Getting Discovered As A New Business

Whether you’ve started a website, began to sell on Amazon, or just opened an Etsy shop, one of the toughest parts of starting a new business venture is getting found by your target audience. Plus once you are found by your audience, you need to get them to stick around long enough to learn more about you.

A lot of this work begins before you even launch your business, though it is never too late to go back and make changes. Today we’ll cover some of the basics of getting discovered as a new business.

1.      Focus On SEO

Search engine optimization is extremely important when it comes to getting your online business found. Most of the time when any of us are searching for a product or service, we’re heading to a search engine, not a specific website.

This is why organic search is so important, and luckily you don’t have to be a big business with a big budget to get your website noticed.

You want to focus on creating unique content through your product titles and descriptions. Craft an interesting About Page that tells your unique story. Use internal links on your website and blog (but don’t go overboard). Do keyword research, not only into what your customers are searching for, but into what sort of keywords your competitors are using.

Be patient, because SEO is a constantly evolving process and it can take time for you to see the results. The more you work at it, the better at it you’ll get.

2.      Build Trust

When you’re first starting out you don’t have a reputation yet, which means customers may be wary of trusting you. It’s your job to show them that you are a trustworthy business.

You’ll want to make sure your shop is well stocked with plenty of quality products. You’re not likely to buy from a shop only selling  a handful of products, are you? If you’re still working on adding more products consider listing item variations as separate products for the time being.

You’ll also want your company policies, including information on privacy and returns, to be easy to find and easy to understand. This is very important for a new business without a reputation. Not having clear policies is a great way for customers to leave your site.

And, this is important, always reply to your customers and do so quickly. It builds additional trust and your new customers will be impressed at your turnaround time.

3.      Make Sure Your Products Look Professional

No one is going to pay for a product that looks like it has been poorly made, and if your product pages aren’t up to snuff that’s exactly what your customers will think.

The last thing you want is for a customer to make it to a product page only to turn away because you didn’t put the work in to make it look great.

This starts with excellent product photography. Images should be clear, crisp, and show exactly what the product is. It’s even better if you have multiple shots of the item including it assembled and photographed from different angles.

It’s also important that you present your customer with excellent item descriptions. Your words are what will lead the customer to make a final purchase. You should always present the most important information about your item in the first couple lines. Use bullet points and make it easy to find key information throughout the description.

4.      Market, Market, Market

Like it or not, marketing is a huge part of any business, and yours isn’t the exception. There’s no way to go into great detail about marketing in a couple of paragraphs, but we’ll give you a snapshot.

Use word of mouth. Tell your friends and family about your new business and ask them to tell the people they know. Your loved ones want you to succeed so this is a great place to start.

Social media is essential in this growing digital age, so start building your brand by getting company profiles on a couple social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. We go into greater detail about social media in our social media strategies post, so check that out for more detailed information.

If you have some money to spend, consider online advertising. This could be through social media ads, Google Adwords, and a whole host of other options.

5.      Use Analytics

The only way to improve is to study the results. Whether you’re using Google Analytics or whatever statistics tool is available to you, make sure you check it often.

You can use analytics tools to track sales, keyword performance, what products your customers are most interested in, how your website is being found, and so much more. You should also do this across your social media channels. Pay attention to what posts have greater engagement and pay attention to what times of the day is getting your largest social reach.

Use these analytics to make changes to your website and SEO. It is helpful to generate reports and keep track of the changes in your stats. This can also be helpful for discovering what times of year you are busier and when business is slow.

Growing your business is a long, ongoing process. It is important that you don’t let yourself get discouraged if the growth is slower than you’d like. Keep working hard to build your business one step at a time.