How Online Presence Impacts Local Business

Life in a small town is great. Fewer crowds, less traffic, lower cost of living. There are dozens of perks!

But when it comes to your local business, life in a small town might not be so great. Fewer crowds and less traffic can also mean fewer customers.

So, is there a way to stay in your close-knit community AND have a thriving business?

Yes! And the solution lies in your online presence.

What is an online presence?

The obvious answer, of course, is a website. While that’s a great starting point, it’s certainly not the only place your business can appear online. If you want to make the most of your online presence and attract the largest audience possible, it makes sense to show up in more than one location. Here are just a few of the places your business could show up online:

• Social media profiles
• Professional directory listings
• Guest posts on someone else’s blog
• A branded email address
• A Google My Business profile
• A landing page or sales page

How can a local business benefit from an online presence?

If you own a small business and you don’t have an online presence, you can only meet the people in your immediate physical location. How many people live in your town? A few thousand? How many of them do you think are potential customers? A few hundred? Maybe less?

When you put your business online, you can sell to almost anyone, anywhere. Suddenly, your audience of a few hundred people is in the millions. The possibilities of who you can reach are almost endless.

Other benefits include:

• Increased credibility
• The ability to use content marketing
• Improved customer service
• Your business becomes searchable (and findable!)

Creating your brand’s online presence will take time and effort. From researching competitors to creating content to mastering SEO, there are lots of steps. It is not an overnight fix to your marketing problems.

That being said, the effort is well worth it. Building an online presence will open up possibilities you never knew existed. So, what are you waiting for?