21 Free Ways to Market Your Business Online
Introduction
Effective marketing is crucial for growing your business, but it often comes with a hefty price tag. If you don’t have the budget for an expensive ad agency or digital marketing firm, don’t worry—there are other options.
Instead of relying on costly services, you can explore free methods to promote your business online. These strategies not only exist but are surprisingly effective. The best part? They require no investment other than your time. You can utilize these tactics during your off-hours to help your business gain the recognition and revenue it deserves.
In this guide, we’ll explore various ways to market your business online. To get started, let’s dive into the fundamentals.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO refers to the practice of enhancing your website so that search engines, such as Google, can easily understand and rank it. SEO is a broad term that includes a variety of techniques aimed at improving visibility in search results.
One of the most crucial aspects of SEO is using the right tags. Tags are snippets of HTML code that guide web browsers, search engines, and algorithms in interpreting the content of your page. When people discuss SEO, you’ll often hear about “title tags.” A title tag () provides a webpage with its title, similar to how a book title defines the content inside. This title tag tells both search engines and visitors what the page is about.
Search engines consider title tags in their algorithms when displaying search results to users. These title tags are typically the largest text in search results and are clickable, allowing users to easily access the page they’re looking for.
To effectively implement SEO, you must begin with a site audit to identify what improvements your website needs. Tools like CrawlerFX can help with this process. CrawlerFX will check if your title tags are properly utilized, and it will also provide insights into other key areas, such as keyword usage. Once the site audit is complete, you’ll be ready to leverage SEO to enhance your website’s performance.
Ensure that each page of your website is optimized with appropriate title tags, relevant keywords, and well-crafted content for the best results.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the leading tool for tracking user activity on your website. Offered for free by Google, it’s one of the most powerful software solutions available for monitoring user behavior. To get started, simply sign up for a Google Analytics account. Google will then provide you with a tracking code that needs to be added to every page of your site. This code enables you to track user actions, such as which pages they visit, how long they stay, and when they convert into customers or leads—critical information for business growth.
Google Analytics helps you identify which areas of your site are successfully converting visitors into customers. If a page is performing exceptionally well, you can replicate it to attract even more customers. Conversely, if a page is underperforming, you can adjust your strategy for future pages. Additionally, you can set up goals that track daily, weekly, monthly, and annual progress, giving you a clear picture of your business growth.
With these insights, you can accurately determine whether your business is on the right path.
Google My Business
Google My Business is the primary platform Google uses to gather essential information about your business. Although the details it collects are fairly straightforward, they can significantly impact your search rankings. Your business’s name, address, phone number, and hours of operation are crucial for anyone looking for your products or services. This makes Google My Business particularly important for businesses with physical locations. However, online-only businesses can still benefit greatly from it. Your customers can easily check your contact hours and holiday schedules. At the very least, it ensures potential customers can find your phone number—a valuable resource for any business model, whether you rely on lead generation, phone sales, or customer service inquiries.
Google My Business also secures your business a listing on Google Maps. If someone searches for your business on Maps, they can find it without needing to know the exact address.
Moreover, Google My Business boosts your visibility in local search results within your industry. For example, if you sell shoes and someone types “shoe store in [your city],” Google will show a list of nearby businesses, including yours. This gives Google users an all-in-one spot where they can discover everything about your business, even if they hadn’t heard of it before.
On top of that, Google My Business offers several practical features. It provides you with a dashboard to manage parts of your Google+ profile, monitor insights, and connect to your YouTube and Google Analytics accounts. Plus, it simplifies the process of starting and managing Google AdWords Express campaigns. But Google My Business isn’t just about managing your online profile—it’s about becoming part of a broader network of businesses. Once you verify your account, you can post updates on your business hours, offer promotions to Google users, and even highlight weekly sales.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a powerful tool that provides valuable insights into your website’s online performance. It offers detailed data on how individual pages rank for high-value keywords in search results. Additionally, it comes with features that allow you to implement structured data on your site. One of the most commonly used tools is the data highlighter, which enables you to highlight text on your page and assign labels to it, making it easier for Google to understand your content. While it may not be as precise as hard-coded solutions, it’s still a significant improvement over not using it at all.
