Google and the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new partnership aimed at providing resources and tools to help small businesses that want to grow their business online. “Tools for Online Success” is a website featuring videos and tutorials from small business owners who have used the internet to grow their business and advice from Google’s experts.
Here are some of the tips for small business owners that are taken from the videos and tutorials:
Establish an online presence:
As more and more people get online to find information and local lookups grow, an online presence is increasingly important for a small business. Whether it’s creating a website or starting a twitter feed, there are many steps that you can take to enhance your visibility online. Directory sites, such as Google Places, allow you to claim your listing and input information about your business. This means that as people search the internet to learn more about your business, you are able to build the profile they’ll view.
Utilize free marketing tools to reach your consumer base:
Services like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube allow you to communicate with customers and grow your fan base. These tools are great “word-of-mouth” platforms – where you customers can tell their friends about your products. Keep customers in-the-loop about new promotions or specials, or exciting events.
Know your customers:
Easy to use analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, can help you better understand how your content is being received by customers. You can analyze what search term brought visitors to your webpage and what content they look at while they are there. This information will help you make intelligent decisions about what stories to feature and what terms to run search engine advertisements on.
Stay aware of the latest trends:
The recent growing popularity of smart phones has meant that more and more customers search for information on the go. This makes it very important that your business information be up-to-date and online. To cater to consumers with smart phones you can provide driving directions, post digital coupons and link to your menu.
Click here to view Google’s “Tools for Online Success.”
