Struggles of a Small Business Owner

I often deal with small business owners that are struggling with marketing their businesses. A big challenge is understanding that you can not just get a website, put it on the web and wait for business to follow.

The website should be a core piece of your marketing as it needs to be a credibility piece for your company. The website should at the very least show the viewer what you do, who you are, what products or services you offer with special attention to what you can do for them.  Obviously we want a contact page with appropriate call to actions but we need more.

Nowdays the internet is information driven. When people want to know something they Google it or search it. If you have one website with no other presence anywhere on the web, it is not enough because your competitors are probably adding content to forums, blogs, Facebook Business pages, linked in etc.

The idea is the website is your core then you fan out with other forms of exposure on the web. For some businesses it is a Facebook Business page where you can post events, photos and have discussions. For other businesses you benefit from a blog to give opinion in your area of expertise.  The good news is that additional exposure on the web is usually free and you get to write about what you do and your opinions in your area of expertise. You should not be doing straight out plugs for your business because no one will care, but if you can play the numbers and write intelligent content that interests others it can drive people to “check you out” on your website and then in turn be a possible client.

Usually using forms of social media will involve creating accounts that will have your website address and contact info thereby creating additional external links coming into your site which can drive search engine position.

How is the small business owner to find time for this?

Take it one step at a time, pick one platform of social media that lends itself the best to your business. Learn how to use it, well and do it regularly.

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