Google Search Console also identifies areas where your site’s HTML can be optimized. This makes it an excellent starting point for conducting a comprehensive SEO audit. Another useful feature is the ability to disavow links from low-quality or spammy websites. While most links contribute positively to SEO, links from poor-quality sites can negatively affect your rankings, as Google sees them as endorsements, which can link you to untrustworthy sources.
In addition to link management, the console lets you track various key metrics, such as the number of clicks each page receives from search results, total impressions, average click-through rate, and the average position of your pages in search rankings. You can also monitor your site’s mobile performance, view how many pages Google has indexed, see how many are blocked by your robots.txt file, and access tools to identify and fix errors. Overall, Google Search Console is an essential tool for ensuring your website consistently attracts new visitors by helping you refine and optimize it effectively.
Google+
Google+ is Google’s proprietary social network. While it may not be as influential or widely used as when it first launched, it still serves as a useful tool for promoting your business online. Google+ offers you the chance to provide Google with more details about your company. The more information Google has about you, the better they can rank your business in search results, including Maps and Business listings. Although having a Google+ account isn’t mandatory for ranking well on Google, it can be beneficial. And, if you decide you no longer want to use Google+, you can merge your Google+ and Google My Business profiles.
The primary advantage of Google+ lies in its ability to help you acquire new customers through social media. Even though Google+ doesn’t boast a huge user base, its active users still make up a surprisingly engaged community. They take part in niche groups and frequently use hashtags to spark conversations about their work, new ideas, and interesting content.
Moreover, Google+ remains quite popular among marketers. Despite the drop in user numbers following the end of the authorship benefits for search results, the platform is still very much alive for marketers looking to enhance their online presence. Beyond marketing, you can easily discover active communities where you can share links and promote your website’s content.
While it may not seem like much, Google+ offers a great way to connect with your specific audience and engage with potential customers.
Yahoo Local
Yahoo! Local is a service from Yahoo designed for small businesses. It works similarly to Google My Business and offers comparable benefits for your business. One of the main advantages of using Yahoo! Local, even if you’re already set up on Google My Business, is that it gets your business listed on another major search engine.
While Yahoo! doesn’t have the same search market share as Google, its users likely don’t also use Google. This opens up a unique opportunity to expand your business by simply filling out a few forms on Yahoo!’s platform.
The returns may not be immediate, but it’s a smart long-term investment in the growth of your business. Once your business is listed on Yahoo! Local, it stays there—unless you breach their terms of service. Even if you only gain one new customer from Yahoo! Local, the few minutes you spent setting it up have already paid off.
So, while Yahoo! Local might not be the largest player in the field, it still offers a valuable opportunity to earn money for your business. The real question isn’t “why should I sign up for Yahoo! Local?”—it’s “why not?”
Bing Places
Bing Places is essentially the same service as Yahoo! Local, following their merger in 2009. However, it’s still a smart choice for any business looking to expand its customer base. Since Bing is the default search engine for Mozilla Firefox, one of the most popular browsers worldwide, your business won’t show up in search results unless you add it to Bing Places. Considering Bing’s search market share, this means you could lose up to 13% of potential customers—just from one search engine, or roughly 1 in 8.
In an ideal world, listing your business on Bing Places could boost your profits by 13%. While the world may not be perfect, the benefit is still significant. Even if you only attract one new customer from your listing, you’ll have already gained a positive return on your time investment. Plus, setting up a Bing Places account is quick and easy. You can sign up in just a few minutes, and it’s a great way to attract a few extra customers—something you can easily do while having lunch!
Bing Maps
Bing Maps is Microsoft’s comprehensive navigation and local reference tool. It functions similarly to Google Maps and serves as the default navigation system on Windows phones. While Microsoft doesn’t capture as large a share of the smartphone market as Google, it still reaches a significant audience beyond what Google Maps alone would cover.
In addition to providing directions, Bing Maps also displays a thumbnail of your business, along with your address, phone number, and Yelp rating.
