Few things are as disheartening for small business owners than watching large corporate chains that produce subpar products and offer lesser-quality services, outdo them in sales and growth. Not only is it difficult to go up against a known brand because of their familiarity, but it also can feel nearly impossible to compete with them in terms of budget. You may feel like there is no chance you will ever be able to attract enough customers away from your competitors to reach your professional goals. You may even be struggling in a market as saturated as ours to find your place among other businesses your size that have a longer history working in the communities of the Greater Houston area.
Your difficulties, however unlikely they may seem to overcome, are not impossible. The solution can be found in the dated cliche we have all heard too many times, “work smarter, not harder.” These days, digital marketing allows for new businesses of all sizes to carve out a distinctive audience and create a platform to reach broader audiences with their brand, for a fraction of the cost of old school marketing techniques. The days of taking out ads in the newspaper or trying to get a 20-second blurb on the radio are long gone for most small and medium-sized businesses. In fact, even larger corporations are starting to reevaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, as digital marketing continues to rise in popularity.
These dated marketing strategies are not only budget-busters, they’re hopeful shots in the dark. If someone told you that you could invest your entire marketing budget into running a 20-second radio ad once a day for a month, but have no guarantee that anyone listening to the ad will be in need of the services you provide, remember the name of your business, or even be listening at all, or, you could target a specific audience online, that has already displayed an organic interest in the services you provide, by leading them directly to your website with your contact information and the details of your business readily available for half the cost, which would you choose?
Let’s put it this way, whether it’s a radio ad, a newspaper ad, or even a spot in the yellow pages, most people will glaze right over it. We are trained to ignore advertisements, we switch the radio station when it cuts to commercials to find a station playing music; we read the article in the paper we are interested in if we even read them at all; and most of us have not brought a phonebook into our homes in years.
So why waste your time and energy on marketing that plain and simple, does not work? Your competitors aren’t and neither should you.
These days, for a small business to develop a name for itself and thrive, it needs an online presence, and to stand out, it needs a good one. At Houston Small Business Marketing, we understand how difficult it is for small businesses to make a name for themselves against the big guys. This is why we have dedicated ourselves to finding solutions that bring success to real people, running real businesses.
So, how do we do it?
It all starts with a solid foundation. In order to market your business online, you have to build a website that engages potential customers. The website has to be impressive and easy to navigate, as well as accessible on both computers and personal smart devices. Our team does more than just build you a beautiful website, we utilize the latest marketing trends to get you the greatest SEO value for your business. Don’t know what SEO is? Don’t worry, we are getting to that. Every word that is written on your website, every photo that is placed, needs to be done with purpose in order to bring your business the greatest value online. The higher your value, the greater your domain authority, and the higher your domain authority the more traffic you will see online.
SEO Explored
So what exactly is SEO? SEO is the quick and tech-savvy way to say, “search engine optimization.” SEO is the navigator that leads your online experience every time you use a search engine to ask a question, look for a photo, or search for a local business. Have you ever wondered why some businesses show up higher than others on your search results? What possible scoring method is being used to determine who gets the top spot and who lands on page 10? It all comes back to SEO.
SEO is an evolving standard that is used by search engines, to rank websites that they believe offer the most relevant and accurate information for what it is you are searching for. There are many different standards that go into measuring the SEO value, and ultimately the domain authority of a website. Let’s explore some of those below:
Web Design: As previously mentioned, everything on your website will either help your domain authority or hurt it. This includes the way the information on your site is organized, the quality of the images you use, the number of pages within your site, if the content written in the site is unique and accurate, how fast your website loads, and much more. Building a website on your own can be overwhelming for anyone, but especially for small-business owners who are desperately trying to find their place among their competitors. The website development team at Houston Small Business Marketing is here to help you reach your goals by utilizing our industry knowledge and experience to make your website stand out. We want to see you succeed.
Social Media Marketing: It’s no secret that these days, everyone is glued to their phone. It seems that social networking is not going away anytime soon. While it may seem foreign to some business owners and impossible to penetrate, social media marketing is an excellent opportunity to build stronger relationships with your customers and to communicate directly with them. Social media allows you to let your customers know of any deals you have going on, changes you are making- including to your business hours, show photos of the work you have completed, and so much more. Our social media team will help you to grow your audience, while also creating eye-catching graphics that display the best parts of your business.
