how to promote your business online
Once you’ve determined the online business model that will work best with your lifestyle, you’ll need to start to promote your business online. There are several ways that you can do this, from advertising with Google and Facebook, to utilizing social media, to collaborating with others.
Driving traffic to your new business website can often seem like the most significant roadblock in your online business journey. However, once you’ve managed to get through this, things will get easier. With millions of sites online today, it has become increasingly more difficult for businesses to appear on the first page of search engine results. Which means, you can’t solely rely on search engine traffic when you are just starting out. You have to find other ways to drive potential customers to your site.
1. Google Ads
Google advertising is a great marketing strategy for new and small businesses. You can show an ad for your company to people who are searching for your type of business at that exact moment and who are looking for businesses in your area.
When a consumer searches for a term or phrase, Google will show them relevant ads that are based on the keywords used in the search. Companies that want their ads to show up at the top of the results page bid on the keywords they believe people will use when they are looking for their type of business.
Depending on how much you bid, compared to other relevant businesses in your area, your ad may show up on the results page when people search for the particular terms that you have bid on. Along with how much you bid, Google also takes into account the quality and relevance of your ad, as well as your website. So, even if you are the highest bidder for a particular keyword, your ad won’t appear on the search page if someone searches for a business that isn’t relevant to your business.
One of the most compelling reasons for you to utilize Google Ads when promoting your business is that you only have to pay for the advertisement when someone clicks on the link. You are able to set how much you are willing to pay per click, and set a maximum daily budget. Google Ads has revolutionized the way advertising works by only requiring you to pay when someone takes action and clicks on the link to view your site.
2. Facebook Ads
With more than 2.2 billion users, Facebook has become an essential marketing platform for businesses. However, the site’s ever-changing algorithm can make it more difficult to connect with the right target audience. Fortunately, you can utilize Facebook ads to help you reach your target audience based on location, demographics, interests, and even behaviors. They make it possible to get your message in front of the people who are more likely to need your products or services. Before you dive in and start using Facebook ads, it is essential for you to understand the different types of ads to get the best results.
- Photo Ads – Photo ads are a great way to get started with Facebook advertising. You can quickly create one with just a few clicks by boosting an existing post with a photo from your Facebook page.
- Video Ads – You can show your team or product in action with video ads, or you can use them to merely be aspirational.
- Carousel Ads – you can use up to ten photos to showcase your product or service. These types of ads can be used to highlight the different benefits of a single product or a number of products.
- Slideshow Ads – these kinds of ads offer an easy way to create short video ads with a collection of still photos or video clips. Like videos, they have eye-catching motion without using a ton of bandwidth, allowing them to load fast even for people who have slow internet connections.
- Collection Ads – These ads are only offered on mobile devices and allow you to showcase one or more products that customers can click to buy without having to leave Facebook.
- Instant Experience Ads – a full-screen ad format, that loads 15 times faster than a mobile site outside of Facebook, and allow consumers to purchase your product or service without ever leaving the site.
- Lead Ads – these Facebook ads are only available on mobile devices because they are meant to make it easier for consumers to provide you with their contact information without a ton of typing. They are perfect types of ads for collecting newsletter subscriptions, allowing people to ask you questions, or signing someone up for a trial of your product.
- Dynamic Ads – these ads allow you to promote targeted products to potential customers that are likely to be interested in them. For example, if a customer has visited your site and left a product in the shopping cart, an ad for that precise product will appear on their Facebook feed, reminding them to complete their purchase.
Advertising your online business with Facebook ads is an easy and effective way to drive more traffic to your site and increase sales.
3. Quora.com
Quora has been around since 2009 and has more than 200 million unique visitors every month, but not a lot of people know about the platform and how it can help them promote their business. Quora is a question-and-answer website, where community members can ask questions and have them answered by experts on the site.
Many of the answers that are provided on Quora end up on search engine results pages as individual web pages. Sometimes they even outrank the biggest of brands. This means that you can potentially receive hundreds, or even thousands of views for your answers every month. This makes it great for businesses to stay in the public eye and drive referral traffic to your site daily without having to spend time reposting your content. This is because you are dealing with a targeted audience of people who are already interested in the topics that are directly or indirectly related to your business.
Quora has an ‘upvote’ system that allows the members of the community to vote for specific answers, which ensures that only the best of the answers will be shown on the page. While not all of your answers will be upvoted, if you focus on providing high quality responses, you’ll increase the likelihood that they do. The great thing about using Quora to promote your business is you don’t have to put in a ton of time or energy for it to be effective.
4. collaborations
Collaborating with other companies on marketing initiatives can be extremely beneficial for your new company. Along with increasing your exposure, partnerships can result in more leads and greater overall success for your business than if you were to work on the same initiative alone.
Choosing the right business to collaborate with is key to ensuring high-quality content is created from the joint efforts. You want to partner with brands that you respect and who are active with their own marketing efforts. Companies that are able to market themselves effectively are more likely to co-market effectively. There are many ways to you can advantage of
- Creating an eBook or webinar
- Cross-promotions
- Offer discounts and special offers for referrals
- Co-branding
- Run a contest together
Collaborating can help your business make the most out of your content marketing efforts and widen your audience while cutting marketing costs and producing more compelling content.
5. face-to-face marketing
Even when you are running an online business, you shouldn’t discount the effectiveness of face-to-face marketing. While online marketing through social media and SEO have become the favorite way for many companies to promote their businesses, there are also several offline methods that can be extremely effective in getting the word out about the products or service you sell without costing you a ton of money.
The easiest way to do this is by handing out your business cards to everyone that you have a conversation with during the day. While it doesn’t take much effort, it can also have mixed results, which is why you should combine it with a few other tactics.
Consider joining a local Meetup group. Meetup has been around for 12 years but is hugely underrated as a social networking site. There are two ways that you can utilize the site to promote your business. The first way is by seeking out groups that have already been established in your area of interest and attending the events that they organize. This will give you a chance to network with like-minded individuals and develop a relationship with them as you promote your business.
The second way to go about utilizing Meetup is by starting your own group and hosting your own live events to meet people who might be interested in what you’re selling. While there is a small fee involved for starting a group on the site, there are a number of payment options to help you with the cost.
If you’re not into starting or attending a regular Meetup group, you can also promote your business by attending local conferences. By attending conferences on a regular basis, you can position yourself as a thought leader in your industry and build trust with your potential customers. Conferences provide you with the opportunity to speak one-on-one with individuals in your industry and those who have the same interests as you.