8
Ways to Grow Your Business Online
By
Stephanie Chandler
Studies
show that more and more people are going online to make
purchasing decisions. The Internet has fast become a
tool for researching cars, finding real estate agents,
ordering flowers, and locating unique gifts. This
presents a tremendous opportunity for any business to
generate new revenues. By placing more focus on online
marketing, you can capture new customers and grow your
business.
Here are
some steps to get you started:
1.
Build an Effective Website
Your
business website is a reflection of your business and if
your site doesn’t convey the level of professionalism
that you want, you could be losing business. The first
sign that your site isn’t working for your business is
if you cringe when someone asks to see it! Make it a
priority to develop a website that represents your
business in the most professional way possible.
2.
Engage Site Visitors
You have
less than 3 seconds to capture the interest of a person
who visits your website. Therefore, the copy on your
site should be compelling, well-written, and easy to
read. Nobody wants to read endless paragraphs on a Web
page so use plenty of sub-headings, bullets and other
strategies to break up the text.
3.
Call Visitors to Action
Your
site will be more powerful when written with copy that
sells. A good call to action can make all the
difference. For example, ask site visitors to sign up
for your newsletter, call today or fill out a form that
gathers information. Provide an incentive to respond by
offering a complimentary report or other valuable reward
for taking action.
4.
Optimize Your Site for Search Engines
One of
the most basic elements in search engine optimization is
to include the keywords within the text on your Web
pages that potential visitors would use to find you.
These keywords and phrases should be repeated throughout
a page several times. For example, if you sell homes in
Sacramento, your site should include the terms
“Sacramento,” “Sacramento home,” “buy a home,” and “sell
a home.” These terms should also be embedded in the meta
tags for each page on your site.
5.
Add Content Frequently
The
search engines use complicated algorithms to rank the
popularity of websites and one of the criteria is based
on the frequency of new content. Static websites are
penalized by the search engines and can actually hurt
your ranking status. To boost your traffic, add new
content and update existing content on your Web pages
regularly. You can do this by posting current news or
events, adding articles, posting press releases, and
including any other kind of relevant content. As a
bonus, not only will the search engines reward you with
increased traffic, but you will be offering more value
to your site visitors, giving them a reason to return to
your site again and again.
6.
Publish an Electronic Newsletter
Publishing an e-newsletter is a powerful and
cost-effective way to reach your target audience.
Service providers, retail operations, and any other
business that relies on client relationships can benefit
from sending a newsletter. A newsletter allows you to
get repeat exposure with your customer base, announce
new products, services or events, and can ultimately
shorten sales cycles.
7.
Host a Blog
If you
want a quick and effective way to gain status with the
search engines, consider hosting a blog. Similar to an
online diary, a blog allows you to post brief entries on
a regular basis. You will see the best results by
posting three or more times per week. The good news is
that blog entries don’t have to be long. In fact,
shorter entries are better (remember, online attention
spans are short!); one to four paragraphs is sufficient.
Ideal blog topics include industry statistics, your
opinions on related subjects, links to useful resources,
and even interviews with other industry professionals.
Start by visiting some other blog sites to get some
ideas.
8.
Implement Pay Per Click
One of
the quickest ways to drive traffic to your website and
increase business is with the right pay-per-click
campaign. This strategy allows you to bid for top
placement in the search engines and pay for each click
through to your site. Bids start as low as ten cents per
click and can be as high as several dollars for popular
keyword terms. If your site is doing its job and you are
converting visitors into customers, pay-per-click can
grow your business in amazing ways. This strategy works
for those who want to reach a global audience or those
who want to generate business in their own towns. Visit
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/ or
https://adwords.google.com.
About
the Author:
Stephanie Chandler is a noted small
business expert and the author of FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO
INFOPRENEUR: MAKE MONEY WITH BOOKS, E-BOOKS AND
INFORMATION PRODUCTS. She is the founder of
http://BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of
resources for entrepreneurs and
http://ProPublishingServices.com, a custom writing
business specializing in electronic newsletters,
information marketing, and sales copy for websites and
brochures.
*This article can be reprinted
provided the author bio is included.
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