You’re a small business owner. You created a website that showcases your services, provides contact information, and of course its regularly updated via your blog. You have been posting for a few months and have recently seen an uptick in business as a result. Its a very small increase, but you want to build on that momentum!
Start with something
I learn by using examples and perhaps you will too. Let’s use this post, titled How to Create a Website for your Small Business on our custom web design and development site. This is the post that got us our last job. We know that more people would learn and potentially hire us if only they knew about our business, the site, and the post.
Ask the pros
I’m going to be honest with you, I am not a professional marketer or SEO expert. That’s okay, because I’m going to be that you aren’t either! I happen to be friends with a professional marketer who has had over 15 years of experience. Because she is someone I trust, I asked her for what she would do if she were in our situation. She gave me five things to try:
- Pinterst
Advertising on Pinterest is cheap and you can target specific groups of people who share your interests. Since Pinterest is all about following only what you’re interested in, your chance of success is quite high. Its also quite inexpensive!
Her advice: create a graphic showcasing the blog post title that is catchy and creates a bit of urgency. - Facebook
You can get incredibly targeted and specific with Facebook advertising. The quality of those clicking can be a bit lower quality, so volume is more important here. Her advice: Target people who have entrepreneurial interests and recently started a job as a small business owner. - Google Adwords
Display brief advertising copy, product listings, and video content within the Google network to reach a wider audience. Her advice: I’ve seen Google Adwords be most successful when you have something to sell and would like to increase sales. - Asking for an email address
Asking for your viewers’ email address is one way to keep in touch with them. This is called remarketing and is very effective. Her advice: Start by adding an address input on your site so you can begin collecting a list of your visitors. - Get a more popular blogger to feature you
A popular site or blogger writing about your post or recommending your product can cause a temporary spike in traffic/sales and expose your business to a much broader audience. Her advice: Like winning the lottery, this is quite rare of course should not ever be counted on.
Experiment!
Now that we have some information to go on, its time to pick a path and experiment! This isn’t a science and its best to pick a few routes to go in for a set period of time. Then at the end of the month, evaluate which solution did the best, tweak it as needed, and repeat!
Don’t forget to keep writing excellent content.
Adwords, social media advertising, requesting email addresses, are only a few paths that will initially lead viewers to you. Keep in mind that they’ll only return if you keep writing posts with helpful, quality, relevant, and honest information. Happy blogging!
Automattic Design 