Hi, I’m Katie and I don’t have a beard.
But I do have a blog and online sustainable gift shop over at www.thesandpitblog.com, so I’m guest blogging for you guys today.
We need to talk about what the market is looking like for small businesses right now. Any idiot can set up a website. Shopify is basically ”out of the box” e-commerce. Anyone can get into business and sell stuff online.
It’s never been easier to leave the big smoke and go self- employed.
But - how do you get your name out there?
Advertising is flipping expensive, the market place is totally saturated with products and services - in most cases paid ads are a waste of money.
Ads simply aren’t getting the eyeballs they used to.
So if you’re setting out in business as a smaller fish…what’s the best strategy for growing big, whilst staying disruptive and agile?
Here are my 3 top tips for protecting start-ups and making money online this decade:
1. SEO - the best way to get lead conversion is through search engine traffic…people searching for the service you offer are already in the market and ready to buy from you. The trick is getting that visibility sought after on the first page of Google.
It pays to know how the algorithm works and what keywords generate the most leads. Google AdWords effectively lets you pay to jump the queue, with an auction style system inviting bids on keywords from relevant websites.
A combo of highest bid plus most relevant content (social media links are a boosting factor) wins the top spot.
2. Blogging - blogs are an excellent way of publishing regular, relevant content for your target audience.
Blogs work in 3 key ways to boost your business..
a. they drive traffic to your webpage
b. they include prime keyword content, boosting SEO rankings
c. they provide relevant, linkable content which can be referenced from other websites…again boosting traffic and SEO.
At www.thesandpitblog.com we offer guest blog spots to boost traffic to our sustainable luxury gift shop, where profits are ploughed into high impact ESG investment funds.
3. Collaboration - there’s an old African proverb “if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together” this strategy is going to be razor sharp to cut through the clutter in the crowded online marketplace.
Businesses which club together, collaborate, plug each other, will be a far greater force to be reckoned with.
Keep on top of competition for that most valuable and diminishing commodity - attention.
To protect your favourite start-ups: plug them, blog for them and collaborate with them.
Winners in the 2020s have to hunt in packs.
