February 2024

5 Tips For Small Business Owners

With layoffs mentioned in the news on a daily basis lately, I thought it would be a good idea to cover the top five things small business owners can do to help boost their bottom line during our current economic conditions.

(1) Email Marketing. This is the first thing business owners should focus on because customers are more likely to have an email address than they are to be on social media. Use email marketing to:

• Keep your customers informed about your business, services you offer, or products they can purchase from you
• Survey your customers to see what they're interested in or what they would like to see your business provide
• Share valuable content that solves a problem for your customers during the current market conditions
• If you don't have the time to create a newsletter, hire me or someone like me who audits, manages, and designs email marketing campaigns and/or templates

(2) Optimize Your Website. This is important during any economic condition because customers need to be able to find you. And, as I mentioned above, not everyone chooses to have a social media presence which makes a website vital for every business, no matter what. Website tips include:

• Check every link on your website to make sure it is working properly
• Verify the keywords you're using on your website are still relevant, if they're not then replace them throughout your whole site because SEO helps search engines find you.
• Google is not the only search engine, so verify relevant and trending keywords for all search engines
• Check your website to make sure each page, content, graphic, or video is mobile friendly because customers search for businesses and make purchases from their smartphones more than ever before
• If you don't have the time to optimize your website, hire me or someone like me who audits, manages, and designs websites

(3) Valuable Content. I bring this up because of how often I see businesses not update their website content or social media platforms. If it's been a year since you wrote or reviewed your social media profiles it's worth it to take a few minutes and make sure those profiles still align with the customer you're wanting to attract. The same concept goes for your website. Make sure your website content provides valuable information to your customers, information that can help them make a decision to work with you, hire you, or purchase from you. This concept also applies to blogs. If it's been a while since you've written a blog post then it's likely time to make one because blog posts are two-fold. Blogging helps keep your customers informed and it also helps increase your visibility with search engines. If you don't have the time to verify your content or create new content, hire me, I offer those services. Websites need goal-oriented and functional content, not just look visually appealing.

(4) Social Media Engagement. Customers who choose to be on social media want to see good content from the business profiles they follow. They want those businesses to engage with them through comments, not just content. If you're not making an effort to interact with your followers on social media, now is the time to do so. If you don't have the time to do it, hire a social media manager like myself.

(5) Paid Advertising. This is one avenue that is often overlooked which is why I bring it up. Paid advertising applies to social media and to search engines. If you've done everything mentioned above, but are still struggling, I highly recommend trying paid advertising for at least 7 days on your social media platforms, as well as, at least 7 days on one search engine. Google is an ideal venue for internet ads.

Driving business to your website or brick-and-mortar store is key for small businesses to stay in business. And, keep in mind that staying in front of your existing customers is just as important as connecting with new customers because your existing customers have already purchased from you or hired you for a service.

I hope you find the above tips useful. If you need assistance with your website, email marketing, or social media, I'd be honored to help.

God Bless Reader, Sherri