1. Track visitors to your website
You need to be able to see what pages people are looking at and for how long for, and where they’re coming from. Google Analytics is a good example of a useful free analytics product.
2. Keep on top of your information
Make sure all of your info on your site and social media (numbers, address, opening hours, contact details etc) is all up to date. It may sound like an obvious one, but a lot of small businesses forget to do it.
3. Get on Google
To help potential customers or investors find your business online, list it on Google Places for Business, which is free. You can also pay to be pushed to the top of google searches.
4. Social Media
Social Media is going to continue to grow. Your target audience will be on there, so you need to be to to engage with them and get their attention. Research into what social tools your target customers are on (e.g Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr) and get on there too. When you’re on there, make sure you post regularly to keep them engaged and to reach to new potential customers. Make sure you add your social links to your website too nice and big so your customers will find them.
5. Have Wi-Fi in store
Having Wi-Fi in store can improve customer satisfaction and provide access to the information your customers need to make a purchase. It also prevents them having to leave the store to purchase online at home.
6. Sell online
Selling online is easier than ever now as a large amount of providers can provide tools for you to sell online at a low cost that you don’t need much technical knowledge for. Your sales will go up when you start giving people the option to buy from you from the comfort of their own home, or wherever they like pretty much.
7. Have an online review system
People are much likely to use you if they can see feedback from other customers. This is likely to really help your sales, especially if your reviews are good. You could print out some of the best reviews you get online and put them in your store.
8. Online calls-to-action in store
Advertise your website and social media links in store. Encouraging a social following is very powerful as it allows you to market to your customers even when they’ve left your store.
9. Get good IT Support
This last one may be a little bias… But it’s still an essential. You need to know if your computers, printers or whatever breaks or stops working you have people to rely on to sort out the issue as quickly as possible so that you don’t lose any business. Your small business cannot survive too long without good IT Support. Have a look through our site at what we can offer you!
(Thank you to the guardian for some of our tips!)