If you have a small business that you are passionate about and want to get out into the world, then you have come to the right place. This article sheds light on some of the best ways to get your small business online, without breaking the bank. It will outline some of the thought processes you need to go over before making the online jump and then dissect some of the easiest ways to gain online exposure in an organic and useful way.
Consider Your Online Placement
One of the most important things to consider before going online is ‘how’ you want to go online. There are many different ways of crafting and creating a digital presence and you must go the route that suits your business best. This means that you need to take a seat at the drawing board and carefully consider all your options. You need to carefully think about what you do as a business and make the online placement work in your favor.
So, if you are a small business that specializes in items that look visually appealing and where the creative process is something that you can easily film such as a bakery, then you might want to consider a platform like Instagram or Pinterest. Or if you produce something in bulk and simply want to get your product out as fast as possible but aren’t too concerned with how it should look, then you might consider a selling platform that serves as a marketplace such as eBay. Thinking carefully about where you want to be seen and which online platform suits your business best is a vital first step into the world of online establishment. Having a digital presence and using digital marketing is vital in today’s modern age.
Think About Starting a Website
Now that you know where and how you want to be visible, you might want to also consider starting your website. Websites can be extremely expensive and they can also be a risk because if you do not know much about technology, you might hire someone who you pay a fortune to but who does not correctly create what it is you’re looking for. There are a few ways of going about this more inexpensively.
You should first research some of the more popular e-commerce platforms out there, such as Shopify, Wix, and WordPress. Each of these sites comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Shopify is a mighty force but has certain limitations when it comes to the free or basic account for your website.
Wix on the other hand is more for small businesses but doesn’t have the ease of use that Shopify has. Whereas WordPress might offer the least expensive options its useability isn’t as good. It’s a hard one to figure out, so take your time when thinking about it and choose the option that suits you best.
Once you have decided on the platform, you can give it a go alone. You do not need to hire someone from the get-go, you can also try to do it yourself as many of the platforms are designed with a novice user in mind, making it relatively easy to create something simple. If, however, you need something more advanced, then you might want to think about hiring someone who can create a more layered technical experience.
Don’t Forget the Power of SEO
If you have your social media channels set and you have a website created, then you just need to think about how people are going to find you. This is where SEO (search engine optimization) comes into play. You need to ensure that your website and anything you post comes up first on people’s pages. This can be hard as you are fighting against people or businesses who have been in the game for much longer than you, which means that they have more followers and more budget to spend on advertisements to rank higher. But there are free or inexpensive ways for you to achieve this too.
A great first step is creating a blog on your website. This allows you to come across as an authority on the topic and it allows you to include some keywords that will bump you up on Google searches. Not to mention, if you write for others or let others feature on your page, this is what is known as backlink building and again, is looked at fondly by search engines.
With SEO, it is also important to post often so that you get your message out there as much as possible. You do not want to overdo it but if you can find a good balance between posting often and also offering helpful information, then you are on to something.
Yashik Patel is a Google Certified, Digital Marketing and professional Blogger. He has 7+ years of experience in SEO, SEM, and ORM (Online Reputation Management) field.