So, you haven’t got loads of time or money to invest any more in your business and you want it to grow quickly. That’s a big demand right there but it is possible. There are some smaller things you can do that won’t cost the earth to help get your business booming.
We spoke to Business Adviser, Neil Debenham, who runs a global Corporate Consultancy, about what to do if you’re feeling ready to push forward in business.
Change your homepage
It’s very likely that your debut visitors will land on this page so make sure it looks appealing. If the page looks unprofessional, cluttered or full of simple spelling errors, that’s enough to put anyone off from the start – and they’re highly unlikely to buy anything from you.
Neil Debenham hates mistakes as to him they mean unnecessary haste. “Errors mean you’ve rushed, and if you’ve rushed in the products you’ve made, it goes without saying what your customers will think. A sense of distrust is already lurking and that’s not what you need,“ he says.
Improve your SEO
You can do this very simply by getting some keywords in that will help to sell your product or service. Simply use a free keyword search tool such as google analytics.
Find out what words your customers are looking for, such as ‘Manchester wedding photographer’. Check your competitors’ sites and you’ll see these words there too. Don’t use too many or this will send bad messages to google that you’re some kind of spam machine.
Write creative content
You may believe that blogs are dead but they’re far from it. Good blogs can lead more traffic to your website and convert that traffic to leads and ultimately sales.
When you think about how many people will conduct research online before they buy something, how helpful would a good old review blog post be? Once your blog is established, repeat customers will come back and new customers will start to come.
On every blog post, add pictures, add links – especially internal ones – and make sure you respond to your customers and any feedback.
Engage with your customers
The more you engage with a post on Facebook for example, the more the notification pings up in other customers’ pages and before you know it, you have so many more viewers. How often do people rely on a good review from family or a friend before they buy something?
If just one customer likes a product on your page, that will draw in more attention, creating a word-of-mouth feeling that will certainly grow your business. People love a good recommendation.
Invest in staff
Even you started as a solo artist you’ll soon reap the benefits of having staff working for you. Their hard work, after all, is what’s going to make you grow.
For this to work, you have to invest in them. That doesn’t just mean financially – it means in time. While this may not be physically possible in a big company, small businesses can certainly take heed. Do you know what they did at the weekend? That they’ve split up with their wife? What they hope to get from the business? Showing an interest helps with retaining jobs. It can just be a quick chat in the kitchen on your new brew round.
Establishing a culture and a staff of devoted employees will pay off in the long run.
Be financially savvy
Even the most successful businesses have to watch the bottom line, by not wasting money at all. Always be sure to have an emergency fund for things you didn’t account for such as the boiler or printer breaking.
Neil Debenham, who offers Corporate Consulting says: “Even small items can cause your budget to derail. Ensure your investments make sense for you and your bank account. It’s better to overestimate on costs than underestimate and be caught short!”
You can follow Neil Debenham on Instagram , Twitter and Linked In