promote new items and offer
special discounts to loyal customers or to simply keep in
touch.
More tips, strategies and
information about marketing your business online can be
found at www.Deluxe.com.
Small business owners know
they need to be online. It just takes commitment and the
right tools to capitalize on the potential.
Courtesy StatePoint |
