How To Make Sure You Can Be Found
Your Sign Looks Great
That big LED sign out in front of your business with your logo on it that flashes your daily specials in two-foot tall letters looks great. But with people at home or limiting their travel, nobody is seeing it right now. So how are you going to get your business found if they can’t see you sign
Search Traffic is up… way up.
Go ahead and admit it. A lot of the time when you’re supposed to be working at home, you’re on your phone or computer watching Youtube videos or flipping through your Instagram feed. Search traffic has increased significantly over the past few weeks and will continue to climb as we hunker down. We’re all glued to our computers and phones looking for updates within our community, looking for entertainment and ways to pass the time. We’re also shopping online. This is not the time to be hidden online. So what should your small business do right now to be found?
Build a Website
According to the US Chamber of Commerce, 46% of small businesses still don’t have a website. If there has ever been a reason to invest the time and money to build one, the Coronavirus crisis should certainly be a wakeup call. If you already have a website, you should be using Search Engine Optimization strategies (SEO) to climb to the top of Google’s search engine results page so your business can be easily found. If you don’t know how to do this, Google it or ask someone to help you.
Invest in Google Ad Words
If have a website and you’ve never invested in Google AdWords, now is a good time to consider shifting some of your marketing budget that way. Adwords is a paid auction system where you bid on certain keywords for your business. When people search using those keywords, your site will rank higher based on how much you are willing to pay for placement.
Local SEO
Local SEO is an often-forgotten part of a business’s online strategy but one of the most important. It starts with a Google My Business Paged. If you haven’t set one up for your business yet, that is also something you need to do right away. Why is this so important? Google knows where you are and when it detects that a user is searching for a place or business, it bypasses delivering results with links to websites and instead gives customers a handy list of nearby businesses, or GMB listings, that meet their search criteria. You have surely seen these but maybe didn’t realize what they were. They are the little sidebar listings that ride over on the right beside the search query results. If your business shows up over there, people are 76% more likely to click your GMB listing instead of your website. If you don’t have a Google My Business page, you can set one up very easily by clicking here.
Update Your Website and Listings
If you already have a website, a Google My Business page, social media sites, or listings in online directories, don’t forget to update your profiles to include your new hours and other changes at your business such as delivery, online shopping, etc.
Your customers are online and they’re looking for ways to spend their time and their money. Make sure they can find easily so you’ll be their choice for both.
