If you are a small business owner, you have to know that your prospects are searching on the internet for the products and services you provide. If they can’t find your business online, you are missing out on getting new clients and engaging with existing ones. According to a recent study, small businesses in Ireland have 25% lower digital skills than other organisations, which is a disappointing result. But why could this be? It is no rocket science: small businesses have lower budgets, fewer staff and fewer resources to invest in expensive, traditional marketing. Therefore, it is time these small businesses learn more about cost-effective digital marketing, or inbound marketing based on content, SEO and social media. In a nutshell, inbound marketing allows small businesses manage expenses, grow marketing reach and gain visibility.

The steps you have to take if you want to keep up with the best practices in terms of digital marketing for small businesses are simple. The first thing to do is to get a website audit. Then it’s time to consider some content creation. The third step (and quite a critical one) is your SEO. And let’s not forget about social media!

1. The right website at the right time

If you don’t have a website already (which is quite hard to believe in our modern digital era), now it’s time to get one. But if you do, is that website really up-to-date and “digitally” friendly? If you’re not sure, get a website audit and let the experts tell you where your website works and what areas of improvement you should focus on. If you’re thinking to redesign your website make sure it will be:

a. User-friendly, easy to navigate and consistent

b. Customer-focused, in terms of content and language

 2. The road to success is paved with good content

Now that you’ve been thinking about redesigning your website you probably want to attract people to it. How? Start by creating quality content, such as industry-specific blog articles, good infographics, insightful webinars etc.  Valuable content includes everything from engaging website copy and useful blog articles to eye catching infographics and insightful videos. Small businesses that blog generate 126% more leads! In short, creating quality content helps small businesses increase credibility and position their brand as a thought-leader, generate and nurture leads, rank higher in search results and increase social media engagement.

3. I’m sexy and I do SEO!

SEO is critical for optimising your website for the best search engine results. And it doesn’t even have to cost a lot! Start by creating a keyword strategy and make sure the keywords you choose resonate to what your potential visitors might be looking for. What’s interesting and good to know is that Google prefers long-tail keywords now, rather than short keywords.

Content is a great way to boost your SEO. When you’re creating content, make sure you optimise it for Google with the right meta data and make sure you have clear, optimised meta descriptions and ALT texts to your images. If you’re using WordPress, install the SEO plugin and make sure every single page is properly optimised.

4. Get the door, it’s your social media fans!

Small businesses that want to gain more visibility (and credibility) should not bypass social media! If you deliver good content on a constant basis, your followers will eventually share that content, which means more brand prominence and awareness.  Not only it is a great way to engage with potential customers and existing clients, but it is also a good method to analyse your marketing and do better segmentation. In terms of overall traffic, companies that have a Facebook company page see an increase of 185% in traffic after reaching 1000 likes. Companies with 51-100 Twitter followers generate 106% more traffic than those with 25 or fewer. 77% of LinkedIn users access a company’s page to research a business or an individual.

As a conclusion, small businesses have to be ready to embark on their digital journey and stay ahead of competitors. If you are a business owner and you want to take your brand digital, make sure your website is fully up-to-date, start creating more content, take care of your SEO and stay connected on social media. Have a nice digital trip!

Is your website up-to-date? Get a Free Website Audit from Smarttech Digital now!