How to Take Your Small Business to the Next Level

(Newswire.net — October 6, 2019) — In the past, starting a small business appeared extremely daunting. Mostly because this involved a full time commitment of running a storefront, cold calling, door to door sales, or market hopping. With the internet and the ability to buy and sell online, those interested in launching a business no longer have to quit their jobs or jump the same physical hoops and hurdles to attract clients and customers. E-commerce is now a central industry with many companies and tools that help with increasing sales. So you have a great idea, a million dollar idea even, but need to know the ins and outs of how to grow and succeed in a crowded market. Luckily, there are many strategies for making your dream business idea come true. 

The first step is to build an amazing and professional looking website where customers can read what your business is all about and make purchases. Before, this required being web developer or hiring one that had extensive knowledge of coding, html, CSS, and other lingo that felt like trying to read hieroglyphics for the average person. This alone would deter many from starting up. Today there are several e-commerce or website builders available to join for a reasonable monthly subscription. Many of these sites usually include a 14 day no commitment free trial period, that allows the person to fiddle around and see whether they like the tools. Companies such as Shopify, Woocommerce, Squarespace, or Wix, feature a variety of themes or visual pre-set websites to choose from and has a platform that makes it extremely easy for adding or making changes. These can literally involve drag and drop or easy text boxes for adding content. The database of apps also available (many free) provides even more tools for creating a stunning looking website. 

Speaking of web apps, because your business is online it must include social media icons or at least links to pages such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. When clicked on by a customer, these take them to the companies social media page or otherwise allows them to share your page or website with many others. This is the main way online businesses balloon, so include all social media but find one in particular that works best for your business and focus more efforts on that. This provides a two way street for bringing visitors to your site and also for allowing them to follow you and stay updated with your business. Any visitor with a large social media following may like, or even better share, your business post and this causes a chain reaction where all their social media friends see your business post’s promotion or advertisement. While social media allows for paid ads to targeted audiences, for those that are budget conscious, a strategically created and quality post with engagement could be sending boatloads of traffic to your site. Strategic marketing makes the difference between a successful business and one that fails, as it is not always the best product that wins but the one that is better known. 

Whether a person has just made a purchase or are simply browsing the online storefront, it is a great idea to include a sign up for an email newsletter. This allows for an increased customer engagement whereby people can be informed about any new items that may appear in your shop, promotions, or discounts. This also has the power to create returning customers and applications such as Mailchimp lets you easily build and track the success of your email campaigns after they are sent to members. Links back to your website can also appear in each email as well as social media share buttons or email forwarding that helps grow your audience. It is also very valuable to follow up with previous customers about a recent purchase and request a review. Testimonials posted review pages like Yelp, Google, or on your actual business website, can make a major difference in persuading customers whether to buy or not. Small business has an advantage over those large companies when it comes to interaction with customers, as the owner can better address customer questions and concerns with thought and care. Many large customers think communication alone suffices for proper social media use and customer enquiries, yet this leads to greater frustration whereby the response seems like a stock answer written by a robot – never having read the original question. 

With exciting technological innovations, owners can take their small business to a local market for sales and to local awareness. All that is needed is a smartphone with a card reader widget plug-in, from Square or Shopify, to create orders and take payments. These orders can be nicely organized and synched to the website to track inventory. While it is a major advantage taking mobile payments, it is also essential that your store is mobile compatible. A poor layout that cuts off content on a smaller screen, error buttons, or other formatting issues, is all that it takes to lose a major segment of buyers who tend to make purchases primarily on their smartphone. The key is to make the buying process on your site as convenient as possible. Luckily, web building companies like Shopify focus on mobile appearance and compatibility when creating sites. This is also reflected in online casino sites like Rose Slots that ensure the slot games they offer have a seamless gameplay on mobile. These online slots generally have a grid of 5 reels, 3 or 4 rows, a number of paylines, bonus rounds, and other features that offer multiple ways to win real money. In fact, many slot games are initially designed for a mobile platform (also known as mobile first) and then made compatible on desktop or tablet. Online slots such as NetEnt’s ‘Starburst’, Red Tiger’s ‘Piggy Pirates’, and Yggdrasil’s ‘Seasons’, all have stunning visuals and animations as well as a simple style of controls on smartphone. The bottom line is that everyone has a smartphone and a good chunk of them use it for buying, so do not miss out on this major segment with a poor quality or non-existent mobile format for your site. 

Finally, all content should be carefully thought out before written. Keyword rich text related to your product or service will help browsers like Google rank your page higher. One way to always fill websites with more SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) content is to include a blog to make posts. This also keeps customers updated on your business and can be added to your small business’ regular newsletter.