The Importance of Small Business Being Found Online

Take your small business online and start social marketing

With roughly one-third of the world's population having Internet access, it is inconceivable for a small business to not leverage the Internet.

However, having a presence online does not mean consumers will be able to find your business. Search engine marketing and social marketing provide a way for potential customers to locate a business and follow any information they want to share with them. Beyond being found, they are also able to read past customer reviews and evaluate their experiences. There has never been a time where a business has had such an opportunity to connect with potential customers from all around the globe.

Benefits of Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is one of the most vital aspects to connecting with customers. When someone uses a search engine to find a good or service, they will need to find your site on the first page of the results. If your business is not on the first page, 99 percent of customers will never find it. In fact, the first search result gets 36 percent of the clicks, while the next four results in the listings will not reach this number with all of their clicks combined. When someone searches for your product or service, your business must come up in the results.

Naturally coming up in the search engines is much more practical than spending money advertising on them. While advertising is a guaranteed listing and often a part of search marketing, it will cost businesses money every single time someone clicks on their ad. This is great if a large portion of clicks converts to new customers, but this is not always the case.  Many consumers are aware the highlighted items on the top and bottom of a Google search along with the items you find on the right hand side are actually paid ads.  While this can supplement low rankings, there is no better way for reaching customers than having a high ranking website.

Latest Changes and Updates

The search marketing atmosphere is constantly changing. The rise of the Internet has lured many people to the possibilities of making money online. When this happens, people will inevitably try to "game" the system and have their sites rank on the top of the search engines. This has caused search engines to alter their ranking algorithms and try to combat these unrelated or unworthy websites from taking over the results. If you’re not working with a firm that is doing things reputably or organically, you may have seen a decrease in your page ranking.

Promoting a business now starts with high quality content. If a business merely puts up a website with no content, they will not be given a good ranking. Quality content and knowing the appropriate keywords people are searching for can propel a site to the top of the search listings. Repeat customers will remember a site's name, but potential customers will be searching for a solution to their problems.

Benefits of Social Marketing

Social marketing provides a way to directly communicate with customers. If they are looking for an item on Twitter, providing them with insightful information about it may lead to a sale. However, businesses normally use social marketing to keep their past customers up-to-date with their newest products, services or deals. Some small business will even run promotions where they require people to "like" them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter to participate. This draws in new customers and keeps old customers interested in the business. If someone decides to communicate with a business through a social setting, they will expect to see communications between past customers and a business. The need for high quality customer service has never been more in demand. Treating customers well online can lead to an abundance of new customers at all times. Just look at what @comcast and @zappos have done to set the bar for customer service via Twitter.

Customers are starting to expect a business to have avenues of contact online. In fact, it’s often a negative if they can’t find or interact with you online at all.