Learning how to market your  business online is tough if you don’t know where to start. I’ll make it straight forward so you can start today. If you want to learn how to market your business online, you need to focus on how people use the internet. People are on their phones more than ever before. They are also using social media and local directories to find businesses near them. Whether you are a small, medium, or large business, here are the most important things you should be doing to market your business online.

Create a mobile website

If you do not have a mobile website, yet. Now is the time to get one.  According to Smart Insights, Over 51% of people use mobile devices to browse the web. Having a website that can be used and viewed nicely on a phone will help give your visitors a great experience with your company. Put information in their hands. Make it easy for them to learn about your services, view your products, and find your address. A mobile site makes all of these easy.

Get listed in local directories

Google is the place to be, right? Yes and no. Google is one of many, many search engines. If you are a local business, you want to be in ALL the search engines that are relevant to you. This means that you need to be on local directories. There are many out there. I’ll give you the top 10 online local business directories here:

• Google
• Bing
• Yahoo!
• Yelp
• Facebook
• Better Business Bureau
• Angie’s List
• Merchant Circle
• LinkedIn
• YP.com
• Here is a list of more!

When you have your listing in multiple, relevant directories, you have much larger reach. This will make it easy for others to find your business. Remember when Yellow Pages were the must thing? Well, that is the case for local directories. It can be tough to update your directories everywhere, so you’ll need to invest the time to do so. You can also have an agency work with you to get these updated.

Use social media

According to Facebook, there are 1.23 billion daily active users on average for December 2016. That statistic, alone, should encourage you to create a Facebook profile for your business. Not only Facebook, but Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, and others! Who are your customers? Create profiles that they use. Do not create profiles that they do not use. Reason being is because the more profiles you have the more time it will take you to update them.

Here are the most popular social media sites:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• Tumblr

Start creating your profiles today! Remember: only create profiles that your customers use. Start posting links to your website (which, you have made mobile friendly ? ) and relevant blog articles. Use video, images, and infographics to make your profiles interesting. This will ensure that you stay relevant and that you show up in searches. So when someone searches for your services, you have a much better chance of being found. Plus, having your profile updated shows that you care about your online images. It gives off a positive impression of your company.

Only create social media profiles for your business that your customers use -- nothing more! ?? #SocialMedia #SMM Click To Tweet

Target the right keywords

Keywords, keywords, keywords. Yes, this is what all of your content should be written about. Well, the right keywords. It is important to focus on the keywords that are most relevant to you. I use a tool called SEMRush. I have been using this for almost 5 years to do keyword research. When looking for the best keywords, you want to make sure they are relevant and have high search volume.

You can start now by typing in a keyword below:

Find the keywords that have high search volume. See this screenshot.

When you have a list, you should then mention those words throughout your website. Create pages about them and write blog posts that target those topics. This will tell Google that you are an authority figure about the topic and will rank you higher. This is extremely important if you want to show up for keywords that are relevant to your business.

Local targeting is important. So you want to tack on your location in the keywords. For example, the keyword “flower shop” should include your city name. So it will look like this: “flower shop Cerritos, CA”. This helps you rank for people looking for your business near them.

In Conclusion

Whether you are big or small, these are the most important things you should be doing to market your business online. Everyone is on their cell phones, so you want to make sure your website looks nice on mobile phones. You also want to be social. And be local. Social media and local directories are a must. Start today! There is no better time.

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