There are almost 32 million registered small businesses in the United States as of 2020. While large corporations have capital reserves to fall back on during recessions, local businesses must use every tool to succeed. As the world continues moving into a digital age, more and more companies, whether they be physical services like car repair or virtual services like construction takeoffs, have discovered the perks of getting active online. While simply having an online presence can help your small business, there are ways you can optimize it for peak performance.
Be Mobile-Compatible
The first way to optimize your online presence as a small business is to be mobile-compatible. Almost every adult in the world has a smartphone nowadays. These miniature computers do everything from sending emails to downloading funny images. When your website isn’t available on mobile, you miss out on a vast range of advertising and ordering possibilities. You can have a state-of-the-art website that looks visually stunning, but without mobile capabilities, you’re essentially shooting yourself and your business in the foot.
Along with keeping your online presence visible on mobile devices, you should also keep ordering accessible on mobile. Most people have their credit cards synced to their phones to make payments on the go. Because of the prevalence of instant gratification in today’s society, having a mobile retail cart built into your site will help you boost order numbers. When people don’t have to wait to purchase your products, they’ll be more likely to place an order. Many website creation companies automatically include mobile compatibility, but you may want to double-check that your site is functional on smartphones. By remaining mobile-compatible, you can improve your sales numbers.
Get Involved On Social Media
The second way to optimize your online presence is by getting involved on social media. 58.4% of the world’s population uses social media, and many people have multiple accounts over several platforms. That’s 4.62 billion people you can potentially advertise to with your brand. The beauty of social media marketing lies in algorithms. Rather than hand-delivering your advertisement to someone you think might like your product, the social media platform will automatically determine who is most likely to buy based on their past viewing history. If a potential customer has viewed products from your competitors, your ad will pop up in their feed without hassle.
Along with helpful algorithms, social media marketing allows you to communicate with your customers. One of the main draws of small businesses over chain corporations is the personal approach. People choose you because you’re a person, not a faceless company. When you’re active on social media, you can connect with the people that keep you in business. Whether your customers are giving you feedback or asking about product launches, open communication will foster loyalty in your client base. By starting a social media account, you can level up your business.
Stay Consistent With Marketing
The final way to optimize your online presence is to stay consistent with your marketing. All too often, small businesses launch their site or social media account and never touch it again. As technology and trends evolve, the style of the site fades, and customers don’t view it as often. Additionally, inconsistent marketing leads to poor product saturation, and clients don’t see advertisements. Rather than letting your hard work go to waste, stay motivated and consistent with your online marketing. Promote, update, and refer back to your online business components regularly.
Along similar lines, you may want to take advantage of trends in your marketing. While you may feel like your business is too good to use tactics like influencer promotion for marketing, those methods are successful for a reason. When you get involved in current trends, you help elevate your brand in the eyes of new customers. Young people will turn to your small business over others to spend their money. When you stay consistent and capitalize on trends, you’ll see an increase in revenue.
Overall, your small business needs to have an active online presence to succeed. With these tips, you can make this year your most profitable.