However, it’s essential to note that Bing might not list your business at the correct location unless you submit it yourself. You may also need to remove any outdated listings that show your old address to avoid confusing potential customers. This could result in losing business due to location mix-ups. While this might seem like extra effort for a modest return, fixing address issues can be done quickly through Bing’s support network or their Twitter accounts.
Once your business is listed on Bing Maps, you’ll be accessible to nearly everyone across the country, regardless of their smartphone or search engine preference.
PRLog
PRLog is a free platform that allows businesses to distribute press releases. While there are many outlets for press release publication, PRLog stands out as one of the largest and most varied. As a result, journalists often use PRLog to find corporate updates and business news that might otherwise go unpublished. These journalists tend to come from local or regional publications, as major outlets like CNN maintain regular contact with large multinational corporations.
Although this might initially seem like a disadvantage, it actually benefits smaller, local, or regional businesses. Since big brands are rarely featured on PRLog, you have the opportunity to promote your business without competing against multinational corporations. That said, you will face competition from other companies of similar size, making it crucial to categorize and optimize your press release for maximum visibility within your industry.
Once your release is live, you can share it across your social media platforms, which can help it gain traction and improve its ranking in search engine results. Additionally, the press release will remain searchable on PRLog for several weeks, offering continued exposure. PRLog also provides free access to analytics to track your press release’s performance.
Getting started is easy and only requires creating an account, which can be done in just a few minutes.
With all these advantages in one place, PRLog offers a great opportunity to promote your business. While it may not directly reach your target audience, the journalists and bloggers who frequent PRLog could end up writing about your company, boosting brand awareness. As with many strategies in this guide, securing just one customer through PRLog can make all the effort worthwhile.
Facebook remains the undisputed leader of social networks. With over 1 billion users and a diverse array of properties under its belt, Facebook offers the most effective way to connect and engage with your customers. And the best part? It’s easy to use. All you need to do is create a page for your business, upload photos of your company, and design a modern, eye-catching profile that will attract potential followers.
The platform also allows you to provide all the essential details about your business, including your company name, address, hours, and more. It’s like having an extra Google listing, but with the added advantage of being on the world’s largest social network rather than the biggest search engine. Once your page is up and running, you’re ready to start posting.
To unlock the full potential of your Facebook page, share posts about your website’s blog, articles, or any other content you’d like to promote to your audience. Make these posts engaging with creative or fun language to connect with your followers. And always ensure that your posts align with your brand’s identity.
Your brand image is especially important on Facebook. While you’re the one managing the interactions, your followers will only see your company’s face. That’s why it’s essential to craft a personality for your brand that resonates with your audience. For instance, if you’re a plumber, you might adopt a more serious tone, reminding people to check their pipes during the winter months. On the other hand, if you’re a software company, you might post entertaining images that showcase fun ways your customers use your products.
The goal is to make your followers feel as though they’re conversing directly with you. This means actively engaging with comments on your posts, creating statuses that grab their attention, and responding privately if they reach out. If someone leaves a comment on one of your photos, be sure to respond. A simple “thank you” can go a long way in building a positive online relationship.
A Facebook presence also means you’ll inevitably encounter unhappy customers at some point. When that happens, you have four options for handling the situation:
- Respond publicly to the complaint
- Respond privately to the complainant
- Ignore the complaint
- Remove the complaint
Typically, the first two options are the most effective. Publicly addressing a complaint shows your followers that you’re transparent and committed to customer satisfaction. Private responses work well for more specific issues, like a unique problem with a product you offer. This allows your customer service team to handle the matter privately, protecting personal information while resolving the issue. Ignoring a complaint is risky—it could make your customers believe you’re dismissing legitimate concerns, which can damage your reputation. Deleting the complaint is usually not the best option either. This approach is only effective for spam, overly harsh, or inappropriate comments that could harm your brand’s image.
Additionally, it’s crucial to consistently update your Facebook page so that your followers see you as an active and reliable presence on their preferred social network. To streamline this, pick a couple of days each week—like Tuesday and Thursday—and post around the same time each week. This helps establish your brand as a dependable and consistent presence. The more engaged you are on Facebook, the more followers you’ll attract, which leads to more potential customers every day.
