Setting up a new business is a thrilling experience – both in terms of the endless possibilities and the fear of failure. One of the trickiest things for most people is understanding how to get their new business found online.
After all, with so much competition, standing out can be a challenge even for those with bottomless budgets.
We’ll assume that you’re working with a limited budget, and that you have your business website all set up and ready to go. So, how can you drive traffic to your site to improve your business chances of success quickly?
1. Focus on social media
Building a good and engaged social media following is one of the most effective ways for most new businesses to get found online. The problem is, again, finding your way to stand out.
Consistent and targeted posting is the obvious way – with those who post daily found to increase their followers by up to 400%.
But the thing with social media is that it’s easy to waste time scrolling and getting side tracked. Have a goal in mind, create your posts in a scheduler and focus on your task rather than getting sucked into scrolling.
Which social media platform to use? Well, that will depend on your business.
B2B businesses see the best results on Linkedin and Facebook.
But B2C works well on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and even sites like Reddit or Twitter.
Depending on your niche, you might also see an opportunity on Pinterest or Snapchat. Understand where your target audience spend their social media time and focus on those platforms.
2. Paid search results
If you want to get traffic to your new website quickly, the best option by far is paid search results. Google Ads is the obvious choice here, as the biggest search engine.
The tricky thing is that it can quickly get expensive, especially if you don’t know what you’re really doing with paid search. In this instance, it’s better to focus on low competition keywords that are more likely to attract a client looking to convert.
For example, if you’re selling shoes, instead of targeting ‘sneakers for men’ or ‘cheap sneakers’, you should focus on ‘sneakers with fast delivery’ or ‘sneakers for marathon training’.
What you should notice is that the better search terms are focusing on a specific request or needs – instead of general window shopping.
This can apply to pretty much any business. Understand what your customers are searching for at the decision end of the funnel, and hit those paid search terms.
Can this also work with paid social? Absolutely… But choosing between paid search and paid social is a whole other subject.
3. Create content
If you have a website how is it going to get found? The answer is creating regular content. This might be a written blog, it might be videos, it might be downloadable assets like ebooks.
The point is that useful content attracts people looking to solve their problems – and creating it regularly gives the search engines a reason to highlight you as an authority.
Yes, you can mix and match. For example, make videos for YouTube and embed them into your website, make a great guide and share it as a thread on Twitter or create a useful series of posts on Facebook and build them into a downloadable ebook on your website.
You heard the cliche ‘content is king’. There is a reason for that. Search engine optimisation, as it’s know, is probably the best way to get found online, but organic traffic takes time to build. This isn’t a one week job, but one that might take months.
If you’re not an expert, consider hiring a content expert (such as a content writer or video creator) to help you out.
4. Get people talking about you
There are several ways you can build a buzz around your brand. A tried and tested trick is to release some unique research from your brand and send it as a press release to as many publishers as you can.
As an example, if you run an online catering supplies company, you might want to conduct some research with your existing customers to ask what the biggest challenges for their business are. You could then release a report titled, ‘the biggest challenges to caterers in 20XX’.
You may then (hopefully) earn some mentions and backlinks to your research paper on your website.
Not an option for you?
Try these other to get attention to your brand:
- Sponsor an event or team
- Appear as a guest speaker
- Host an event (either physical or online can be good)
If you look at brands like Red Bull… when they first launched in Europe, they never ran any paid campaigns. Instead, they would sponsor sports events, give their drink to sports people and hire attractive hosts (usually women) to sell their drink at high profile events. Yes, they have money, but you can use similar approaches to get your new business found online.
Another option is to run a slightly controversial ad campaign… But be careful of the difference between good and bad controversy.
5. Hire an influencer
Another way to get people talking about you is to hire an influencer. Whatever you may think of them, they are a good way to reach an audience for what might be a reasonable amount.
Now, we’re not talking Kardashian level influencer here… That’s for the Nikes and Coca Colas of this world.
But there are plenty of smaller influencers who might be able to offer an attractive deal for small businesses such as yours. How do you find them?
Search on Instagram, YouTube or wherever you think your audience might be. You might manage to sponsor a podcast for a small fee, or get a mention at the beginning of a popular YouTuber’s lastest video.
6. Give out freebies
People love a freebie. And if you want to get a new business found online, tempt people with free things…
This might be a free download, a free gift, or entry to a free prize draw.
Or, in the real world, you could hand out samples of your product or small gifts like pens, cloth bags or whatever else you can source to attract attention.
Obviously, get your URL printed on everything and make sure people know who the freebie is from!
These are some of the best ways to get your new business found online. We hope you find these tips useful – don’t forget to check out more useful tips to make money online right here.
