Reading Time: 6 minutes What To Consider To Develop Online Presence
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Online marketing and advertising can help your brick-and-mortar business to thrive. This blog post will discuss how to develop a robust online presence for your brick-and-mortar business.
We’ll talk about what it takes to make an effective website. We will also offer tips on increasing organic search engine optimization (SEO) with Google AdWords campaigns.
We will share tips from our own experience developing our online presence.
Table of Contents
Creating a Website
For your brick-and-mortar business to thrive online, you need a website. Your website is the best way for customers to learn about who you are and what products or services you offer.
Then, if they are interested in learning more, they can contact you directly through your website. This makes it easier than ever for potential clients to find out how much money they could save by working with your company!
You don’t want just any old site. Having a well-designed site that connects seamlessly across all devices will give people a great first impression of both your brand.
The site also helps promote whatever products or services you’re offering. It’s also essential that this information be easy to access from anywhere.
Most people research various businesses online before visiting in person.
A well-designed, responsive website that’s properly optimized for search engines helps people to find, learn about, and eventually buy from your business.
Google Ads Campaigns
In addition to a well-designed website, Google Ads campaigns can help you gain valuable exposure for your business.
Do you want to make money online simply by searching, shopping, surveys, or playing games?
- Account creation is free
- Big bonus on sign up
- Many ways to earn free money
- Mobile-friendly rewards site and apps
- Simple to complete tasks
- $10 to sign up
- Not exactly passive income
- Redeeming SB points sometimes takes awhile
- It isn't easy to qualify for all surveys
- Customer service isn't the greatest (or fastest)
These online ads are placed on top of the search results page when customers type in relevant keywords related to your company’s services or products.
So, for example, if someone is looking for pest control services around their zip code, then they will see an ad from you at the very top (and sometimes right next to) the organic results!
With all these benefits, it’s not surprising why people say “if you build it, they will come,” whenever referring to developing a robust online presence with PPC advertising.
The critical thing about Google Ads, though, is making sure that you’re targeting and bidding on relevant keywords. That way potential customers will see your ads.
Otherwise, you’re just wasting money on clicks from people who have no intention of ever doing business with you.
SEO Optimization
One of the best ways to increase traffic to your website is organic search engine optimization (SEO).
This means optimizing your site’s content and structure for relevant keywords to appear as the top result. The great thing about SEO for online stores is that it can be done gradually without spending on advertising!
You can do a few things to give your site a head start. First and foremost, make sure all of your web pages have unique titles and meta descriptions. These are the snippets of text that appear below the link in search engine results pages.
Secondly, include keyword-rich anchor text when linking internally from one page of your website to another. This will help Google better understand your site’s content.
Use high-quality images and videos on your website to help improve both the time and page views on your website.
There are also tools to help with SEO. We personally use Semrush at ChaChingQueen.
But the most important thing we have learned about SEO, is to just be helpful. Write interesting and helpful content.
Online Reviews
Understanding how online reviews can influence your search engine rankings is also essential. When customers are looking for a business in their area, they turn to search engines to read the latest reviews.
If you have great things about your company, this is fantastic news! However, if problems with your service or products need fixing, address them immediately.
That way potential clients don’t feel dissuaded from doing business with you because of negative feedback shared on review websites.
It all boils down to what people see when searching online. Even just one bad review could dramatically impact sales for any brick-and-mortar business.
Local Listings
In addition to all of this, your business must have a local listing in search engines.
This will help potential clients find you in their area when conducting location-based searches such as “pest control services [zip code]” or something similar.
While businesses can’t specifically pay for these listings (they’re free), there are still strategies that one should follow.
This could end up hurting you if specific keywords aren’t ranking well enough! Ensure your business appears at the top. To do this make sure that every website page includes information about where you are located.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a great way to increase your online presence while also strengthening your relationships with potential customers.
Today, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc., have grown exponentially, which has resulted in over two billion users worldwide!
These sites can be precious resources when used correctly. For one thing, they allow businesses of all sizes to communicate with clients on a very personal level.
This is something that would’ve been impossible years ago before everyone had internet access at their fingertips!
In addition, there are several ways that businesses can use social media channels like Facebook advertising campaigns or promotional tweets from Twitter accounts to help get more people through their doors faster.
Email Marketing & Newsletters
Email marketing is one of the cheapest ways to directly communicate with clients, which can be an invaluable asset to drive sales. That being said, this should not be confused with spam emails!
Sending newsletters or promotional emails that offer deals on specific products and services will help keep your business at the forefront of customers’ minds.
Plus, it’s another way for potential clients to find out more about what you do. The general rule here is “less is more.”
Don’t bombard people with thousands upon thousands of messages because there’s a very high chance they’ll ignore them entirely!
It also helps if these newsletters are sent weekly rather than monthly, as studies show many consumers prefer receiving updates every week instead.
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Blogging for Your Business
We’ve already discussed blogging in the context of search engine optimization, but it’s important to note that blog posts can also be highly effective when used for marketing purposes too.
For one thing, they help establish your company as an authority in its field. Secondly (and most importantly), this content has a genuine chance of going viral.
This could bring you thousands of new visitors in just a few days! Of course, nothing is guaranteed about achieving such excellent results through blogging.
After all, if everyone could get their articles shared by hundreds or even thousands, businesses everywhere would go crazy over them!
However, with patience and hard work combined with clever ideas, anyone should succeed at doing so eventually.
Website Design Tips
The website is the ultimate marketing tool for any business. That’s why it’s essential to ensure your site looks professional and functions appropriately!
The fastest way to lose potential clients (and even current ones) is by making a shoddy-looking web page that doesn’t load fast enough or provides visitors with all the information they are searching for.
However, if you’re serious about starting an online presence, you could employ other more powerful techniques, including SEO copywriting, so search engines favor your content over others.
If you’re still struggling with where to start, hiring a professional web design company to take care of everything for you might be worth considering.
Bottom Line
Developing a successful online presence for your brick-and-mortar business can be difficult, but it’s not impossible.
Using the tips mentioned in this article, you’ll be on your way to increasing website traffic and strengthening customer relationships.
You can also potentially drive more sales through your doors! So what are you waiting for? Get started today!
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Greg is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 22+ years experience in Financial Services. He has held numerous FINRA Securities licenses (series 7, 63, 65, and 66), and is an expert on Investment Products and Financial Planning. Greg has 22+ years experience as a real estate investor and degrees in Psychology and Philosophy.
Greg has been quoted/interviewed in Yahoo Money, Yahoo Finance, USA Today, Authority Magazine, Realtor.com, Business Insider, and others.
Greg is an avid runner, and the father to identical twin girls and their awesome brother. His love of budgeting and his kids led him to join The Great Resignation in 2021.
Disclaimer: Any Financial Tips on ChaChingQueen are general and informational. Speak with a professional about your specific situation.