Twitter is an excellent platform for self-promotion. While tweets have a short lifespan—typically only a few minutes—they are an effective way to get your business noticed, especially when utilizing hashtags. Hashtags on Twitter can be any word or phrase, and while trending hashtags change frequently, some remain popular every day. Many of these hashtags are industry-specific. For instance, thousands of users include the hashtag #seo in their tweets daily.
For a company like DigiTotal, which specializes in SEO, this presents an opportunity. We can leverage that hashtag in our tweets to ensure that users searching for #seo will encounter our brand. Your business can apply a similar strategy—simply research the hashtags commonly used in your industry on Twitter.
Although Twitter might not convert customers as quickly as Facebook, it remains a great tool for building a loyal audience who regularly engages with your content. Even if your followers are simply interested in reading your blog, consistently updating your blog and communicating directly with your audience can help establish you as an authority in your field. Your followers may engage in various ways—offering praise, sharing feedback, or even inquiring about job opportunities. As with Facebook, you have the option to respond to these interactions, whether they’re positive or negative.
Twitter allows you to tweet publicly to someone by using the @ symbol followed by their username. For example, to talk directly to DigiTotal’s Twitter account, you would start your tweet with @ DigiTotal. Additionally, Twitter offers the option to communicate privately through direct messages (DMs). However, direct messaging requires both users to follow each other to prevent spam in inboxes. If someone has a complaint you want to address privately, simply follow them and send a DM. If they don’t follow you back, you can either respond publicly or ask them to follow you so you can continue the conversation via DM.
Twitter is also an ideal platform to initiate discussions about your brand. If you have a large following and know your audience frequently uses your products, you can encourage them to share their favorite stories involving your brand. Furthermore, you can launch any type of engagement event on Twitter, as it’s an open and accessible space. You could ask for anything from product name ideas to how people’s days are going. And, of course, you can always share interesting links you come across, such as blog posts or articles.
Whatever you choose to do, engaging with your followers in this way will create a meaningful and memorable connection.
LinkedIn is the leading social network for professionals worldwide.
It hosts a diverse range of accounts, from recent college graduates seeking their first career opportunity to established CEOs managing Fortune 500 companies. In this way, LinkedIn bridges the professional world by connecting people across various industries, bringing everyone within easy reach of each other. Additionally, LinkedIn allows users to share professional information, offering the option to post status updates, similar to Facebook, and even run a blog on the platform.
Although it might seem unnecessary to have a blog on LinkedIn when you already maintain one on your website, there are several reasons why a LinkedIn blog can be beneficial for your business.
- LinkedIn is a well-established, reliable, and trusted online presence.
- Posting on LinkedIn’s blog demonstrates your active participation on the network.
- LinkedIn makes it easier to engage with and discuss blogs and information.
These three factors are key reasons to consider maintaining a blog on LinkedIn in addition to your website. Trust is particularly crucial, especially when you’re just starting a business. New users may hesitate to visit an unfamiliar domain, but they’re more likely to trust LinkedIn’s established reputation. By starting your blogging journey on LinkedIn and extending it to your website, you create a seamless “bridge” for users to follow from LinkedIn to your site. This approach can help position your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
However, there is one important consideration: LinkedIn is not ideally suited for B2C businesses. While B2B companies can thrive on the platform—allowing business owners to connect, form partnerships, and close deals—retail businesses may not see the same success. LinkedIn is valued primarily for its focus on professional networking, jobs, and ideas, rather than for marketing and direct sales. As such, while LinkedIn is an excellent platform for thought leadership, lead generation, and industry discussions, it may not be the best venue for direct retail sales.
We’ve discussed Reddit in detail before, but it’s important to highlight it again in this context. Reddit brands itself as “the front page of the Internet,” and while that may not have been entirely accurate in the past, its widespread popularity has made it the go-to platform for everything from casual musings to global news. This makes Reddit a powerful marketing tool.
