Updated July 6

ow into the full swing of the holiday season (with just 15 days until Christmas as I write this), small businesses are likely pulling out all the stops to attract new customers and bring past customers back into the stores, online shops, or both. While implementing these 7 budget-friendly strategies to boost your small business' online presence, don't forget the importance of choosing the best LLC service to establish a solid foundation for your company's growth.

With many businesses using the same old tried and tested strategies to find and keep customers, those who are able to establish an online presence that clearly communicates who they are, why they exist, and why it matters will find it almost easy to rise to the top of their industry. For those who don’t take this approach? You’ll find yourself scrambling to retain customers, spending too much to acquire new ones, and in an endless cycle that’s exhausting and providing very little return on investment. 

It’s not too late to improve your digital footprint and see results not only for the holiday season but for a lasting impact right into the new year. While the exact strategies can vary for small businesses based on their industry, location, and other marketing strategies, here are seven simple ways to improve your online presence without any big investments:

Improve user experience (UX)

According to Wikipedia, user experience is a person's emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system, or service. It includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful, and valuable aspects of human–computer interaction and product ownership.

More simply put, it’s the sum of a person’s experience when they first interact with you or your online presence. This includes everything from how your website summary text appears in the search results window to how helpful your site is once they follow the link. 

If they click on your site and it takes too long to load, then the user is going to go straight back to Google to find another company whose website is much better and loads quickly, and you’ll lose out on a potential customer. Or, if they land on your site and it loads quickly but they have a hard time finding the information they need, they are likely to leave and try someone else. 

This is why it’s so important to make the user experience a priority. This doesn’t just apply to websites, either. An outstanding user experience applies to any software, platform, or app you’re using to communicate with your audience. Companies have gone to great lengths to offer customized features to make this a smooth process for both the clients and the company.

Keeping users satisfied can boost your conversion rates, whether you’re trying to entice them to download a coupon, join your email list, make a purchase, or visit your physical store. 

If you’re not sure about how users are actually using your site currently, it’s time to dive into those analytics and figure it out! You can also ensure your website is easy to use by using click testing software to see where users are focusing. You will be able to identify the areas of your site that need improving by using heat map technology and data analysis and then be able to make the needed adjustments. 

Beginning in June 2021, the user experience became even more important in relation to how well you rank in Google search results. Web core vitals now analyze your website and those found to be not performing well in key areas can negatively impact your SEO. As Google strives to present the best possible results for users' search queries, ranking continues to become a lot more complex than simply on-site SEO.

Make your website mobile-friendly

We know that people rarely leave home without their phones! In 2020, the majority of website views happen on a mobile device versus a desktop or tablet. Search engines like Google take into account how well a site is optimized for mobile when considering ranking factors, so if you want to rank high on Google (and land among those coveted first page results) you need to make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Check with your website platform to see they provide the tools you need for a mobile-friendly website. (This is one of the reasons I love using Squarespace for small business and nonprofit websites -- every site is not only mobile-friendly but you are given the tools to customize your website look on mobile and differentiate it from your desktop site). 

With mobile search likely to continue increasing over the next few years, it’s important to optimize your website for mobile devices and make sure that the design works well on both desktop and mobile. No one wants to use a website that requires the “pinch and zoom” on their phones. Once your mobile design is complete, you can test how responsive your website is on mobile using this great tool from Google Search Console. 

Create valuable and engaging content

If you do not have valuable and engaging content on your website, no amount of great user experience or mobile-friendly design will help you grow your reach.

To improve your online presence and drive more traffic to your website, you need to be showing up in search engines and on social media. And you can increase your chances of showing up online by creating valuable and engaging content. 

A well-thought-out content marketing strategy is crucial for any business that wants to grow its online presence and reach more people. Your content needs to reflect your brand’s core values and should be relevant and informative for your audience. Establish where your customers are in their buying journey by conducting customer research and then begin creating content that will move them through the process of knowing who you are to buying from you on a regular basis. Whether it’s a blog post, video, infographic, or just regular updates to your website, the information you share and the frequency with which you share it will be a major factor in driving more traffic to your site. If you’re having trouble nailing down your ideal audience, this resource should help!

Engage with your audience

This process of growing your online presence should not be you shouting at your audience with no interaction. 

If you post content regularly to your website’s blog and social media channels, and your content is valuable and informative, people will start engaging with you. Respond to every comment and ask open-ended questions at the end of your blog or social media posts. Send out surveys to your email list and then say thank you when people complete them. 

This is a good way to build your brand reputation, credibility, and trusting relationships with existing and potential customers. Try to follow social media trends and if there’s something that everyone is talking about that relates to your industry, join in the conversation, and share any relevant content as a way to get it seen by people. 

At the end of the day, you should be trying to get to know your customers more than you are trying to sell to your customers. 

Establish connections by networking

I hate to break it to you but there is no secret sauce to running a successful business. It looks different for everyone and it takes a fair amount of trial and error before you finally hit that jackpot of the right marketing combination. Networking or online-relationship building is a crucial aspect of any successful business. And before you think I mean spending hours on social media, understand that networking can take many different forms. 

For example, I’m a member of my local Chamber of Commerce and they provide great ways for me to be involved, even if I can’t always attend every event (especially now in 2020). I also regularly engage in social networking but in an intentional way. I find Facebook groups to be a great way to find like-minded people from whom I can learn and share ideas. I also regularly reach out to people who serve a similar audience to mine and find ways to partner with them. Instead of viewing them as competitors, I look at them as ways to provide my audience even more value which only serves me well in the long run. 

Be aware of your competitors

Speaking of competitors, a good way to improve your online presence is to always be aware of what your competitors are doing. They may be trying something different that could be a good strategy for your business. On the other hand, they may be doing something that isn’t working and this can also be beneficial for you, to avoid making similar mistakes. 

Being competitive and following what your industry peers are doing can help provide you with content ideas and new strategies to implement. By researching your competitors you’re better able to see if there is a gap in your industry that can be filled, and stay one step ahead of what they are doing. 

If you do find your business in a situation where your content has fallen behind your competitors in significant areas or you need help with restoring your online presence to reflect your best work, hiring an online reputation management agency might be a smart move. This is just one example that shows how useful outside services can be in keeping you competitive.

Analyze your strategies and pivot

When you are testing different strategies, some will work better than others. To help you understand where you are succeeding and failing, it’s important to analyze the results of each new strategy you implement to determine which ones you should continue with. Some strategies can take longer to produce results but it’s still worth monitoring and tracking them. 

You will need to determine what metrics you are going to use to measure your success. Whether this is more organic traffic to your website, a higher email click-through rate, or reaching a broader audience on social media. Each one can have a different effect on your online presence. SEO experts can help you discover the best ways to take your online site or business to the next level. They will help you add the tools you need to increase your online presence and improve your conversion rates. Take note of what worked well, what didn’t, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

It’s only failure if you don’t learn something from it.

Which one of these are you already trying? Which strategies have you tried and found to be most helpful? Leave a comment so others can learn, too!

Until next time, keep making a great first impression online!

Andrea