• Business Growth & Optimisation

5 Clever Ways to Attract More Customers

5 min. read09.07.2021
By Team Zeller

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.

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.

  • Google

  • Apple Maps

  • Facebook

  • 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.

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Zeller Terminal: Your EFTPOS Payments Solution, and So Much More

Meet your newest recruit: a sleek, reliable multitasker that takes payments, processes sales, cuts costs, grows tips, splits bills, and boosts your brand. Once upon a time,  EFTPOS terminals did one thing: accept card payments. In 2024, they have become the beating heart of a business’s finances, incorporating myriad tools and features to help merchants not only deal with the increasing volume of card payments, but also make informed business decisions, deliver premium and branded customer service, and get you paid faster. Zeller Terminal is one such device that’s leading the way in payment technology in Australia. Integrated into Zeller’s financial ecosystem, which offers a  point-of-sale system ,  transaction account  and  savings account ,  debit cards  and  corporate cards , a  contact directory  and  mobile app , Zeller EFTPOS Terminal is a key component of an all-in-one system that gives businesses real-time visibility of their cash position, important sales insights, and near-instant access to their funds. So much more than an EFTPOS machine, Zeller Terminal is a key growth driver for your business, and below, we explain twelve reasons why. Top 12 benefits of Zeller Terminal 1. It saves your business money. Zeller Terminal is yours to own outright for the low cost of $99, or $199 if you choose Zeller Terminal 2, which comes with a built-in point-of-sale system. There are no monthly rental fees, no lock-in contracts, and no hidden costs. Once you start taking payments, you will only ever incur a 1.4% transaction fee for all card types – including AMEX – or 1.7% for over-the-phone transactions. Plus, with Zeller Terminal’s flexible surcharging capability, you can choose to pass on all or part of your merchant fee to the customer. Unlike many merchant services providers which lock you into surcharging for an added fee, Zeller’s zero-cost EFTPOS  option can be turned on, off, or customised at the press of a button. 2. It accepts every payment method. Zeller Terminal gives your customers the option to pay however is most convenient for them. To make payment, a customer can: tap their smartphone, watch, or other  NFC-enabled device  to the terminal tap their contactless debit and credit cards to the terminal insert a chip card into Zeller Terminal and, if needed, securely enter their PIN swipe their card and enter their PIN, or sign directly on the screen (available on Zeller Terminal 1 only) call you and read their card details over the phone 3. It simplifies checkout with a free, built-in point-of-sale system. Traditional point-of-sale software can be costly to growing businesses, which is why Zeller Terminal 2 incorporates a simple POS solution right into the hardware, for free:  Zeller POS Lite . Designed for micro, small, and mobile businesses, this easy-to-use POS solution records sales and delivers a fast and secure customer checkout experience. With Zeller POS Lite, you can: Manage a library of items directly on the terminal or via Zeller Dashboard or App Customise your product offering with modifiers and variants Design your home screen grid to allow quick access to frequently used items Generate itemised receipts which customers can receive via email, SMS, or QR code View detailed sales reports to understand what you are selling and when Create and manage discounts Get set up instantly – Zeller POS Lite comes automatically installed on Zeller Terminal 2 4. It boosts your brand with customisable receipts and screensavers. Zeller ensures your brand is central to the payment process by allowing you to customise both your receipts and your machine’s screensaver. Whether they’re printed or sent digitally as an email or SMS, Zeller receipts can incorporate a custom image at the top of the receipt, as well as business details, social media handles, a brief message or returns policy. Similarly, Zeller Terminal’s large digital screen can be customised with an image of your choice, allowing you to engage your customers with your brand while you scan their items or pull up their order on your point-of-sale. Much more than a simple payment device, Zeller Terminal is an innovative marketing tool that can be leveraged to instil your brand messaging. Customise your Terminal screensaver and your receipt to align with your brand. 5. It splits payments. Gone are the days of making your customers get out their phone calculator to figure out who owes what after a group meal. Zeller Terminal’s  Split Payments  functionality gives customers the option of splitting by custom value or by number of people. Not only is this more convenient for your patrons, but it speeds up the payment process, freeing up the EFTPOS terminal for it to be used by other staff. Additionally, by giving each individual customer the option to pay their share, it gives them all the opportunity to provide a tip. Everyone tips differently, so by giving more power to each customer, it is not only a more democratic process, it's likely to result in cumulatively greater tips for your business. 