So, you’re finally climbing the success ladder: you’ve taken your small business online. Well done! Whether you’re photographing exotic locations, selling meatloaves using Grandpa’s old recipe, or hosting small business events – pat yourself on the back. Overcoming the challenge of launching a small business website and raking in those first few visitors is an achievement in itself.
But don’t start resting on your laurels just yet. There’s a bigger mountain to conquer: scaling your presence. If you want to take your business to the next level – and we know you do – you’ve got to expand, and keep getting bigger, year after year. If you’re ready to scale, let us show you the path: use the following pieces of advice to scale your small business website, the smart way.
Make It Convenient for People to Buy
How hard is it for visitors to figure out what payment methods you’re accepting and where to go to enter their credentials? Both should be transparent and straightforward. Consider measures you can take to optimize the checkout experience, or how you can streamline your payment processing operations.
For instance, site owners have the option to hook up their small business website with a payment gateway service designed to convert more visitors into buyers. The right gateway minimizes shopping cart abandonment on the payment webpage by accepting multiple payment methods, empowering the shoppers to pay with their preferred form of payment (debit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.). Another way to fine tune checkout is by creating a self-service form to offer multiple quotes, rather than having potential customers email you for inquiries.
Start a Community
Build a community space for your brand and invite like-minded individuals to learn, assemble, and share thoughts. A smart way to do this on the web is by opening a Facebook group, in addition to the business page, especially if you want to increase brand awareness among a niche audience. Invite your regular customers to engage in conversations and build relationships.
The group can also be used to offer exclusive deals, giveaways, and discounts for your product or service. If it takes off, the group can be a great way to scale your business – and for your audience to relate to your brand at a personal level. As an additional requirement, you will need to create ground rules and find trustworthy people to resolve conflicts and moderate content.
Send Compelling Newsletters
Include an option to opt into a newsletter and send it to your website visitors, group members, and social followers. Set it up in a way that it doesn’t appear and read like spam mail, and schedule it to be delivered weekly to each email address that you gather. If it’s well-designed and the content is fresh, your email newsletter can inspire clicks and opens that increase referrals to your website.
Additionally, use the newsletter to announce company achievements, build traction, and offer “subscriber only” promotions. Draw on the content posted on your blog, and don’t forget to place a call-to-action in each newsletter. Over time, carefully crafted email newsletters will help you not only create a long-term relationship with subscribers, but also help you measure responses to your marketing efforts.
By making sure that your customers find it easy to pay, creating a community, and doing test runs of your email newsletter, you’ll have a higher chance of upgrading your website into a thriving, expanding brand.
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