Kudos if you have a website for small your business because many small business owners still don’t have websites for their businesses.
According to the latest survey from Visual Objects, about one-third of small businesses (29%) plan to begin using websites for the first time in 2020.
Needless to say, a good website can work like a well-oiled machine to generate leads. However, not all small businesses have websites. In fact, around 36% of small businesses are working without websites, states the Small Business Association (SBA).
2020 Small Business Marketing Statistics
Regardless of your niche, there is always a tough competition in the market. So small businesses need to adopt multiple business channels to grow.
Following are the top 5 channels businesses can use to grow:
- Website
- Digital marketing
- Social media
- Mobile Apps
- Public relations
All businesses should have informative websites because a website can work as a salesperson, 24/7, 365 days a year.
However, it is surprising to know that 29% of small businesses, as the survey states, will start using a website this year.
Thanks to frequent Google Algorithm changes and spammy SEO techniques that some SEO companies follow, small business owners find it hard to trust search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.
As the survey finds, 21% of small businesses planned to use SEO more in 2020. And only 5% of small businesses found SEO the most successful strategy to grow.
So now the question is which channel small businesses use to grow.
37% of businesses said that social media was the most successful channel to achieve business goals, as the survey states. And 70% of businesses plan to increase their investment in social media.
Digital marketing is gaining popularity among small businesses to achieve business goals. This is because digital marketing is an effective yet economical tool to build awareness and reaching customers.
So there is no surprise that 25% of small businesses plan to use digital marketing in 2020.
As a small business owner, you should try to adopt a mix of channels for better results. Having a website is a must as people now search online before buying anything. What’s more, visiting the website of a business is often the first step in the buyer’s journey.
A good website along with social media management plays an important role in creating winning online visibility for your small business.
So you should focus on both having a good business website and executing aggressive social media marketing strategies.
How to Build a Website That Converts
These days, small business owners can easily create websites for their businesses with free website builders.
However, not all websites are created equal. Some websites can persuade prospects to make a purchase decision, while others don’t move the needle.
Following are some tips to create a lead generation website for your small business:
- Pick an intuitive domain name if you cannot get the domain that is same as your business name
- Choose a secure, scalable hosting provider with good tech support
- Display the description of your business prominently on your website
- Choose a good eCommerce platform if you plan to sell products online
- Post useful content regularly
- Adopt SEO best practices
It goes without saying that small businesses often try to reach local customers to grow. So you should not ignore the power of local SEO.
Creating and optimizing your Google My Business profile, building profiles on reputed business directories, collecting reviews and ratings, and getting mentions on reputed online platforms in your niche can help your business improve local search ranking.
About the Survey
Visual Objects conducted this survey to understand how small businesses plan to grow this year. 500 small businesses participated in this survey. If you want to know more about the survey, you can click here.
Image: Depositphotos.com