The platform offers advertisers the chance to place ads, but you can also promote your business for free. However, Reddit is a bit more complex compared to other websites we’ve discussed in this guide. You can’t simply post about your product or service and expect users to flock to your site and make a purchase. Subtlety is key.
Reddit operates on a system of upvotes and downvotes. Upvotes are a form of positive feedback, pushing posts higher on the site so that users can easily find the best content. Conversely, downvotes are negative feedback that pushes posts down, helping users avoid irrelevant or poor-quality content.
Every user account tracks upvotes and downvotes through a system called “karma.” If a user receives more upvotes than downvotes, they accumulate positive karma. If they receive more downvotes, they end up with negative karma.
Reddit’s staff generally stays hands-off when it comes to posts, except for those that violate laws. This means that when you share something on Reddit, it’s entirely up to the community. While some users are supportive, others may not be as welcoming. The key to success on Reddit is to post content that is both relevant and high-quality. Reddit is divided into various “subreddits,” each focusing on specific interests or topics.
For example, r/Pics is dedicated to images, r/Politics covers American politics, and r/ShowerThoughts is where people share random musings that pop into their heads. To effectively market on Reddit, you’ll need to find subreddits that match your niche. If you sell running shoes and have created an infographic on how to measure your feet for the perfect fit, you could post it in subreddits like r/Infographics, r/HowTo, r/Running, r/Shoes, r/Athletics, and others! Even smaller subreddits, such as r/Athletics with just 92 subscribers, still offer an audience for your content.
The best part? It only takes a few seconds to make a post on Reddit. All you need is a strong title and a link to your content. Once you’ve got a catchy title, share your link in the relevant subreddits, and watch your traffic grow!
Tumblr
We’ve previously discussed why Tumblr is a valuable platform for marketing, but it’s worth emphasizing its relevance for your website once more.
While Tumblr may not be the most popular or widely recognized social network globally, it stands out for its strong user and brand sentiment. It’s a close-knit, vibrant community of younger users who appreciate irony, creativity, and humor. Simply put, Tumblr users tend to gravitate toward brands that speak their language and vibe with their interests. The key to success, however, is speaking their language.
If you’re planning to use Tumblr for marketing, expect to invest significant time into understanding the platform’s unique nuances and the types of content that resonate with its audience. It can take more effort than other networks, but the payoff can be substantial. Some big brands like ASOS and FX have already seen success with Tumblr marketing, tapping into a young and eager customer base.
These companies achieved strong results—whether measured by financial growth or an increase in followers—thanks to well-crafted, informed ad campaigns.
The best way to learn about Tumblr is simply by using it. Assign someone from your marketing team to become the go-to Tumblr expert. Ideally, this person should already enjoy using the platform, so their enthusiasm will drive their learning even when they’re not on the clock. This natural, passive engagement will give them a deep understanding of Tumblr’s culture, making them the perfect candidate to handle your brand’s future Tumblr campaigns.
Quora
Quora is a question-and-answer platform, similar to Yahoo! Answers, but with greater reliability and less anonymity. Unlike Tumblr, Quora is simple to navigate and use. Every day, people around the world ask questions related to your industry. Your goal is to provide the best answers possible, linking back to your website. While links from Quora don’t directly impact link building, they can drive valuable, qualified traffic to your site. After all, if someone is looking to understand a topic better, they’re likely to click on a relevant question and browse the answers.
Spending an hour a week (or more, if you want to be more proactive) on Quora can help raise awareness about your brand and position you as a knowledgeable resource within your industry. The more questions you answer, the more you’ll expose your site to potential visitors and encourage them to check you out. While not every answer will result in a new customer, it helps establish your credibility, online presence, and commitment to educating your audience.
Quora typically requires answers to meet a minimum word count and to include a few references or links to sources. This ensures quality responses, but it also means you’ll need to dedicate more time to crafting thoughtful answers. It’s crucial to provide unique responses for each question.
Copying and pasting content is easily spotted on Quora, and plagiarizing others’ work is seen as unprofessional. It’s worth investing time in building a solid reputation on the platform, even if it takes a while. Over time, you may even receive direct requests to answer questions related to your field — a clear sign that your efforts on Quora are paying off!