Google Business Listing: Does your business show up on Google-Maps? If so, are you showing up in the top three results on the Google 3-Pack? If not, you are missing out on a great opportunity to increase the traffic to your website, which directly translates to direct sales for your company. In order to optimize your Google Business Listing, you will need to do a lot more than just claim your company online, however, that is the first step. Our team can help to keep your Google listing relevant, by updating it regularly with fresh content and new photos. Doing this will help Google to recognize your business as legitimate and current, making them more inclined to recommend your business to those who are searching for the services you offer locally. This can be a huge game-changer for small businesses who are trying to succeed in saturated markets where the competition is steep.
Reputation Management: This is a big one, not only for how Google ranks you, but also for how potential customers will view your business. How many times have you looked at reviews for a business online before deciding if it was worth your time and energy to do business with them? These days online reviews can make or break your business. Many people think you have to have all 5-star reviews in order to succeed, luckily, this is not the case. It seems most consumers are understanding of the fact that businesses simply cannot please everyone. However, the way you choose to reply to a negative review will hold much more weight with potential customers. You want to keep the tone professional, you want to show you understand what they are saying, while also showing the steps you are taking to correct the problem. We will help monitor and reply to your reviews online, or if you would prefer to reply yourself, we can alert you to new reviews.
Blogs Are A Necessity: Many business owners make the mistake of thinking that no one will read the blogs they are posting on their website, so why bother? It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a blog with weekly updates, but running a blog might just be the step it takes to edge out your competitors. Even if no one ever reads the posts you write, Google will see these blogs, and will begin to see you as a subject-expert in your field. This can go a long way to increasing your domain authority, which can launch you to the top of search results for all local industry-specific searches in your area. Our team works to stay on top of all of the newest trends and keep your blog full of content that will increase the SEO value of your website. Do not get left behind in the dust of your competitors simply because you do not have a weekly-updated blog on your site.
Continued Efforts: A great web design will only last for so long in our modern world. In order to get to the top of search results, you will need to put time and energy into keeping your website and online presence relevant. In our day and age, things change rapidly and you have to keep up to maintain your place at the top. Our team will ensure you are evolving with trends as they grow so you are not left behind. This includes updating information on your site as your business evolves, updating formatting changes as new ones become available, and more. Let us help you succeed in your industry.
At Houston Small Business Marketing, we understand that for most business owners, running their company is already a full-time job! Keeping up with online marketing trends and finding new ways to incorporate them effectively for your own website and online resources can be too time-consuming. Unfortunately, for many small businesses in Houston, the industry they work in is highly competitive. By failing to stay on top of online marketing trends, you run the risk of losing business to your competitors who are actively working to market their company online. Do not let a business with an inferior product or service outrank you online. Instead, contact Houston Small Business Marketing today! Our team will work with you every step of the way to ensure your business is standing out online and reaching new customers.
Ensure your quality services and products are being seen online when you work with the SEO professionals at HOUSBM. Our team understands how important connecting to your current customers and new customers are, this is why we put a strong focus on developing user-friendly websites, with plenty of informative content to help increase your chances of converting online users into actual customers. If you would like to improve your company’s website and expand your reach online, contact us today. Our team of Houston SEO professionals can help to answer any questions you may have and explain in depth the services we provide to small and medium-sized businesses.
Digital Marketing Experts in Houston
Stop missing out on potential customers and become a force within your industry! From excellent web design and social media management to Google Business Listing optimization and a weekly-updated blog, the team at Houston Small Business Marketing is here to help you get to the next level. Grow your business when you expand your reach online. If you are tired of giving away potential customers to your competitors, contact us today! We dedicate ourselves to working closely with business owners to come up with a marketing plan that helps them succeed. We provide each customer with a free consultation for your website and social media to let you know how you can improve your placement online and grow your engagement with local potential customers looking for your services. Contact us today to learn more about the services we offer.
Houston Small Business Marketing
713-492-0025
1415 North Loop West #950
Houston, TX 77008
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