How does your business look to an online browser

When you are setting up or running a small business, you don’t have time to do everything. Or do it well.

But you know you have to make your business work online. People will search online to see how legitimate you are, if you have a good track record, do you care about your customers and clients.

To make sure potential sales don’t ‘click away’ you need a website and you need social media.

It can be overwhelming to know where to start building your online presence. Using social media can also be a huge time and energy sump. Do you really need to learn how to be great on Twitter, when there is so much else to do each day?

So this is how you start, when time, creativity and money is short.

At Executive Support Consultants we believe the foundations of your business online can be kept simple (once you have a strong foundation, you can get complicated!)

Your online presence needs the following:

• A clear, easy to use, informative website.
• An email marketing tool to grow your business.
• A relevant blog to spread the ideas and values you stand for.
• A social media platform (or two) to develop your community and get feedback on what you offer.

If you can get these foundation elements in place, you are halfway towards having the right online presence to help your business.

When a customer or client walks into your shop or calls your office, you say hello and ask how they are. You start a conversation.

Online, you do exactly the same.

You are not going to make a sale in the first minute. What being online does so well for your company is that it gives you access to an audience you otherwise may have missed.

For your business, if you get these tools in place - the website, the email marketing system, the blog and social media - you will make more people aware of you and have the chance to start a conversation with them.

Just like if they walked into your shop.

Keep it simple by using these few tools. Be consistent and honest and you will be using them well (no excuses, that means blogging as regularly as you say you will!)

Say hello, start a conversation... and when that becomes second nature then go even further and delight someone. It may generate your business even more customers.

These tools are not supposed to be overwhelming. They are supposed to help you.

If this sounds reasonable, even exciting, then off you go - get started and best of luck for 2017!

But if you still want more guidance on how to make your website work for your business, then get in touch with us here at Executive Support Consultants.

We can help set you up with the right tools for your audience. You’ll be pleased to know many of these tools are free.

We can help you make the most of your online presence by devising an easy to follow content strategy.

We can even create that content for you, making it unique to you. We love doing this, and it is vital when you want to rank well for an online search.

We can also regularly update your website and social media communities to keep it fresh and relevant for your customers, leaving you to get on with the making, the selling, or both.

1. Make each page of your website matter.
2. Make your messages for customers consistent and unique to you.
3. Define straightforward calls to action so your audience is clear on what you want them to do.

If you can use the tools we mentioned above - the website, the blog, social media, email marketing - to start a conversation with people, steadily spread your message and be clear with what you want those people to do - you will see your business improve online.

Which has to be better than doing a few tweets, posting on Facebook when you have five minutes and feeling guilty that you haven’t blogged for 5 months (and aren’t sure what you should be saying anyway….)

We are very friendly. Nor do we charge you to send us an email or phone.

Contact us now to have a chat about your business and where you want it to go.