With an influx of new, innovative companies every day, it’s necessary to build a solid reputation around your fledgling small business. This can seem daunting since there are so many routes you can take when creating a reputation for your company. However, the number of choices you have should be seen as opportunities to create the best version of your business, brand, and possible customer-base.
The reputation of an online business can be discovered in many different ways. One of the most popular and first impressions made is usually done through the search results. If your website, blog, or brand isn’t ranking number one for your name or brand in Google, that’s the first sign of a bad reputation. You want to leave a great first impression on your audience and let them know you don’t have any negative feedback, complaints, or legal issues out there as well.
Here are some tips on how to build a good reputation for your new small business.
Having a Solid Presence on Social Media
Creating a nuanced social media presence is integral to building a long-term reputation for your company. Because we’re fixed in a digital age, much of your customers’ interaction with your SMB will be online. Even if you don’t have a social media account, people can research your company through websites like Yelp. If you’re poorly reviewed on these sites, and don’t have any positive information about your business, your reputation will suffer.
At the same time, social media is all about engagement. It’s not enough to simply create an online account and just let it sit there, you need to actually grow it out and connect with the right audiences at the same time. Through the use of Twitter growth automation tools, it’s now possible for small businesses and brands to select and target what type of demographic audiences they would like to go after, then let the software and automation do the work for them. A perfect example of this would be if you had an online service that helped with WordPress security and theme development. It wouldn’t be hard to target such an audience through Twitter, then allowing them to discover what your brand and services are really all about.
Let’s face it: People are scrolling through their newsfeed throughout the day, every day. They are taking in information whether you like it or not. Maintaining a solid and authentic social media presence will expand your growth and opportunities—so, create an account and have fun with it!
Building a Trustworthy Website
In addition to utilizing social media, your business should maintain and update a website. As well as the impact you’re making from your social media presence, your actual site is going to drastically impact your customers’ opinions of your business. So, make sure you’re using a site that is easy to navigate.
This can be made a lot easier when using a web hosting site since the platform does much of the work for you. There are a number of monthly web hosting plans that you can use to help maintain your website. Just remember to look at the features included, such as number of site pages, security functions, inclusion of business email accounts and more.
At the same time, just having a website or blog might not be enough. What if you wanted to create an online store or ecommerce business? When you start factoring in the different issues here, not only do you need to have a trustworthy web hosting provider and platform to create and list your products, you also need to have a solid payment portal and support system in place as well. This is where a solution like Shopify can really come into play — as they are a trusted brand and are currently hosting millions of online stores for brands and small business owners around the world. Be sure to check out this list of some of their most successful online e-commerce sites to get a better understanding of how to not just have a safe and successful online store, but to also improve your reputation and gain the respect of your audience in the process.
Establishing Brand Identity that People can Trust
Establishing brand identity might be the most important way to make a name for your small business. Anything you put online will either help or hurt your brand. Like with maintaining a good social media and website presence, knowing your brand is crucial in keeping customers interested—and crucial in having a solid web presence.
Effective brand marketing can give your business major success in the market. It’s like giving your customers an individualized promise, so make it unique to your business! The more you stick out (as long as you’re professional) the better. Obviously, you don’t want to stick out for the wrong reasons, like bad customer reviews.
Networking Your Way to the Top
Although online presence is important, networking with individuals and other businesses is just as crucial to building a strong reputation for your business. It’s a literal web of connections at your fingertips. Not to mention, it’s also a great way to expand your knowledge, learn from other companies, and obtain new clients. Take advantage of it. You’ll be glad you did.
Networking is extremely important for individuals, businesses, and brands of all sizes. Not only is it great for making new contacts, it’s also perfect for getting your name and face out there for personal discussions and making new introductions that simply can’t be done through email. In the world of affiliate marketing, blogging, and online business, there are plenty of great conferences in New York City and around the world that every entrepreneur should attend. If you aren’t in the NY area, no worries — there are new conferences and events taking place all over the world. Simply perform a Google search to see what’s going on in your area.
Leveraging PR Opportunities is Key
Having a public relations (PR) plan for your business should be near the top of your list in establishing a good reputation. Developing PR plans ensures a connection with consumers, fosters loyalty, and is quite simply just more effective than advertising.
Leveraging PR opportunities helps inform the public about your offers in an editorial (rather than advertorial) way. In other words, it helps showcase your expertise—all the while driving conversation of your business in the market. This can include stewarding your brand online and targeting your audience.
These tips on building a reputation for your small business can get you up and running with a solid reputation. Just remember to stay true to your brand and update and maintain your web presence according to your specific audience.