A strong online presence works for your business 24/7, 365 days of the year.
When faced with a decision, consumers typically turn to the internet — whether that decision is what to eat for dinner, where to get ingredients for an at-home culinary adventure, which florist to order an arrangement from, or who to call when a possum is stuck in the roof.
This is especially true when what the consumer is seeking is available locally. In fact, 97% of consumers go online to find and research local businesses. The challenge for you, as a business owner, is to get found in the crucial moments when that decision is being made.
If a consumer can’t find your business online, they may not even consider it (or worse, they may question your business’s reliability). Having a strong, polished online presence provides a sense of legitimacy — which is crucial, when you’re asking people to spend money at your business over competitors. It will help more potential customers discover your business, strengthen your brand and build credibility for your business.
With that in mind, here are five basic steps to maximise your website and social media pages, and take your business’s online persona to the next level.
Subscribe to the Zeller newsletter
Fresh updates for your business every fortnight
By sharing your details with us, we may contact you from time to time. We promise we won’t bug you — and you can unsubscribe from communications at any time.
1. Optimise your website
Ensuring your website stands out to potential customers is a sure-fire way of attracting more traffic to your business. Knowing and implementing the basics of search engine optimisation — known as SEO — will increase the quality and quantity of traffic to your website, and from there to your bricks and mortar business.
At their core, search engines do three things when it comes to delivering content to the user; crawling, indexing and ranking. This is the process of discovering, cataloguing and presenting relevant content available on the internet. By practicing good SEO, you increase the chances of your website being found by potential customers.
Here are three quick things you can do to optimise your website for improved searchability.
Check for simple mistakes
Check your site for small technical errors that may be stopping your site from coming up in rankings. Some of the most common SEO mistakes are easy fixes.
Use keywords in your website copy
Research what your customers are searching the internet for, and then work these keywords into your content. When choosing which keywords to target, opt for long-tail keywords; 70% of searches use a mix of keywords that have 3 or more words in them. It is important to think in human terms and incorporate these keywords in a way that benefits user experience.
Create shareable and engaging content
This will help your site rank higher and keep audiences coming back for more. It can be a tricky thing to get right, but keeping up with the latest trends in your industry and getting the timing right will help.
2. Ask for reviews on Google My Business
Getting customers to review your business is a free and easy way of increasing your online reputation — influencing a higher ranking on Google, as well as your future customers.
85% of people read reviews to determine the quality of a local business.
Positive feedback is highly influential. Around 88% of people say a good review will increase the amount of trust they place in a business.
Another benefit of getting customer reviews on Google is that it helps with SEO and increases online exposure, particularly when the person searching for your business is local. Customer reviews account for about 15% of the method Google uses to rank local searches. The higher the number of reviews you have, the more likely the algorithm will prioritise your business online above competitors.
Reviews are a two-way conversation. While responding to positive reviews is important for your business, it is equally important to respond to any negative reviews in a timely manner. If you receive a negative review, best practice is to acknowledge the issue, apologise and provide an explanation (if necessary), then invite the reviewer to discuss the matter offline.
3. Boost your Facebook posts
A Boosted Post is the simplest form of advertising you can do on Facebook. Effectively, in exchange for a small amount of money, your Facebook post will appear in more people’s news feeds.
Getting more traction on your social media posts is an important step in attracting people to your business. The organic reach of Facebook posts in general is declining, as the algorithm prioritises paid content. By boosting your Facebook posts, you expand the reach of your content and expose more people to your business — including your followers who may not have seen it organically.
You can boost a Facebook post for as little as $1 a day, making it a budgetable option for those just beginning to dabble in online marketing. The more you spend, the more people your post will reach.
4. Use Geotags on your Instagram posts
It’s not just Facebook that can help drive more customers to your business. When used correctly, Instagram is a powerful marketing tool.
Instagram’s Geotag is an underutilised Instagram feature that will help more local consumers find you. It’s simply a geographic location, tagged in your Instagram post or story. Learning how to use this functionality will not only help to get your content shown in more people’s feeds, but also target consumers in your local area, or people looking for posts in that area. It’s a minimal-effort way to increase your online visibility.
Geotags can be added to all Instagram photos on your profile, by simply clicking ‘Add location’ before you post. You can also tag places on your Instagram story by adding a sticker with your nearest location.
For more tips on enhancing your Instagram profile, read our blog about building a community on Instagram.
5. Create listings on the major directories
For the greatest reach online, make sure your business has a presence on the major listing sites. All of the below are free directories that your business could be featured on, with the option to pay for advanced features such as adding photos or videos or being able to track traffic data.
- Apple Maps
- True Local
- Glassdoor
- Foursquare
- Yellow/White Pages
- Bing
- HotFrog
- ShowMeLocal
Niche directories, such as TripAdvisor, could also be applicable for some businesses
Being included on these websites will help improve your business’s visibility on search engines. It is important to keep all your listings updated and consistent — that means having the right business hours, location, and any other helpful information such as customer parking availability — and to make sure you have your preferred URL on all of them.
Sign up to our Business Blog for more tips on maximising your reach to potential customers and getting more traffic through the door.
Ready to get started with Zeller?
Related articles
Zeller Terminal: your EFTPOS payments solution
4.05.2021 Features, Tools and Integrations
Zeller Terminal is a next-gen EFTPOS terminal designed to accept every payment, and for one low rate, while looking great on your countertop. Under the hood, it’s a powerful tool that helps you keep your business’s finances more secure and, when...
Benefits of Mobile EFTPOS Machines
15.03.2021 Payments
An EFTPOS machine isn’t optional for your business — it’s a necessity. Australians have spoken with their wallets; cash is no longer king, your customers want the practical benefits of using cards and mobile wallets to pay for your products or...