When you get started with your new company, you’re going to want to make sure you can be found on the Internet.
Here are 10 ways to make sure your business isn’t hiding in the corner and unable to be found by your potential clients or customers.
1) Reserve your company name, or the closest variation of the name you can. Buy the domain. (GoDaddy can help you find out if the name you want is available.
2) Get a LinkedIn profile for yourself. Use a good professional photo. Make sure to list your experience with different companies and to link to your business friends. If appropriate, ask a customer or client for a recommendation. Give a few recommendations too while you are there!
3) Make sure your company has a LinkedIn profile. More and more companies are using the LinkedIn Company section to find companies. It is the social media network for business! Visit the LinkedIn blog and search for company pages if you aren’t sure how to use these.
4) Use Goggle Places (formerly known as Google local). This is a free page that you can use to add photos, videos, hours of operation, products and services descriptions.
5) Learn how to write a press release and write one about your new business. Send it to your local newspaper. Better yet, find out if your local newspaper’s website has a place to upload it directly to their website.
6) Open a YouTube channel for your business using the name of your business. Record a short (1 minute) video that explains who you help, how you help and how to reach you. Post it on your YouTube channel and include key words that people might use to search for your products and services.
7) Do a Google search using words that your potential customers would use to find your business. Take a long look at the top 6 websites that come to the top. These sites are your competition. Is there someway you can learn something from their site that you can use in your marketing?
8) It may make sense to have a newsletter to communicate with potential customers. I recommend using an online email newsletter service like Mail Chimp, aWeber or Constant Contact. This will save you printing costs and postage costs.
9) Depending on the type of business, you may have a visual product and will want to use a website like flicr, photobucket or shutterfly to share photos and showcase your products with potential customers. Each of these accounts are free.
10) Subscribe to branding and marketing blogs — such as www.brandandmarket.com — to get more ideas of things you can do that will make a difference to your business.
