5 Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

If you own a small company and haven’t got a marketing strategy, then it’s likely you are not fulfilling your potential. Most businesses share the same goal – attract more customers and sell more products. With a clear marketing strategy, this goal can be achieved quicker than you think. We’ve put together 5 tried and tested methods for attracting new business.

Link Building

Having backlinks from reputable domains linking to your website is one of the biggest factors in Google rankings. The more high-quality links you have, the higher you will appear in the SERP’s (search engine results pages).

It’s not all about quantity though. Having 10 backlinks from high DA (domain authority) sites can be more effective than having 100 backlinks from low DA sites or PBN (private blog networks). The best practice is to generate high quality content on your site so that people naturally link to it. You can check your current backlink profile by using companies such as Ahrefs.

Citations are another key part of link building. This involves listing your company’s details such as, Name, Address and Phone number (often referred to as NAP) on local or national directories. Be sure to consistently use the same NAP details, as inconsistent entries can do more harm than good.

Target the right Keywords

How do your customers find your products or services? Chances are they found you by entering a search query into a search engine. These search queries are known as Keywords. For example, if your company sells sustainable coffee cups, you want your website to appear at the top of the SERP’s when users search for ‘sustainable coffee cups’ or a variation of that keyphrase.

To do this you need to optimise your website to include these keywords. You can check what keywords your website currently ranks for by using free tools such as Ubbersuggest. Make sure the topic on your website is clear from the get-go. Don’t leave visitors in any doubt as to what your content is about. It needs to be clear and concise.

For instant results, you can try PPC Advertising such as Google Ads. This allows you to advertise your website for your chosen keywords, meaning your website will show up at the top when users enter your keyword in their search query. For instance, if you run ads for the keyword ‘recyclable coffee cups,’ then people who search for that term, or a variation, such as, ‘environmentally friendly coffee cups,’ will be offered your website at the top of their search, thus giving you the chance to make a sale.

Optimise your Website

Having a slow loading website is a sure-fire way to lose potential customers. 53% of visitors will abandon your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. What’s more, Google now uses page-load time as a key signifier in page rankings. The most common cause for slow loading websites is poorly optimised images and bloated code.

Hiring a professional web design company like Awake Digital will ensure your website looks good and works well across desktop and mobile devices. A clear link structure is also crucial. This makes it easy for your visitors to navigate and find what they need.

Beware, you only have a few seconds to make an impact. If users don’t find what they are looking for within one or two clicks, they will most likely leave your site in search of another. One of the most effective ways to reduce your page loading times is to optimise images and minify your CSS and Javascript.

Claim your Google My Business Listing

To attract local business and gain exposure, make sure you have a Google My Business listing. These listings can increase your first-page real estate as Google My Business comes with lots of added extensions, allowing you to display more company information than a standard listing.

You can upload images, opening hours, product information, directions to your business, special promotions and reviews. Google My Business Listings are also how you get your company to show up on Google Maps and in Google’s ‘Local Pack’.

The Maps Pack appears in almost 30 percent of all first page SERP’s, making it the most frequently displayed SERP feature. It helps local searchers connect with your business whilst they are searching for your services. The best thing is that it’s free and won’t cost you a penny, so definitely an opportunity not to be missed.

Collect Newsletter Signups

One of the easiest marketing strategies to implement is to build up a strong database of customers who have either purchased from you or have shown intent to buy. By implementing a newsletter sign-up on your website, you can start collecting email addresses of visitors to your site so that you can send them special promotions and product updates to keep them coming back.

A popular method to attract new sign-ups is by offering free content to visitors on your site. This could be in the form of a free guide. For example, if you’re an online florist, offer visitors to your site a free guide which helps people know which types of flowers go best with each other. By adding value in this way, you are more likely to get them to sign up. This approach builds trust and in turn, new customers.

It’s estimated that regular customer mailouts can increase revenue by up to 30%. With many free platforms to choose from, such as, Mailchimp, Sender and EmailOctopus, designing and setting up your newsletter sign up is quick and easy.

So, there you have it! 5 top tips for business success. There’s a good chance that if you’re not doing these, then your competitors are. So, don’t delay and get started. We’re super confident that if you apply these marketing techniques to your business, you can expand your customer base and increase sales. Once you have mastered these methods and have defined what works for your business, you can develop and invest more into the techniques that work the best.

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