How to make big business from small business websites

The Small Business website needs to balance budget with bang for buck. A need for leads with limited marketing budget means the capabilities and support for a part or full DIY solution must be in place. The X-factor for making these sites work is a sharp eye for the low-no budget online marketing techniques that will best support the evolving nature of the business.

Prior to the online revolution, start-up businesses had to rely heavily on small, sporadic and often risky marketing campaigns and a slow build up of reputation and referrals. An ad in the Yellow Pages, listings in local directories, maybe a story in the local paper – these were the only viable channels for exposure.

The internet today allows a global and targeted window into your small business. Put a sharp design together with strong content, a smart online strategy and your small business website can generate big business leads and sales – at an affordable price and manageable rate.

Decide early on what you want your website to achieve

When creating start-up or small business websites, it is particularly important to be smart about your goals and strategy. Given that you may have a limited budget and so will start off with a limited number of pages and features on your site, it is crucial to know you are starting with a clear vision.

Have you considered:

how many leads do you want your website to generate each week/month?
is there a prospect demographic you would like to attract (that may be different from your existing pool?)
is your business a ‘high repeat’ business? If not, what can you offer to keep customers engaged between purchases?
do you have a communications plan in place to build a relationship with your data base?

Can your website become a ‘go to’ small business website?

As a small business you have a unique opportunity to carve a niche. Niche marketing is powerful and one of the best ways to cement a strong online presence.

Regardless of what you sell, you can create a large amount of traffic, interest, leads and loyalty by providing fabulous information, unique offerings and out of the box value online.

It is difficult to compete with large scale and well established online businesses. For example, if you are in the book selling business there may not be much you can do to put a dent in Amazon.

But if you focus on local, niche or specialised information and services you may be able to quickly attract local, niche and specialised customers. The more you love what you do and share that passion via your website, the more value and relevance people will find when they visit.

Here are a few ways some small and start up businesses have created an online (and offline) niche for themselves:

A finance company that moved from general clientele to specialising in tradespeople and sole traders
A business networking site that focuses on women in business and particularly women working from home
A quality online shirt and clothing business that introduced a line of accessories designed and made by Australian artists

Where are the gaps in your field? What area could you specialise in that your existing customers may be looking for, or that will attract a wealth of new prospects and customers?

Talk to ASENZ about search marketing and keyword research that will help you find out what people are searching for online and how your small business website can provide the goods to fill those gaps.