It’s essential to get on the web. You’re not obligated to use the internet for personal reasons. Many aspects of the internet are strictly for fun. It’s a different story when it comes to your business, though -this is one area where you do need to be online. You don’t need a multi million dollar website, or anything close to that, but you do need a website (or some equivalent web presence). Unlike years ago, your potential clients and customers are not going look through the yellow pages to find you. They go online and the more they find about you online the more likely they will be to buy from you or hire you!
Have your business put on Google’s Business Listings. When people perform searches for nearby businesses, they should be able to find your business because this is a gadget offered by Google that places your business on their Maps. You can either choose to use a really comprehensive listing for your business or just share the basics of it. Minimally, you should provide your contact info, address and hours of operation. Adding an image of your storefront (or logo) is a great way to help people find your business when they decide to come visit you. Some people will do “search nearby” searches on the Internet for their neighborhood and you would be amazed by the number of people who stumble upon your business that way.
Having a Facebook page is absolutely essential. You probably think that Facebook is for kids and people who simply want to waste time on the Internet. This is true of one point.
It is easy to publicly and directly talk to your customers online with Facebook. It certainly has come a long way. What you want to do is create a Facebook page so that you can tell people about it. Then they can “like” you, and more people can find out about you and your business. On your website, put a link to your Facebook page to get traffic there.
Having a Twitter account is extremely important. Twitter can be difficult to get into if you don’t have a lot of experience with being social online. It can feel like you’re on the outside looking in. You have to get involved, even if you don’t know how to work it just yet.
You need to tweet about your business once a day if possible. It will be tempting to tweet once an hour, particularly in the beginning, but you should resist the temptation. You can learn so much about Twitter, and how it can help your business. You just need to find it and learn it as fast as possible. It’s about reading and applying the information that you locate.
Gone are the days of having the option to not do something on the Internet. You must have one. Businesses that do not sell anything online still have some type of social media or website presence on the web. Willing customers actually come your way? For your business to succeed, you have to have an Internet presence. You need to also realize that you or your company might vanish, but the Internet is here to say.