Member Article

How to Boost Small Business Popularity on the Web

Whatever business you run, boosting its popularity is definitely a priority. You don’t, probably, wish to stop at your current success and achievements, even if you are satisfied with the present state of affairs. By maintaining a well-balanced, powerful and secure web presence, you’ll be able to attract more customers, who may eventually become your returning clients. This will increase your website traffic, contributing to your business popularity and profit generation. As an entrepreneur, you’d like to see your business growing and expanding and there are different ways to do that these days. Let’s have a look at the most popular of them now to find out their pros and cons.

1. Local Yellow Pages

It’s not easy to make your local business stand out from the crowd, because of the tough competition observed in any niche. The smaller your target audience is - the more challenging it is to gain the desired result. Local yellow pages make it possible to promote your business to the local community. This option is oriented on the residents of a certain region, which is a benefit for those entrepreneurs aiming at local website promotion.

Pros:

• Local population focus
• Affordability
• Nice results
• Good market penetration
• Credibility (many people have got used to trusting local ads more than other promo methods)

Cons:

• Local restrictions (you will hardly be able to target the audience outside your region)
• The need to take care of regular promo updates
• It sometimes takes time to make your ad live after your submit it to the directory

2. Startup Business Platforms

There are special platforms, which enlist all the startup companies and information related to them. They are quite popular with small businesses nowadays, but this option also comes with its pros and cons.

Pros:

• A nice chance to get real financial investment for further development and promotion
• Availability of business information
• Full servicing
• Ongoing cooperation with investors
• Security
• A nice chance to compare different offers
• Orientation on different groups of clients, irrespective of the location, occupation, age etc.

Cons:

• Competition (these platforms deal with many companies, which makes it difficult to highlight the benefits of your business in particular to attract new investors)
• The need to pay a lot for keeping your business on the top positions

3. Social Networks

Social networking deserves special attention of entrepreneurs as its popularity keeps growing nowadays. People, who have previously used social networks primarily for communication and entertainment, start considering their priorities and shift their attention to social networks as an effective marketing tool. The number of social networks keep growing and so do the opportunities they offer to small businesses.

Pros:

• Large client base
• Versatility of promo campaigns
• High efficacy
• Ability to target people based on their interests, irrespective of the location and other parameters
• Abundance of media that can be used for promo purposes
• 24/7 accessibility
• Real time communication with clients and potential leads
• Enhanced brand recognition

Cons:

• Lack of security (you can’t be 100% sure about real goals and motives of people you meet on the web)
• The need to make regular financial investments to promote your business effectively
• Hacker attacks that may put your business information at risk
• Your business may suffer from negative comments and reviews intentionally posted by your competitors

4. Small Business Website

If you are seriously concerned with your project promotion, then launching a quality small business website should be on the top of your business plan. A website is that very tool that can effectively boost your business, making it recognizable on the web and popular with local and foreign clients. It provides all information about your business, thus, saving the time and effort of users and contributing to their searching convenience.

Pros:

• Ability to target broad audience both in a particular location and abroad
• 24/7 accessibility
• Affordability (there are different web building tools you can use during the web building process and many of them are absolutely free)
• Regular content updates
• Convenience and ease of use
• High efficacy
• Successful online presence for the enhanced business promotion
• Visual appeal and superior functionality

Cons:

• It takes time to update the content, but that’s not really a problem, if your business promotion is a priority
• High competition rates
• Complicated large-scale projects require extra investments and maintenance

Bottom Line

There are different methods you can make use of to promote your small business and establish reliable online presence. Each of them has its merits and demerits, but you can never guess, which one will work best for your company. Thus, it makes sense to use various approaches and promo tools at a time, considering your current needs, requirements, business condition, budget and assets. A quality business website, however, is a must-have for a contemporary entrepreneur. It can boost your reputation, contribute to your brand recognition and customer satisfaction. This will eventually trigger the result you’ve aimed at.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Howard Steele .