Using the Internet to do business is here to stay and more and more small businesses are having an online presence. You need to think of your business in terms of what it takes to build a more relevant and targeted customer base to meet your market head on rather than how to push your product or service out to unsuspecting prospects. Here are five things to do to set up a web strategy to compete effectively in today’s online world.
1. Build a web site with content that is written around the key phrases that your customers use to find a business or products/services like yours.
2. Use social media like Twitter and Facebook to get your customers to start conversing with you and among themselves. Listen and pay attention to the conversations and you’ll learn all the psychographic and behavioristic pieces of information you need about your customers.
3. Learn to showcase your product or service online based on the information you collect about your target market.
4. Try to move online as many elements of your customer service as possible and make sure that in this mode your customer service is faster and better.
5. Make sure that your web presence is a strategic business direction for your company.
Remember that in today’s world a web presence is something that customers and vendors expect. A well designed and built site will attract prospects and once they are there, will build your credibility and help convert then to buyers of your product or services.