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How to Move Your Small Business Online During the Pandemic 

 

During the initial coronavirus shutdown, many small businesses had to find new ways to keep the cash flowing after closing their doors to walk-in traffic. As a result, a lot of entrepreneurs turned to e-commerce. Beyond the current crisis, there are several great reasons to maximize your online presence, whether this means selling products online, engaging with customers on social media, or using digital marketing strategies to meet your customers where they are. Here are some profitable ways to move your business into the virtual world! 

 

Build an E-commerce Website 

 

The popularity of online shopping surged dramatically during the COVID-19 lockdown. As consumers turned to online retailers, many small businesses were able to stay afloat by switching gears to focus on e-commerce. If you haven’t already, this is a great time to get yourself an e-commerce website! Despite what many small business owners think, running a website is incredibly affordable and can even increase your bottom line. 

Photo via Rawpixel 

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Now could also be a good opportunity to create an app for your small business. According to Keap, a mobile app will help increase the visibility of your brand, strengthen your customer engagement, generate additional income, and enable you to market to your customers more directly. If you’re on a tight budget, keep your costs down by hiring a freelance app developer for this project. You can use freelancing platforms to search for experienced mobile app development candidates. 

 

Adapt Your Marketing for the Internet  

 

Once your business has some kind of online presence, you can get started with digital marketing. Compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing is more cost-effective and easier to implement, and you can measure the results in real-time so you can quickly make changes to maximize the use of your marketing dollars. Digital marketing also allows you to reach a much larger audience! 

 

Establish a Social Media Strategy 

 

Every business, no matter how small, needs to be active on social media. A good social media strategy will help you stay focused on your goals so you can get the most out of your time spent engaging with consumers and marketing your business. Start by conducting a competitive analysis of what your competition is doing on social media. This will help you see what’s working and what’s not, so you can avoid making the same mistakes as your competitors. A competitive analysis will also help you spot gaps that you can fill with your own social media strategy. 

 

Produce High-Value Content 

 

Producing content—on social media and elsewhere—will help position your brand as a trusted authority in your industry. You want consumers to see your business as a valuable source of information. How can you do this? Publish high-quality, valuable content that answers important questions and seeks to solve problems that your target audience is experiencing.  

 

But before you can start, you have to know who your audience is! To find your target audience, HubSpot recommends engaging with your social media followers, checking your social media analytics, and using Google Analytics to learn more about the people who are visiting your website and making purchases. 

 

When you’re running a business, you may not have time to produce high-quality and engaging content. In this case, you’re best off hiring freelance writers for the job. Workbrite can connect you with talented writing professionals around the world who can create captivating content for your brand.  

 

Start Tracking Website Analytics 

 

If you’re not monitoring your web traffic, you’ll never know where your customers are coming from or how they’re interacting with your website. Measuring your web traffic analytics will help you make business decisions based on how your customers actually behave. You can track all kinds of metrics that directly relate to your ROI, including your website bounce rate, conversion rate, email click-through rate, and social media engagement. Try to focus on metrics like these that provide actionable insights, so you can use them to adjust your business strategy effectively. 

 

The coronavirus pandemic has served as an excellent source of encouragement for small business owners to catch up with the times and embrace virtual technology. Whether this means building an app for your business or learning how to track your website analytics, focusing on your online presence will put your business on the path to success! 

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