1. Consider your offer

You need to start thinking about how going online will help you if your business is currently offline. Are you able to offer the products or services you provide in-person, online? If not, going online may allow you to create a much more efficient machine for lead generation than you have now.

You can charge for 1-on-1 sessions delivered through video conferencing if you’re a business consultant. Could you set up your store to accept payments through an eCommerce platform if that’s your preferred channel of payment?

Work out how going online can improve your business model, and look at how it can increase your number of products or services.

2. Get a website for your Business

So I guess this was supposed to be the first step. Even though this may seem obvious, it’s essential to fully understand what your website will be used for and work out how visitors will navigate your site once they are there. You are looking for leads, aren’t you? Would you like to sell directly? Do you want a place where customers can find out more about you? All of these reasons are valid.

What skills are necessary to build a website? If you’re not ready to do that yourself, you’ll need a website developer and a designer. Consider hiring a copywriter if you aren’t Shakespeare. Other options, such as a photographer or video editor, might be also useful if you’re looking to build a truly professional website.

You may want to consider looking for developers with specific skills in certain industries. You’ll need a developer who’s experienced with platforms including Shopify, Magento, and Woocommerce if you’re building an e-commerce website. 

3.Join a platform

You have to think outside the box too. You can find potential clients or customers on platforms available for almost any type of industry. Restaurant owners typically turn to Deliveroo or Uber Eats for food delivery, while retailers use Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

There are many options available to you across all industries. Conduct your own research and find out what your options are.

4. Create social media accounts

Establishing a social media presence can be a great way to engage existing or potential customers. You can also use social media to convert sales through Facebook Shop, and it is not just another engagement tool. Develop a social media strategy that is both successful and engaging and explore all of the options available to you.

Do you want to spend your days managing your social media accounts? So that you can focus on the bigger picture, you can always hire a freelance social media manager.

5. Set up your Google My Business page

The Google My Business page can be a good way to get people to find you in your area, even if they don’t necessarily need to come into your office/shop.

The Google Maps app will show your Google My Business page, but it can also be found using normal Google search, so this is a great way to share more information about your business including opening hours and services you offer to an engaged audience.

6. Encourage reviews

Your existing customers know you provide a great service, so let them do your marketing for you. The vast majority of customers across all industries will always check reviews before committing to purchasing your service.

Tell your best customers to leave your reviews on sites like Google or Trustpilot. This is a great way to build trust and help close the sale.

7. Develop a Search Engine Optimization strategy

You have probably taken your business online if you’ve followed the steps so far. It’s crucial now to optimize your online presence so that potential customers can find you. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays an important role in enabling this.

One way to send your site soaring to the top of Google and gaining more visitors is to leverage content competition gaps and encapsulate technical SEO’s key foundations.

But it might be difficult for you to create a good SEO strategy on your own. You need to follow a proven framework for it to work.

A good place to start is with keyword research. Defining your brand involves collecting a database of keywords your target audience might be searching for. There is one key metric used here known as “search volume”, which is used by a number of tools to indicate the number of searches made on specific keywords, which can be filtered by region and device among other things. Don’t get overwhelmed with the competition when choosing keywords. For example, if you are an online candle store owner, you would be wise to target keywords such as “artisan homemade candles” rather than simply “candles”.

Keyword research informs a killer content strategy as well as on-page SEO elements such as page titles, header tags, alt tags, and general keyword usage within your content. Many free tools are available to help you with this, including Wordtracker and Keyword Tool, though you may wish to hire an SEO expert as well.

Author Bio:

Sajid Hussain is a senior content specialist at TechNerds with proven digital marketing experience under his belt. He harbours a passion for writing on a diverse range of topics related to futuristic technologies, innovation, and digital marketing to educate and inspire his readers.