In today’s digital world- every small business needs to have some basic tools for successful marketing. While there are many tools online to help make managing your business easier, there are a few essential “ingredients” to being successful online. Below I have compiled a list of those that are most important in 2012 with some key reasons on why to consider them now.
- A Website that is enabled for Mobile Devices
“Did you know 71 percent of smartphone users that see TV, press or online ad, do a mobile search – will they find your mobile site or your competitors’?” If you need some help finding a cost effective way to build your website and enable it to be viewed easily on mobile devices, check out this article in the ecommerce guide. - A Business Facebook Page
With more than 800 million people using Facebook today, this is a great place to start promoting your business, building fans and engaging with your target customers. It is free and an excellent tool for announcing promotions, news related items and engaging with your audience. Facebook is focused on helping small businesses succeed and can prove to be a cost effective marketing tool. - A LinkedIn Profile & Company Page
Another essential channel to leverage, especially if you are B2B. With over 100 million people on LinkedIn- the odds are in your favor to grow your business through networking with potential partners, engaging with potential customers, researching market trends etc. Learn more about ways Small business can use LinkedIn. - A Business YouTube Channel
As the second largest search engine- YouTube is a great way to showcase your expertise through visuals as well as drive traffic back to your website. Top 10 Tips can be found here. - An SEO Strategy
Some basic principles of SEO are optimizing your content with relevant key words, attract as many backlinks as you can from other sites and ensure that your site is search engine friendly. Too much flash and other video content can make your site difficult to “crawl” by the search engines. Growing your business organically is a key factor to your success online.
As a small business owner, you owe it to yourself and your business to get online, be social and optimize for success in 2012. There are many resources and loads of information available at your fingertips, just figure out what your strategy is going to be this year and take it one step at a time!