The rise in the number of businesses seeking an audience online and the increasing competition on the internet has made it progressively difficult for small and medium businesses to attract customers to their business websites. If you are just establishing your online presence at the moment, you are up against this number; 963,405,672. That is the number of websites on the internet worldwide as at Jan, 2016. There are millions of websites out there competing with you for viewership and search rankings.
But before you give up and resign to internet anonymity, take another look. The number of websites and the internet in general is growing because demand is growing. Your customer base is huge. This means that getting your business website noticed doesn’t have to be a struggle, you just have to align yourself a little. Today, we will be talking about marketing strategies that will get your business website stand out from the crowd and get noticed.
Have a look;
1. Be Specific About Who You Are
Sticking out in a sea of competitors means offering your customers something they can remember. To achieve this, be very specific about who you are. You could be the local restaurant that only uses native spices. Or you offer a special recipe that nobody else has. Who are you in business? This identity creates a marketing story that can be easily worked into your marketing strategy. Most businesses lose customers simply because they cannot define their business and what makes them different from their competitors. Know what is unique about your business and talk about it, a lot.
2. Do you know your competitors?
Identify and research about your competitors, their products and their marketing strategies. Visit their online store, download their brochures, check on their pricing points, etc. What are their weaknesses? What are their strengths? Find out what your competitors are offering that you can’t, and how you can leverage your strength to place your business website a notch higher. Keep your eyes open, (wide open) for opportunities that your competitors are missing.
3. Claim the authority
Do you have an authoritative voice in your niche of specialization? We all know you can’t claim to be a one-stop solution to all your visitors’ problems. What this means is you need to decide what niche you would like to specialize in, narrow down to provide nothing but the best and establish yourself as an authority. The best way to do this is by showcasing your best achievements as a business, and sharing your best content. Your content needs to be compelling and real value, no SEO junk, no fluff; the kind of content that grabs your visitors by their eyeballs and keeps them engaged long enough for you to pass your sales information across.
4. Keep it simple
Always keep in mind that when it comes to online business, less is always more. These can be done by making your products and services easy to understand. Your visitors should be able to understand what you are offering at a glance. If your landing page fails to do this within the first 10 seconds, chances are you are losing your customers. Secondly, work around your site’s navigation and user experience so that customers don’t have to go through several clicks to make a purchase or take an action.
5. Offer a solution
The whole idea of business and entrepreneurship is conceived on the basis of identifying a problem and offering a solution. So, does your business provide the much needed solution to your customers? Is it spelled out clearly to your customers? Your services and products need to solve your visitors’ problem and simplify their lives. State the pain points in your niche using emotion evoking questions, then place your service or product as the ‘go-to’ solution.
6. Capitalize on both your ups and downs
Documenting your success and achievements is as important as tracking your failures. But the latter is far much challenging. Documenting your success motivates you and helps your business identify what works for your platform. On the other hand, keeping a record of your failures lets you learn from your previous mistakes and know exactly where to place your foot in the landmine.
7. Does you business stand out?
The trick about rising above your competition and getting noticed is having a unique selling preposition (USP). If you have noticed, most brands and websites on your bookmark and ‘follow’ list present themselves very differently from the rest of their competitors. As previously mentioned, take a close look at your business in comparison with your immediate competitors and identify that one unique product, service, package or way of doing things that sets you apart from the rest, and capitalize on it.
8. Plough back the profits
Most of online business owners, especially budding entrepreneurs often get excited by profits and forget to give their business the boost it requires to grow. So always re-invest some of your profits back into your business to ensure sustainability and growth. It could be upgrading your website’s design, improving on product packaging, anything that will ensure your brand is financially protected and your business stays competitive.
9. Put new ideas to test.
How often do you test your new ideas before implementing? Notable business entrepreneurs are always testing news ideas and innovations to set themselves apart. Allow your visitors to give feedback about your new website feature, product or service to help you get useful insights that can improve user experience and boost your sales.
10. Design with your audience in mind
Too many websites are not audience-centric. In other words, the website designers did not consider who the audience is and what the visitors really need. Take time to study your audience and find out about their interest, behaviour, needs and how you can set yourself apart from your competitors.
Bottom line
The trick with internet marketing is to be honest with your beginnings, grow consistently and listen to your customers. Interact with the wider internet community in your niche and offer real value to your users. With these and the above tips, you should be able to see an increase in traffic, conversion and sales on your business website.