Instagram, owned by Facebook, stands as the world’s leading photo-sharing app, with millions of users posting and browsing photos of almost anything imaginable. Whether you’re running a business or just sharing personal moments, you can easily create and manage a business Instagram account right from your smartphone. Simply capture engaging or interesting aspects of your business, share them with a caption, and use the right hashtags to help your content reach a broader audience.
Instagram blends features from both Facebook and Twitter. Like Facebook, you can set up a business page and promote it by regularly sharing fresh content. You’ll often share similar content across both platforms, as they both focus on images and captions. However, Instagram also has a bit of a Twitter-like feel in that whenever you post a photo, it appears in your followers’ feeds, where they can scroll, zoom in, and interact with it.
This hybrid structure has proved highly effective, with Instagram drawing a devoted audience of creative businesses and amateur photographers. However, it’s not just for creative industries. Even businesses in more traditional sectors can thrive by posting behind-the-scenes glimpses, quick employee features, or short customer testimonial videos. Behind-the-scenes content, in particular, tends to garner significant attention on Instagram.
Many people are familiar with industries like electrical work or plumbing, but few understand the details of how these fields operate. If you’re an electrician, you could share a quick tutorial on upgrading the amperage in an old home’s circuit breaker. Plumbers might post about various pipe sizes and their uses. Instagram allows you 60 seconds to share these insights, which may seem brief, but is actually a good amount of time for mobile viewers. White-collar businesses can follow a similar approach, but their content might focus more on ideas or concepts rather than practical skills. In any case, Instagram offers a visually appealing and interactive platform to promote your business.
We’ve previously discussed Pinterest’s role in marketing, and it’s undeniable that it plays a crucial part in the success of both B2B and B2C businesses.
In other words, no matter the type of business you run, having an effective Pinterest presence can strengthen your relationship with customers, enhance brand awareness, and drive increased revenue. Pinterest users upload photos of their interests and “pin” them to their profiles. They can also add links and brief descriptions to each pin. These pins then appear on other users’ feeds, allowing them to explore the content further.
This straightforward system makes Pinterest particularly powerful for e-commerce marketing. It enables e-commerce businesses to pin product images, include links to product pages, and direct targeted traffic right to their websites. The platform is also beneficial for lead-generation companies. Businesses that showcase industry expertise or thought leadership can attract new leads to important conversion pages and nurture those leads further.
Overall, the process is quick and simple: upload a photo, write a caption, and you’re set. The key to success—just like any social platform—is consistency. Keep your Pinterest profile current and aligned with the interests of your target audience.
With this approach in place, your company can see a steady improvement in its bottom line month after month.
YouTube
We’ve explored YouTube extensively before, and it’s crucial to truly understand its depth. YouTube is more than just a platform for uploading videos—it’s a thriving community of content creators and engaged viewers. For many, YouTube has completely replaced television and other forms of entertainment. But beyond entertainment, YouTube is also a hub for how-to guides, thought leadership, and continuous interaction.
To stand out in this dynamic environment, you need to create high-quality videos that provide valuable content and captivate your audience. While that might sound straightforward, it’s not easy. Producing a polished video requires a good camera, time for editing, and the skill to transform an idea into a well-rounded product.
Despite the challenges, YouTube remains one of the most powerful marketing tools available. The reason? You can easily embed YouTube videos directly on your website, along with other content, while still ensuring the video remains visible on YouTube for a wider audience. This allows you to gain double the exposure—on your site and across YouTube—while also reaching people who may not yet know about your brand.
Additionally, there’s the potential for others to share or embed your video, further amplifying your reach. Essentially, one video has the power to reach thousands, if not millions, through the most engaging form of media. It’s a lot of work, but with the right approach, it can be a tremendous asset for your brand.
Blogging
Blogging has emerged as an essential element in modern digital marketing strategies. Today, nearly every company has a blog, and those that don’t are quickly falling behind their competition. Blogs offer several valuable benefits for your website. They allow you to consistently add fresh content, help you target a broader range of keywords, and position you as an authority in your field. These three advantages are the core benefits of blogging, and even if you only experience one of them, you’ll still see a return on your time investment.
