Six Free and Easy Digital Marketing Tips by NYC Small Business Services

I am working in collaboration with New York Small Business Development Center to bring you six free and easy things you can do to increase your business’s discoverability online. I am the global director of Digital Marketing at the First Data corporation based here in New York City and I teach digital marketing to small business owners in the evenings. I have identified these six things to get more traffic to your business’s website. So lets start off with one of the most important things you can do, which is making sure your website is mobile optimized. I don’t think I have to tell this to a lot of people out there, you guys already know this.

but as of 2015 more people use mobile devices to access websites and the internet than desktop computers. And this happened exactly around April 21st 2015, that’s when the tipping point occurred.

And, as of that point intime, Google is placing more importance on websites that are mobile optimized and if your website is not mobile optimized, meaning that it cannot be accessed by a mobile phone or a tablet, or anything in-between, Google will not rank you on the first page of Google, so this is really important to make sure that your website is mobile optimized. One of the ways you can do that is by using a website builder. Something like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace are great options to make sure your business is mobile optimized.

Typically, website builders like those three do that automatically so that you don’t have to like code a different way for your website. They build it right into your website. I really recommend Wix because it is something that is inexpensive, it’s easy to use, and in fact, right here in New York City, they have free personal one on one sessions while you can get support while you build your website.

The second most important thing you can do is to make sure that your website is optimized for search engines So, this is what’s referred to as SEO or search engine optimization And once you build your website, you have got to go back in there and make sure you are including your keywords in your Title tags, in your description tags and your H1 tags, making sure that your page loads quickly.

The one thing that I recommend doing once you build your website is run it through a website auditor like websitescore.

org once you have done that, that will output a report that tells you everything you can do to optimize your website. So websitescore.org is a great place to start, it is free it takes like 15 seconds, and it gives you a checklist of things you can do to improve your website. The third most important thing you can do is to get on Google Maps. Google maps is the most important mapping system out there, pretty much everyone uses it.

And if you’re not listed on google maps you are missing out on a lot of traffic and phone calls and potentially foot traffic to your business here in New York City. So, a little-known fact about Google Maps is that it is free to get on. SO, all you have to do is go to Google.com/business and follow the steps. You do have to have a physical address so if you have got like a home studio, retail store or a restaurant, you are definitely eligible for Google Business Maps, but you cannot use a P.O.

Box for example. You can’t get away with that because they actually do send you a verification postcard in the mail that you have got to legitimize your business. But if you do have a physical space where you run your business, then definitely apply for getting on Google Maps because it is one of the most effective ways to increase discoverability for your business. Now the fourth thing you can do to increase your discoverability online is to get on one of the most popular directory systems in the world, which is Yelp.

A little-known fact about Yelp is that it is free to list your business on there. You do not have to pay for it. All you have to do is go to biz.yelp.com- thats B-I-Z dot Y-E-L-P dot com and you can sign up for your business for free to be listed on Yelp.

The benefit here is that you get to link to your website you get to list your products and services you get to include your photographs, and you get to respond to reviews.

A lot of people use Yelp, it is one of the most popular directory systems in the world, it is the most popular directory system in the world so definitely sign up for free at biz.yelp.com The fifth most important thing you can do to increase your discoverability online is to start sending emails so if you have been collecting email addresses for your business for the last couple years, it is a good time to start sending email blasts out to your subscribers. If you have not yet started collecting email addresses I really recommend you do that.

One of the ways you can do that is by putting a little bar on your website so visitors come by to your website they can actually sign up for your newsletter. You can offer discounts, access to exlclusive events- things like that to entice them to give you there email address to you. Once you have that, you can use a system like constant contact to deliver your emails, basically for free, with constant contact up to a certain amount.

SO constant contact is one of my most favorite email service providers out there. it’s really easy to use, it is inexpensive, and free up to a certain amount.

And you can get started pretty much right away by uploading your list directly there. And then delivering helpful, relevant and engaging content to your subscribers. And finally, the 6th most important thing you can do is to start posting on social media. Now I am not suggesting that you have to be on every social media platform out there, but I think you should be where your customers are. So if you have a younger demographic for example, then you might want to consider being on Instagram or Snapchat.

If you have an older demographic, a group of people that is in 25+ Facebook might be the way to go. Post where you can, and where your customers are. And try and do what you are capable of doing. So don’t try and overcommit and post you know, three or four times a day. If you are only comfortable posting once a day then fine, stick with that and start with that.

But posting to social media and driving traffic to your werbsite is one of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your site and get more business.

If you guys would like to learn more about how to grow your business, you can go to NYSSBDC.org.

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