6. It settles the bill, tableside. Zeller Terminal’s  Pay at Table  feature is revolutionising the dining experience. Where before waitstaff would have to jostle between the diner’s table and the point-of-sale machine to settle a bill, Zeller Terminal now allows you to see total outstanding bills, take payments and close tables — all on one device. Rather than the customer paying at the counter or finalising the bill in the traditional, time-consuming manner, waitstaff can deliver the bill and the mobile payment device, all at the same time. The status of a table is updated in real time and synced across all machines, reducing human error and optimising the whole operation. 7. It makes processing refunds easy. Zeller Terminal supports both complete and partial refunds – and you, as a business owner, have the ability to restrict who can provide a customer with a refund. It’s an added level of protection for your business. Refunding a payment doesn’t cost your business anything; Zeller doesn’t charge any additional fees for refunding a customer. 7. It gives you real-time insights. Track key metrics from your Zeller Terminal in your own Zeller Dashboard or on  Zeller App . By providing powerful real-time data and a searchable transaction history, Zeller equips you with the tools you need to better manage cash flow, identify cost-saving opportunities and sales patterns. With most payment services providers, daily transaction information is unavailable until totals are tallied up at close of business — and important business information can only be found in a monthly merchant services statement. Having the ability to see how your business is performing at a glance enables you to quickly understand your short-term cash flow, progress sales targets to meet (and outperform) business objectives, and ultimately make smarter business decisions. 9. It gets you paid faster with same-day settlements. When you settle your funds into a Zeller Transaction Account, your day’s takings from Zeller Terminal will be deposited into your account the very same night, 365 days a year. If you choose to settle your funds into a third-party bank account, you will receive them the next business day. Speeding up the settlement process means you have access to your funds faster, helping to keep your cash flow healthy, and helping to avoid delays to wage payments or supply orders. 10. It can be controlled remotely. If your business operates across multiple locations, you need an easy way to manage your EFTPOS payment terminals. Every one of your Zeller Terminals can be controlled from your Zeller account, ensuring consistency across your entire operation. Update your staff permissions, enable and disable surcharging, update the information on your receipts, and more from one easy, online location. 11. It increases your tips. Zeller Terminal makes it easy for customers to leave a tip. This is particularly useful for hospitality businesses — you don’t have to enable the feature, but the functionality is there. You can configure your Zeller Terminal to provide a range of tipping options, either prompting a customer to leave a tip calculated on a percentage of their purchase or allowing them to enter a custom amount. This is a proven tactic, designed to grow tips for your business. 12. It reduces paper with digital and QR code receipts. A recent study* revealed that Australia produces 10.6 billion paper receipts annually, but because of their chemical coating, none of them can be recycled. With consumers and businesses becoming increasingly aware of their environmental footprint, many are choosing digital receipts as a convenient and sustainable alternative. Zeller Terminal embraces this step forward by offering customers the choice to have their receipts sent via email or SMS (available on both terminal models), or they can quickly scan a QR code which appears on-screen after the payment has been processed and download their receipt directly to their smartphone (Zeller Terminal 2 only). *‘Life Journey of an Average Receipt’ report, commissioned by Slyp, undertaken by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Plus protection for your business. Zeller uses end-to-end encryption and industry best practices to protect transactions from the time they are taken at the terminal to the time your money is received. Whether you choose to use an open or secured Wi-Fi connection or a mobile broadband-based connection, all the information Zeller processes is encrypted to our servers. Our team adheres to industry best practices in cybersecurity and threat management, constantly monitoring transactions for suspicious activity and blocking fraudulent transactions. When payment disputes occur, our team of experts deals with the bank for you, helping you avoid costly chargebacks. We’re always looking ahead. Our team of developers are hard at work, continuously building new functionality to give your business an edge. That's why, when you sign up for Zeller, there are no lock-in contracts or commitments. We know you’ll love our solution enough to never want to leave. Learn more about how  Zeller Terminal  can help your business grow by accepting every card payment, quickly and securely, for one low rate. 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.

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