Consistent Content Updates
First, blogging allows you to regularly refresh your site with new content. This signals to visitors that you’re an active and engaged online presence. More importantly, it tells Google that your site is frequently updated with new information. Google favors sites that consistently offer fresh content, which helps those sites rank higher in search results (SERPs). As a result, sites that update regularly attract more visitors compared to those that go weeks or even months without new content.
Expanding Your Reach with Keywords
Second, blogs help your website rank for a wider variety of keywords, allowing you to create content that targets terms most relevant to your business. This content can take various forms, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, or other formats that resonate with your audience. By strategically incorporating keywords, you can attract qualified leads to your site. Additionally, you can encourage readers to explore more of your content or take action by converting.
Establishing Thought Leadership
Lastly, blogging allows you to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. While this may not always result in direct, measurable benefits, it greatly enhances your credibility and visibility. Over time, other industry websites may link to your content or reference your ideas, showcasing your expertise. By staying ahead of the curve, you make it difficult for competitors to catch up, ultimately positioning yourself as the go-to source in your field. This strengthens your ability to attract new customers while minimizing the risk of losing them to competitors.
Social Share Buttons
Social share buttons make it easy for your website visitors to share your content across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and any other social network of your choice.
To set them up, all you need is the correct code on your pages. It’s as simple as designing custom share buttons for your site and linking them to the sharing functions of your chosen social networks. Ultimately, the social buttons you use are entirely up to you. While Facebook and Twitter are the go-to choices for most websites, you can also include platforms like LinkedIn, Google+, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Tumblr, or even alternative networks like Diaspora. The key is to select the networks that your audience uses most. You need to meet your customers where they are to effectively engage with them.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to choosing social networks, but understanding where your customers are online is just as important as knowing their geographic location. Additionally, each network has its own culture, meaning that certain types of content may perform better on some platforms than others. With Facebook and Twitter as the foundation for your share buttons, you’ll boost brand awareness and potentially attract new customers, all by adding a simple line of code to your website!
Yelp
Yelp stands as the leading consumer-driven review platform globally.
Regardless of whether the reviews are justified or not, they have a significant impact on businesses worldwide. Yelp also provides businesses with the opportunity to create their own pages, so you won’t have to depend on users to build a profile for you. There’s even a dedicated page for business owners where you can claim or create your business profile. However, while you can’t alter reviews, you can request that unfair ones be removed. Nevertheless, having a page on Yelp is a great way to show you’re active online. Additionally, it allows you to display your company’s name and contact details on one of the most visited sites in the world. Any chance to increase your visibility for free is an opportunity you shouldn’t pass up!
Once your Yelp page is set up, it’s important to stay on top of new reviews. Small businesses often don’t receive many reviews unless a customer is particularly dissatisfied. Similarly, positive reviews tend to come only when someone is truly impressed by your product or service. Larger companies tend to receive more reviews—both good and bad—simply because they are more widely recognized. For example, Yelp users are more likely to leave a review for Comcast than for a smaller company like Earl County Cable, simply due to brand recognition. Even so, having just one review on your Yelp page can still be valuable, especially if it’s a positive one.
Yelp attracts 142 million monthly visitors, with around 101 million of them based in the United States. This means there’s about a 33% chance that potential customers will look up your business on Yelp before deciding to visit. Additionally, approximately 70% of Yelp’s traffic comes from mobile users, who view roughly 10 times more pages than desktop users. With 50% of all mobile searches focused on local results, it’s clear that a significant portion of your customer base is checking Yelp before walking through your doors. This makes it even more crucial to establish and maintain a strong presence on the platform. The more engaged you are, the more favorable your results will be!
Conclusion
DigiTotal provides cost-effective marketing solutions.
At DigiTotal, we recognize that many businesses operate with limited marketing budgets — or even none at all! That’s why we offer affordable pricing for our services. Our team of experienced Internet marketers has received awards for their past work with clients, and now we’re ready to bring that same award-winning expertise to your business.
Reach out to us today to design an affordable online marketing strategy for your company!