Promotional feature: How to grow your business online

Online-Business2 With an effective online marketing campaign, it is possible to attract customers from near or far, nationally or internationally. There are also a great number of online resources which enable users to manage their business with greater efficiency and improve their chances of effective collaboration and communication. Growing a business online involves using multiple resources including eCommerce sites, review sites and, increasingly, social networks.
The first port of call for any business looking to get online is to take advantage of free website listings on search engines. Organic search is a free and popular way to promote a business over the internet. Technically speaking, it lists websites in order of their relevance to search terms, contrary to non-organic search, which may include pay-per-click results. There are many ways to make it easier to search for your business online in organic searches. The first step is to make sure that the website URL is listed on popular search engines like Google. Secondly, it is possible to make the website itself more searchable by including a variety of content such as text, picture, audio and video material. The more relevant the website is to popular corresponding search terms, the higher up the search results page it will be. 1&1 homepage builder provides support in making a business webpage as successful as possible and will have the right solution for every company and whatever product or service they offer.
Search engine marketing is a paid service whereby an advert produced by the business is shown alongside search engine results. By using this service it is possible for businesses to have a greater deal of control over where, when and how often their page shows up in search engines.
Local listings online are also vital when looking to promote a business. These listings allow companies to list an address and contact details as well as a description of the products or services offered, opening times and any other information relating to particular business types – for example, menus for restaurants. This means all the vital information about the business is easily accessible to potential customers looking for a specific product or service in a specific location.
When looking to the future of marketing a business online, social media is now seen as the number one priority. Social media platforms have been integrated into our everyday life, with most people using more than one social network on a daily basis. People are also spending an increasing amount of time on the sites, making them a prime location for marketing a business. A company can use social media not only to attract new customers but also to create a stronger and more interactive relationship with existing customers. It is also possible to reach a wider audience again by attracting the attention of friends and family of customers. For example, many companies now adopt a ‘like and share’ policy where potential customers can ‘like’ the company’s social network page and share it with their own network to enter a competition organised by the company.
It is also possible to carry out effective direct marketing using online resources. Email marketing can be a very successful and cost-effective way to grow a business online. Carried out in the right way it can enhance the relationship between business and customer, building loyalty, trust and brand awareness. It can also increase traffic to the business’s website and is a way to share exclusive offers and any new, additional online services. It’s a very efficient way to keep the company or brand fresh in the customer’s mind.