Ever well-thought-of creating a blog or a website to promote your business?
Let me guess your fears: you probably think it's costly, and takes time and gives little returns.
Wrong!
The Internet has revolutionized business and e-commerce. Many Fortune 500 companies are killing it online as much as startups and solo entrepreneurs.
Why get your business online?
In today's world, your business may as well not even exist if it doesn't have a presence online. Sadly, many brilliant entrepreneurs and businessmen still cage their businesses in bricks and mortar and nowhere else? This is a self-imposed retardation of business growth.
According to a 2010 study by the Kelsey Group, 97% of all consumers use online media to shop locally. Also, a recent online study conducted by Intelius showed that 78% of consumers consider it important to look up information about businesses online before deciding to interact with them.
What do these mean for you? If your business doesn't have an online presence yet, you're missing a pack of new, highly motivated clients who want to buy what you sell, but don't know you exist.
How to promote your business with a blog or a website
I suppose the question on your lips now is how to get your business announcement online. Simple!
First, create a blog or a website. You have a number of options for doing this. These include free platforms like:
Blogger.com: Your blog would be something like €ElegantInteriorDecor.blogspot.com€
Wordpress.com: Your blog would be something like €ElegantInteriorDecor.wordpress.com€
There are many free blogging platforms aside these but the above are the most popular. If you don't have a budget at all, then go with one of them.
But note that the above free platforms have tons of limitations. You can't use a real domain name (e.g. €ElegantInteriorDecor.com€), a custom theme or template, or a plugin and you can't use a custom email (e.g. €yourname@yourblog.com). More importantly, if you violate their terms of service or their server mistakenly thinks your blog is spamming, your blog could be deleted.
So what's better than the above free blogging platforms to promote your business?
A self-hosted blog or website. And the good news is you don't need a fortune to get one. You need to buy a domain name which costs about $15 per year and a hosting package which costs between $4-$6 per month, depending on your chosen hosting company.
These processes are really simple. If you don't already know how to buy a domain name and hosting package, just Google it, or follow this guide which explains how to create a blog or a website.
Once your website is up and running, you will have to write some content. First, it's cool to set up some pages like €Contact€ and €About€. You can do this from website dashboard.
The website houses information about your business - contact, address, services, customer service details, etc. If your company is into sales, you may even use a shopping cart to allow customers buy directly from you online 24 hours a day.
To attract more visitors, you should keep your website or blog up to date by sharing some information or announcements about your business at regular intervals. Even writing on the website just once a month will help your business, so don't worry if you don't like writing or you're busy.
And importantly, don't forget to add social media sharing buttons to your site. This feature comes with most themes and it's easy to activate. That way, your website visitors will do some marketing for you on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and etc.
You should also communicate with your customers via an email newsletter. This is simple to create once you start your website or blog.
So if you don't have a website for your business yet, go get one. It's super easy and affordable. It shouldn't take more than a day to set it up. The returns for your business will be enormous.
If you have any question about starting a blog or website to promote your business, please leave a comment below and I'll help you in whatever way I can.
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