5 Marketing Tips for New Business Owners
New business owner? Here are my top five digital marketing tips for you. It’s essential to get the basics right before you start marketing or spend any additional $$ on advertising. Read on to learn why each of these tips are important, as well as useful resources to help you fix & make improvements to your current digital marketing efforts.
#1 — Make sure your website loads under 4 seconds
Get annoyed when a website your visiting takes ages to load? So do your customers. Think about it, the first experience a new visitor has is the load time and you sure want to make a great first impression. Pingdom suggests that the average website loads in about 3.2 seconds, for every second longer than this you risk losing visitors, conversions and money. As a general rule, make sure your website loads in under 4 seconds.
This is particularly true on mobile devices. According to a study by Google, 46% of people say waiting for a page to load is what they dislike most about browsing on mobile. That’s huge. If you want to provide a premium experience, you need to get your mobile load times down.
How to check: https://tools.pingdom.com/
#2 — Test your website for Mobile
Mobile browsing accounts for over half of all web traffic and it continues to grow. It’s vital that your site is mobile-friendly — or you’re missing half the market! What is mobile-friendly? This means that the site is readable and immediately usable for mobile browsers — no pinching or zooming required. You want to make the mobile experience as easy as possible for your visitors — they’ll be more likely to spend time on the site and engage in your offering.
Not sure how to get started? Here’s a free tool from Google that will analyse and provide suggestions for how to improve your website for mobile.
How to check: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
#3 — Add your business to Google My Business
This is a simple way to reach more of your customers for free. Setting your My Business profile up allows you to appear in search and maps — driving relevant customers to your business. You can feature all your business’ details, as well as photos, reviews and ways to reach you. It’s a must-have for your digital marketing strategy.
How to add: https://www.google.com/intl/en_au/business/
#4 — Create your Social Media Accounts
You need to be in front of your customers — the best way to do that? Social Media. Each Social Media platform is different, and your content should be tailored for the users of that particular site. For example, if you sell to other businesses, relevant informative posts on Linkedin would be a priority to focus on. Is your brand visually stimulating? Pushing this on Instagram and Facebook would be a great way to go. Get you business out there, get creative and build a valuable following.
Must have Social Media accounts: facebook.com / twitter.com / instagram.com / linkedin.com
#5 — Add your business to local directories
Local directories are the digital equivalent of old-school paper directories — remember the Yellow Pages? It’s another way for customers to find the best local businesses for their needs. Adding your business to quality, local business directories has two key benefits.
One, is the potential referral traffic generated from visitors to these directories. If your business is local and relevant to them they may click on your listing. Two, is the SEO benefit. Adding your site to local directories provides a massive search boost and is a critical factor in how Google ranks your business.
Top 20 Australian Web Directories: http://bit.ly/DonHeshList
I hope this helped you identify some ways to improve your digital marketing as a new business. If you’re in Australia, send me a message for a Free Website Audit. Until next time,
Don Hesh (CTO — introducer.com.au)
*Don is a founder in Catalysr’s 2019 Accelerate Program. If you are interested in applying for Catalysr’s Sydney or Melbourne Programs for 2020, head to catalysr.com.au to find out more and to apply.
