The online environment is one which is often approached with trepidation by small businesses. It's natural to fear the unknown, but technology offers such an extensive range of growth opportunities that it is too big to ignore.
While small business software can help with everything from forecasting cash flow to compiling financial reports, all of that will be in vain if the company's online home is not easy to use.
Building a sleek and accessible website is one thing, but attracting new users to it regularly is another entirely. Generating traffic is crucial for small businesses that have more niche offerings than bigger rivals.
With that in mind, here's how to boost online visitor numbers:
The need for speed
Making sure your small businesses web pages run as fast as possible is important for two big reasons.
Firstly, a large portion of the indexing done by sites such as Google and Bing is based around speed. In the simplest of terms, the quicker the page loads the more respectable it is in the eyes of a search engine.
Secondly, users will relish a streamlined and easy-to-use web page. This can unlock the potential for repeat business and ultimately boost profits.
Keep it fresh and clean
Ensuring that content and offerings stay on-trend - with the target audience in mind - will help in efforts to boost traffic.
Not only will visitors to the site be more likely to register their interest or even go through with a purchase, but those customers may recommend your business if they're impressed by its online offerings.
Speculate to accumulate
Everyone likes to get something for nothing. Keeping that mantra in mind is a simple and effective way to drive traffic to your company's online offerings.
Publishing voucher codes, running contests or even giving away entire products for free can help boost your site's popularity. Buzz about giveaways will quickly spread via social media which will help level the playing field for companies with more modest budgets for their online activities.