MARKETING FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The cheapest way to promote your small business is to focus on several low-cost strategies simultaneously. If you have just started your business, here are several things you should consider:

1. Build a website for your business.
2. Choose one or two social media platforms to promote your business.
3. Publish a blog on your website.
4. Use free SEO tools to improve your website and marketing efforts.

Your website is, in effect, the digital home for your business, allowing you to maintain a 24/7 presence. This means that potential customers can find you anytime. Through your website, you can provide more information about your products and services, share your story, and explain why your business exists.

In the past, building a website was challenging for many business owners because it required technical skills. Today, anyone can build a website easily, thanks to user-friendly website builders and plug and play products that make it easy for anyone to get started. 

As consumers increasingly rely on search engines to find the things they need and get answers to their questions, having a website makes your business discoverable. The higher your website ranks on Google and other search engines, the more likely potential customers are to discover who you are.

Each social media platform is unique in terms of its features and user demographics. For example, Instagram is ideal for visually compelling content, Facebook is geared to an older audience, and LinkedIn is suitable for professional networking and job hunting.

While it’s useful for your business to be as visible as possible in many places, it’s important to choose the social media platforms that help you reach and engage your target audience. Additionally, managing multiple platforms can drain your time and resources, making it more challenging for you to become effective on all platforms. 

A static website has many drawbacks. It presents fixed content in the same way,  functioning much like a broadcast channel with one-way information flow. As such, the information is typically static, limited, and non-dynamic. It may not adjust to different user preferences, location or other factors. 

However, a blog prevents your website from appearing static, by providing more variety and volume of content in several formats. More importantly, a blog allows you to continuously offer relevant and useful information to your target audience. This helps deepen their understanding of what is offered, can illustrate how problems are resolved, and educates them on key topics related to your services. 

SEO stands for search engine optimisation and is aimed at ensuring search engines understand your website content and improve its ranking in search results. When done right, SEO can enhance the user experience, ensure your website loads quickly, and drives more traffic by leveraging relevant keywords.

As your business grows, you can then choose to purchase premium SEO tools to improve your SEO efforts further.