The 2 Things Business Owners Must Do Online to Beat Their Local Competitors
It’s no secret that small businesses are making some huge strides in their local communities and demanding their share of traffic and business.
With that extra notoriety, however, businesses are facing tremendous competition.
And with that competition, it’s more important than ever that your business is employing some core Online Marketing Strategies.
Here’s Why Knowing How to Correctly Market Your Business Online is So Important:
Today’s market is extremely savvy when it comes to prescreening businesses before they actually walk in the door. Long past are the days when people opened up the yellow pages and picked the place with the nicest looking ad.
Statistics show that before a patron ever picks up the phone to call your office, they have already done their due diligence using the internet.
With that in mind, it’s important to understand the 2 key places that a potential client uses to pre-qualify your business. Around 60-70% of all potential customers are looking at your website and your Facebook page before they decide to call your office and book their first appointment or come in.
So what do you need to do to make sure that you win them over when they visit those two places? Let’s dive in and talk about the keys to doing both correctly.
Online Marketing Essential #1: A High-Quality Website.
Gone are the days when you could have your nephew or assistant build your website or purchase a website from a “do it all website company” like HIBU or Yellow Book. It’s not enough to just “have” a website these days.
Your website has to look great and it has to communicate some key pieces of information.
#1 Website Must-Have: It has to look great (everywhere)
Offices these days are largely extremely beautiful and professional operations when you walk through the front door. If you spend that much time making the inside of your office look great, but don’t focus on your website, your missing the boat.
Your website is the first impression that 90% of your potential customers see. If it doesn’t look extremely professional both on a computer and on a mobile phone, you’re going to be losing out on a ton of easy business.
You want a professional designer building your website. Stay away from “catch all” website builders and doing it yourself (even with templates that seem like that might be great).
#2 Website Must-Have: Focus on What You Do
A huge mistake the average owner makes is not “putting a flag in the sand”. You don’t want the general public to be confused about what you do or what service you provide. You want people to know your expertise. It should be obvious on your website.
If you’re really great at something (even if it’s just one thing), make sure that is featured on your website. In a world full of people who are afraid of claiming a speciality (because they think they’ll miss out on other business), it’s the specialists who are making the most money.
#3 Practitioner Website Must-Have: Walk them Through their First Visit
If you are a chiropractor or a dentist or another type of practitioner, your website should walk a potential patient through what their first visit will look like. This includes walking them through the steps that they’ll take when they come in, including having a place that they can download their intake forms and fill them out in advance.
This may seem like a small thing, but it is a key factor in making potential new patients feel comfortable before they ever walk through the front door.
#4 Website Must-Have: Location and Hours
This one is a no brainer, but people need to know where you’re located and when you’re open.
#5 Website Must-Have: A Trackable Phone Number
Having your main phone number on your site isn’t enough. You need a phone number that will allow you to measure how much business is actually being delivered from your website.
The best websites are the websites that measure their own effectiveness.
#6 Website Must-Have: Pictures of the Owner and Staff
People want to see you and your staff before they walk through the door. A few simple pictures and staff biographies go a really long way to make a potential customer feel at ease.
#7 Website Must-Have: Great Content from you
You know your business and you know your craft. If you are willing to share that information on your website via an educational blog, it will go a long way in showcasing your expertise.
Don’t have time to blog?
There are ghostwriters out there that can help you fill your site up with great educational content.
Online Marketing Essential #2: A Facebook Page that is Living and Breathing Daily.
What a lot of small business owners don’t understand is how the general public judges a business based on what they see on their Facebook Page.
Simply put…
If a business’ Facebook page looks unprofessional (poor graphics and grammar errors), the public believes that reflects what’s going on inside of the business.
If a business’ Facebook page hasn’t been updated in a while (if your last post was more than a few days ago), the public believes that the business’ staff might also let things slip and become outdated inside of the business.
The keys to making your Facebook Page a Customer Magnet:
- A Professional Profile Picture
This is the very first thing most people see when they do a search for your Facebook page and head over to check your business out. It’s needs to be professional looking and show up well in the news feed. - A Professional Timeline Cover
This is the second thing that people see when they are doing research of your business on Facebook. It needs to be professional looking and it needs to tell your story in an image. - Interesting Facebook Posts branded with your logo
It isn’t enough to just post a motivational quote or a funny video. Your Facebook page needs to have interesting content that people learn from. If your page has interesting and current content, people will want to buy from you. - Post 1-2x Every Single Day
Like it or not, people judge your business by how current your marketing is. When your last Facebook posts is several weeks old, it tells people that you “let things slip” when you get busy. This is an impression you can’t afford. It isn’t fair that this is how you are perceived if you’re content is spotty, but it’s the way things go. Make sure to always keep content flowing on your page and post 1-2x every single day (you can get help easily with this).
How to Save Time (and your sanity) when Setting Up Your Business’ Online Marketing this year.
The good news is that you can hire someone to take all of this off of your plate and, if they are anything like our firm, they will help you get everything rolling without charging you an arm and a leg.
This means that you can see a big return on investment and get all of the above done for you (so you can just reap the benefits).
Want some help directly from me?
I’d be absolutely honored to help you get everything set up. We’ve worked hard to make this process almost completely hands off for you and your staff, while keeping the cost low (so you can see a profit almost right away when you get started).
Want to learn more about how you can get everything above set up in the next 2 weeks? You can contact me right now to chat about it (it usually takes about 10 minutes on the phone) by dialing my office here: 727.487.1224