When it comes to online marketing, there are many different options for your business, that can help you gain visibility and grow your audience. Everything from social media to paid ads can be tools to help you get your business where it needs to be. However, it is important to note that the more effort you put into building your image online, the better your results will be. This is why at Houston Small Business Marketing, we focus on taking a comprehensive approach to online marketing in order to provide businesses with the most effective marketing available. Our team is dedicated to staying on top of all of the latest trends to keep your business relevant and performing at the highest standard online. We understand that spreading awareness about your brand and making it easy for individuals to locate your business can make the difference between a failing and thriving business. Let us help your business thrive.
Listed below are some of the areas we work to enhance the marketing of your business:
Web Development in Houston: Your website is often your first chance to make an impression on a potential customer. You want a sleek, modern, and easy to navigate website in order to engage a customer and show them who you are, what services you offer, and what makes you stand out from your competitors. When someone comes to your website they will be judging your brand, determining if they believe your business is a good fit for them or not. It is important that you represent your business in a way that leads to conversions, otherwise, potential customers will keep searching for another business they feel is competent and has quality resources representing their company.
While it is true that having a beautiful, clean, and easy to navigate website is essential for your business, ensuring that your website shows up under relevant search terms for locals in your area is vital for success. This is done in many ways, leading us to provide a comprehensive approach to marketing your business, but one of the most important aspects of this is covered when building your website. Every single part of your business’s website needs to be designed with SEO concepts in mind. SEO stands for search engine optimization. Whenever your website has excellent search engine optimization, it means that locals in your area searching for the services you provide will quickly and easily be directed to your website. If you are a tax attorney in Houston, you should be able to do a Google search for the term, “tax attorney” and find a link leading to your website within the first few search results. If this is not the case, you are losing potential customers to your competitors.
By working with the team at Houston Small Business Marketing, you are getting the best web design services available. Our team is here to help you design your website in a way that gets you the most bang for your buck. Every photo that is used on your website, every word that is written, and every page that is labeled, must be done in a way that fits into Google’s algorithm in order to secure you a place at the top of search results. This is an ongoing process that requires continued efforts but can help you to dominate all search terms that are relevant to your area and your industry.
Social Media Marketing in Houston: Social media started over a decade ago and in this time it has transformed the way we interact with each other and the communities we interact with. For businesses social media has opened the doors to communication with their customers in a way that has enhanced the customer experience. These days, when an individual visits a business’s website they just expect there to be social media widgets on the site that redirect them straight to the business’s social media accounts. If you are scratching your head trying to figure out what a social media widget is, you are already behind your competitors. A social media widget is an icon that corresponds with a social media account, when this widget is clicked it will redirect the user directly to the social media account for that business. For instance, if you visit your favorite restaurant’s website, you may see a row of small icons, a camera for Instagram, the letter “F” for Facebook, the notorious bird symbol that is associated with Twitter, and so forth.
Linking your social media to your website not only helps to increase the user’s experience and provide potential customers with helpful insight about your brand, but it also will help increase your rankings online. At Houston Small Business Marketing everything we do is done with the intention of helping you increase your ranking online so you can be discovered by new customers and so your current customers can easily locate you. Social media requires a strong presence online, it is a continuous process that business owners will need to invest their time and resources into in order to be successful.
There is the option for social media advertising as well, which will cost money per advertisement that you run. At Houston Small Business Marketing we leave social media ads up to the discretion of the business owner. If you are interested in learning about how these ads work, or coming up with a marketing campaign that includes paid advertising, we can help you.
Google Business Management: Taking care of your Google Business Listing is a vital component of managing your brand online and gaining traction in your placement on Google. Google wants to know that you are being transparent with your potential customers about the business you run and the way you operate. This means, they want you to share all relevant information someone may be interested in learning about your business, this includes:
Hours of operation
The type of business you run
Your contact details
Your location information
Photos of the interior and exterior of your business
Important information such as if your business is handicap accessible
FAQs that have thoughtful responses
Google Reviews that have been appropriately responded to
This information will all need to be current and filled out in order for Google to recognize your business as legitimate. Your business should be showing up on Google Maps, linking back to your website and providing the proper contact information for your business. Without thoughtful development of your Google business profile, Google may suspect that your business is not legitimate, which can negatively impact your ranking online.
Why Is It Important to Claim Your Google Business Listing?
According to Google:
- Appear more credible online
When potential customers search online, they look for products but also signs that the businesses selling those products are real, active, and trustworthy. When they come across an incomplete online listing, it gives them doubts. A local business listing without a logo, photos or a description is the equivalent of finding a shop with boarded-up windows.
Claim your Business Profile on Google to confirm that your business name is accurate, choose and claim a short name and URL, and share:
Your logo
A description of your business
Your contact information
Your opening hours (including seasonal variations)
A link to your website
A cover photo
Photos of the outside and inside of your business, as well as products
Filling out the profile confirms everything prospective buyers expect to see: Up-to-date hours, contact information, and, possibly, recent customer reviews – social proof that your shop is worth visiting. Businesses that fill out their profile in full are perceived as twice as reputable by consumers, and it makes your shop more attractive to consumers in your local community as well as tourists and other out-of-town visitors.
