5 Website Boosts That Will Kick 2016 Into High Gear

If your New Year’s Resolution was to grow your small business, then you’ve come to the right place.

After foot traffic, internet traffic is the most valuable asset to growing your business and increasing your sales. And today, we’re to sgoinghow you five of the best ways to boost your small business’s online presence.

Whether you’re just setting up your online presence or have been tweeting for years, this short guide is sure to give you some pointers to up your online game.

“Nothing BIG will happen in your life, until you build off of the many SMALL things” John Paul Aguiar.@johnaguiar

Provide Exceptional Content On Your Site

A great online presence begins with you. It doesn’t matter how much traffic you drive to your website, if people find your content dull or overly salesy, they will quickly move on.

To start, be sure you have awesome “Home” and “About Us” pages. Clearly define what you do and how your business can benefit your clients. Don’t sell them, inform them.

Next, provide a portfolio of your past projects (if applicable) and the benefits you’ve provided to past customers. Did you help Sussie find the perfect dress for prom? Did John land his dream job after taking your course? Did Will propose to Jessica at your restaurant? Whatever the situation, find ways you have improved the lives of your past customers, and highlight those.

Finally, maintain a killer blog. Write articles to educate, entertain, and inspire. Add infographics, videos, and pictures. Most important, give away useful information for free. Don’t brag about your restaurant’s recipes, post them online so customers can make them at home! Don’t tell people you’re the best landscaper in the business, provide a list of plants that do well in your area.

Ultimately, you want a website that people enjoy visiting because of the value they receive.

Guest Posts

A great way to boost your small business’s online presence is to write guest posts for other blogs and websites. Some industry websites have thousands of unique visitors every week, and a guest post can capture some of that traffic for your own site.

Do your research before asking to write a guest post. Choose major industry websites with large followings. “Pitch” a topic or two to the website’s owner, agree on a deadline and word count, and ask that the post include several links back to your own site, along with an author bio.

Up Your Social Media Game

Small businesses can get a lot of traction through expanding their social media presence. Of course you are familiar with Facebook and Twitter — but what about Instagram and Pinterest? Pinterest is currently generating a lot of high quality traffic, and is definitely a site to check out.

Just make sure you select one or two social media profiles to really target. It’s better focus on Twitter and gain 10,000 followers than it is to have 100 followers on every network.

Look into automating your social media presence with a free or paid scheduling service like Tailwind or Hootsuite. These services make it possible for busy small business owners to maintain their online presence without spending all day online.

Become a “Comment Ninja”

You should already recognize the value of responding to comments on your own blog. But that’s not where you should stop.

Up your game by commenting on others’ sites (especially those same industry-leading websites you’re pitching guest posts to). Not only does this make you a familiar face around the web, but it can drive traffic to your website and help you develop relationships with industry leaders.

Finally, be sure to interact with your audience on review sites like Yelp. Although some people are incredibly rude, respond favorably to all comments — even the negative ones. If you get in a comment war with a previous customer, the only person it will hurt is you. So, by all means respond, but keep it positive.

Create Hype Around Your Company

The golden egg of online marketing is creating something that goes viral.

Although there is no easy way to write a post or send out a tweet that garnishes thousands of shares, there are certain activities that are tried and true. They may not land you on the front page of MSN, but they can help create hype around your small business.

Run an online giveaway. If your small business sells a product, you may be able to partner with an influential blogger who will both review your product and give away a sample. Or, use the free Rafflecopter program and create a giveaway on your own! People enter by signing up for your email list, following your on Twitter, or liking your Facebook page.

Run an essay contest for a scholarship. What better way to get involved in your local community than to help fund a local student’s college education? Reach out to high schools or colleges in the area and offer a $500 scholarship for the winner of the essay contest. Make the topic somewhat related to your business and post the essays on your website.

Names, names, and more names. The best way to gain publicity for yourself is to make other people “famous”. The more you recognize other people on your website and social media profiles, the more often you will be recognized.

Boosting your business’s online visibility is a lot of work, but the payoff is well worth it. A few hours and dollars strategically spent can help to grow your business by leaps and bounds.

So get out there and try a few of these tactics, and then come back and let us know how they worked. We would love to hear about the lessons you’ve learned from both your successes and failures with the above mentioned tactics.

We’ll be expanding on each of the above topics over the course of the next few weeks, so if you’re interested, make sure to subscribe to the beast mode blog to follow the series.

Originally published at www.beastmodeprospecting.com.