3 Ways to Be More Accessible for Your Customers Online

No matter how small your business, your customers expect you to have an online presence. When they search for your website or Google your business name, a wealth of information should appear. If you are inaccessible, however, your customers will likely seek products or services elsewhere.

1. SEO

Some of your target customers are yet to know that your business exists. To make them aware of your brand, you need to appear in the search results. This involves using SEO.

SEO ensures that search engines know what your site is about and show your pages in relevant searches. The higher your ranking in the results, the more clicks you receive. It sounds simple, but you are competing with every other business in your industry. To reach the top, you need use best practices.

The first stage is to determine what search terms your audience will likely be using. Bear in mind, if you target generic terms, you have no chance. Not only is the competition is too high, many visitors who arrive at your site will never turn into leads. A better option is to focus on more specific terms, such as long-tail keywords that contain your location. Although this means less traffic, more visitors will be qualified.

Another critical aspect of SEO is links. When there are many links leading to your website, search engines see that you are releasing content that others value and want to share. However, search engines also consider where the link is coming from — the more authoritative the site, the more valuable for you. To increase links, share content to social media, add social share buttons to your blog, and participate in guest blogging.

One more important consideration for SEO is the structure of your website. For one thing, each page needs to contain meta tags to help search engines understand what it contains. You also need to check that your website is free from errors that could impact its functionality. Finally, it is essential that you use a responsive design — search engines may penalize your site if you offer a poor user experience.

2. Google My Business

Google My Business is essential for local search marketing. It puts all the basic information about your business in one place. When users run a Google search for you or a business like yours in your area, they will see your open hours, address, location on the map, Google+ profile, reviews, and photos. You can manage all these things along with insights and Google Analytics data through your Google My Business account.

If you haven’t created an account, all the above information will be automatically generated. Claiming your business allows you to make updates and ensure accuracy. The process is simple — Google will verify that you are the owner by mailing a code to your location.

Google My Business also allows you to tell the story of your business, showing the personal side of your brand. Plus, you can upload your own photos to show real people interacting with your products and services or your work behind the scenes. Simply adding photos to your listing increases by clicks 35 percent.

Finally, Google My Business allows you to interact with customers. For instance, you can communicate directly with users and respond to reviews — thank customers for positive feedback or offer an apology or justification for a negative review.

3. Intuitive Web Design

Web design is not just important for SEO. Once you have visitors on your site, you need to encourage them to stick around and discover what your business is about. This requires an intuitive design.

No web designer intentionally creates a site that is not intuitive; however, it often happens anyway. This occurs when you rely on your gut rather than testing what users actually want. There are a few things you can do:

-  Run A/B testing to check different elements of your site.

-  Monitor how users interact with your site — what pages they view, how they navigate from one page to another, how long they stay on each page.

-  Look at which pages users arrive at before leaving your site. It is normal for users to view a single piece of content and leave. However, many users reaching a page of your site before leaving could suggest that they are struggling to find what they are looking for or that the page is confusing.

It is most important to have easy navigation to key areas like your About Us and Contact pages. These are essential for demonstrating your accessibility to new customers. Furthermore, they should be easy to find on any device — nothing tells customers that you’re inaccessible better than a website that fails to load correctly on a mobile device.

The Takeaway

Being accessible online means meeting customers where they are. When customers are still discovering possibilities, you need to position your business as a top choice through SEO. To help customers make a final decision that your company is the right choice, your Google My Business page needs to be accurate and up-to-date. Lastly, when customers are ready to buy, you need to make the shopping experience as flawless as possible with a well-designed website.

About the Author

Bio: 

Kelly has over 20 years marketing, sales and customer service experience. He is a champion for small businesses and prides himself in helping them compete and thrive in a digital world. Kelly is currently the VP of Marketing for Boostability, a company dedicated to helping small businesses grow online. He manages a team that is responsible for demand generation, customer messaging and experience, branding, social media and all things marketing. His expertise includes search engine optimization, social media, content marketing, customer communication, lead generation and conversion optimization, to name a few.

Twitter - @kellyshelton32

Email – [email protected]

Phone – 800-261-1537

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