- Get found in local search results
Search may be global, but most prospective customers think local when they use it. More than 80% of people search the web to find local information using keywords like “in London” or “near me”. By filling out your listing, you’re more likely to show up in those local searches and have the opportunity to engage with potential customers.
A sandwich shop in Manchester that has filled out its profile, for example, could show up when nearby people search “sandwich shop”, or could show up for those who search “best sandwiches in Manchester” in any location. The people searching could live in town, be visiting, or simply be planning a visit – the sandwich shop’s local listing could reach them all.
When a Business Profile on Google shows up in search, it appears at the top of the page, to the right-hand side of other organic search results as a ‘Knowledge Panel’, making it immensely valuable to small businesses who might otherwise struggle to be discovered online. If visitors click, it can lead to sales. Research shows that complete listings are 29% more likely to attract purchases. Make every impression count by completing your profile and keeping it fresh with new photos and posts.
- Convince more potential customers to buy
The simpler you make it for potential customers to buy directly from your profile, the more sales you have the chance to attract. This means being clear about what you offer and how potential customers can shop or visit, and making the purchasing process as simple as possible. Here’s how you can achieve that:
Post photos
Images are a powerful tool for marketing your business, so be sure to take advantage. Research shows that businesses that add photos to their profile receive 42% more requests for directions than those that don’t. A London pub that serves fish and chips, for instance, can make its profile more attractive by uploading mouthwatering photos of its freshly battered cod.
Share posts
Business owners can write posts on their Business Profile on Google to highlight their products or announce special offers, for example. The more often a business owner posts promotions, the more reasons they give for indecisive prospects to visit or buy. And if those posts are targeted to particular audiences – such as tourists – they’re more likely to catch their attention.
Answer questions
Users can ask questions directly through your Business Profile on Google, so it’s important to check back regularly and respond to any queries as promptly as possible. This indicates to users that your business is active and engaged, and that you’re keen to deliver good service. If there are particular questions that potential customers ask frequently, businesses can answer them in the Q&A section of their profile. For instance, a Sheffield diner could announce that it caters, but only to specific postcodes, and an Edinburgh dry cleaner could explain the cutoff times for its same-day dry cleaning service.
Use a call-to-action button
Business owners can opt in to allow customers to make a booking or message them directly via their Business Profile on Google. Encouraging potential customers to take action in the moment they’re browsing reduces the number of steps involved with calling or visiting, thereby increasing the likelihood that they’ll decide to follow through.
Businesses that engage users with posts, photos, answers to common questions, and call-to-actions can create a profile that’s more inviting to potential customers – and more likely to attract clicks and visits.
- Persuade past customers to return
Business owners can maintain a conversation with previous local customers by updating their profile frequently and giving them reasons to return to their shop or website. They can post limited-time discounts, announce new seasonal offerings, and share general news about the business to stay top of local shoppers’ minds.
If customers have left reviews, business owners can build a relationship with them by responding, which they can do easily from their phone or tablet via the Google My Business app. If the reviews are positive, saying thanks makes users feel valued, and may inspire repeat visits. If the reviews are negative, the owner has the opportunity to win over unhappy users by replying thoughtfully. Even if you don’t change a reviewer’s mind, you’ve at least shown other potential customers that you care and are responsive.
Make a habit of responding to your Business Profile reviews regularly. That way, it only takes a small amount of time each week or each month, and you won’t accumulate six months of reviews to respond to all at once. To keep up-to-date, enable push notifications from your profile so that you are notified when your business receives a new review.
- Make your local online ads more effective
A complete Business Profile on Google can make your digital marketing more effective by offering insights into who your local potential customers are and how they interact with your listing. From the Insights tab within the Business Profile on Google dashboard, business owners can view details like:
How many customers visited their Business Profile on Google
Which buttons customers clicked
Which photos customers viewed
Which geographical locations customers searched from the most
The free insights provided by Business Profile on Google can help with various aspects of your digital marketing, including Google Ads campaigns. Based on this information, a cobbler in Cardiff, for example, could learn that they should include the keyword “shoe repair” in local search ads, use a particularly popular photo of hiking boots in display ads, and target ads to people living in the Riverside area of the city.
Setting up a Business Profile on Google can be an incredibly valuable resource for small businesses. They can help business owners appear more credible, show up in online searches, attract the attention of new customers from near and afar, and create a more robust digital marketing strategy, all for a small time investment. And remember, the more complete your profile is, the more likely it is to deliver results and help your business grow.
Digital Marketing Company 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
https://www.facebook.com/housbm
Houston Small Business Marketing
713-492-0025
1415 North Loop West #950
Houston, TX 77008
https://houstonsmallbusinessmarketing.com/
