A website is the home of your online business. A well-built website can help customers who visit your page understand:

• what can you do for them

• What makes you a stronger choice than your competitors

• How can they contact you?

• How can they make a purchase?

Your website also acts as the focal point of your online presence. Other marketing campaigns and efforts to build your digital presence will direct customers to your website so they can explore your product or service offerings, make a purchase, or contact a customer service representative.

That's why it's good to take the time to create a quality website that represents your brand well and adheres to best practices for attracting customers. You can use Upwork's free Website Cost Calculator tool to estimate the costs of building a website.

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How do I promote my business online?

1. Start a website

Fortunately, putting a website together doesn't require you to know how to code different elements of the site. Instead, you can use a website builder, such as Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly. A website builder provides several tools that allow you to select which elements, including the layout, you want on the pages of your site. You can then focus on developing content for each page.

When you start building a website, focus on creating pages that accurately reflect your brand and the message you want to communicate to customers. Help your page visitors understand what sets you apart and how your products or services can help them address their pain points.

Here are some tips for building your website:

• Make sure it's easy for customers to find what they're looking for. For example, if they want to call you or place an order, make sure they know exactly where to go so they don't have to click through many pages when searching.

• Don't clutter the pages with text. Each page should be easily crawlable so that customers can absorb the information with minimal effort.

• Use high-quality images that reflect your products and services. The more original images you can shoot and the fewer stock images you have to rely on, the more attractive you are to your customers.

• Try to optimize for the words and phrases customers use when searching for businesses like yours. For example, let's say you are a local artist. A high-quality website should allow customers to view your artwork, shop online, or provide contact information if they have questions about the artwork or wish to visit your physical store (if you have one).

A website is a vital component if you want to promote an online business like this.

2. Public relations

Public relations (PR) are a way to advertise your company's achievements, such as new product launches or developments in your organization. In particular, digital press releases can help promote your name on third-party websites, potentially introducing you to a wider audience. They may also include direct links to your company's website. This can help you boost your online business and attract more customers to your website to learn more about your brand.

• Start a PR campaign

To start a PR campaign, focus on highlighting something specific about your business. For example, if you are opening a new office, launching a new product or undertaking a new initiative within your organization, you can create a public relations campaign around this development.

Your campaign should highlight who within your target audience will care most about this development and who you want to attract with your campaign. For example, consider a cybersecurity company opening a new office in another state. They could design a PR campaign that includes a press release announcing the opening, social media promotions targeting people living near the new location, and website announcements.

Each part of the campaign works together to spread the word and encourage people at the new location to contact the company, visit the company site, or see if the company offers the cybersecurity protection they need.

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3. E-mail

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves sending emails. It allows you to stay in touch with current and potential customers regularly, nurturing them and keeping them engaged with your business.

Even if a prospect has become a customer, it doesn't mean your relationship is over. The idea is that customers keep buying from you every time they need to purchase in your industry. So, don't overlook the importance of keeping them satisfied and engaged, as well as cultivating prospects.

You can use email to send a variety of content. For example, you can let people know when you've posted content on your website that they might find useful or interesting based on their customer profile. You can also tell them about promotions or even ask them about their satisfaction with their purchase.

          Create an email list

The first step in an email campaign is to create an email list. A successful mailing list captures the addresses of people interested in your brand and they want to know more about what you have to say. You can use a variety of strategies to acquire email addresses, including:

• Create closed content, such as white papers or e-books that people need to sign up to receive.

• Host webinars or other industry events that encourage sign-ups.

• Invite people to subscribe to your newsletter or email lists.

• Collection of customer email addresses when making a purchase.

You can also start tracking the different groups of people who sign up across different platforms. Those who sign up for a specific newsletter versus those who gladly give you an email address at the time of purchase are likely to have a different approach. Tracking this information allows you to segment your email lists and send content that only applies to them.

For example, let's say you have a prospect who has downloaded a white paper about a specific service you offer. You can segment this lead with other leads who have expressed interest in the service. When you have content to email on this service, you have the perfect audience to send it to. Since the topic is relevant to your audience, they're also more likely to open up and interact with it, which increases open and click rates.

4. Send promotional emails

Now that you've created your email lists and know how to use them to nurture leads, the next step is to send promotional emails. Your emails should focus on topics and offers that will appeal to a particular segment the most.

For instance, Let's say we have a segmented list of existing customers. If so, your promotion might offer renewal discounts, and tips on how to extend the life of a product or get the best value from a product. If you have a customer interested in a particular service, you can offer them information or discounts on the service.

By segmenting your lists by region, you can send promotional emails based on the weather, events, or trends in the area. If customers in a particular region are expecting snow, for example, you can write an email about using your product huddled near a fire. When your emails are highly relevant to customers and prospects, they will be more inclined to open them. Your business promotions can help encourage people to visit your site, make a purchase, or overcome any initial hesitation.

5. Contents

Your website content plays a central role in engaging customers by communicating your brand and values. Most of your content will appear somewhere on your website. However, it can also be hosted within other web properties for business promotion, such as guest posts you write and material you post for social media.

Content marketing helps to let customers know about your brand. Those unfamiliar with your brand will read your material to know what you offer and how you can help them. The content can also take a variety of forms. Many people associate content with text, but this only includes part of it. You can also have video content and images, such as images or infographics.

The goal of the content you produce lies in educating and engaging customers. Successful content creation also requires that your brand is sensitive to your customer's needs and what potential customers want to see.

• Develop blog content

Blogs can host most of your content. On your blog, you can write posts on many different topics, such as news related to your industry, suggestions for your products, and even announcements about your company. The blog content gives you plenty of opportunities to educate and inform readers so they see you as an authority who can answer their questions.

For example, consider a SaaS business. They can create blog content related to best practices to nurture leads as they come through the website. When new companies interested in finding a marketing professional who can help them better manage leads come across the post, they are more likely to view the SaaS company as an expert in the field. This encourages them to learn more about the brand and its potential to help them improve their lead-nurturing practices.

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Whether you want to promote an e-commerce business or run a business-to-business (B2B) organization, building a digital following and engaging with potential customers online can help you grow. As you learn how to promote your business online with these different strategies, use metrics to help you understand your progress and which strategies work best for you.

You can also promote your business through SMS with SmartSMSSolutions. SMS Marketing can enable you to reach those who are not available in the online space and help you generate more leads and business sales. Start your SMS Marketing with SmartSMSSolutions now !