FAQ: When is My Small Business Website Ready for Online Advertising?
Making the choice to advertise online is a big one. You need to decide your budget, look for the right ad platforms, hone in on your targeted audience, and create effective campaigns that will get you the results you want. You also must consider whether or not online advertising is the right strategy for your business, which involves looking at your current sales, your profit margins, and your competitors through a variety of strategic lenses. Just as important, though, is doing the prep work on your own site so your campaigns direct traffic to a place customers want to go. Below are four areas to consider before deciding your small business website is ready for online advertising:
Does your website have credible content?
The best way to find a loyal audience and paying customers is to solve their problems. Not all of their problems require a product or service right now, but that doesn't mean you want to cross those potential customers off the list. Build a library of content that answers common questions and shows your expertise. Over time, a loyal visitor may turn into a loyal customer if they develop trust in your small business and your overarching expertise. In addition, you can build targeted advertising campaigns based off your categories and keywords.
Are your online profiles all up-to-date?
It's a basic task but a vital one. A viral Facebook campaign won't help you make sales if your profile doesn't effectively lead back to your website or a sales page, and advertisements on Yelp won't bring customers to your door if you don't post a URL, physical address, and phone number. Go beyond the “basic information” and include as much detail and example photos/videos etc. A complete profile is much more likely to establish credibility. Make a list of everywhere you want potential customers to find you, and then make sure the profile is up-to-date so they can find you.
Does your website function properly?
Online advertising means (hopefully) a significant increase in traffic. Make sure your hosting package can handle the anticipated increased load. First-time viewers will likely leave if something malfunctions on your website, and it's costly to lose out at the peak of a good advertisement. Likewise, if your page loads slowly or has formatting issues, this is an instant reason for a visitor to leave your website.
Is your website TRULY optimized for mobile devices?
Optimizing a website for mobile devices used to be a nice add-on to have. Now it’s an absolute necessity According to Statista.com, a statistics and studies aggregator, 52.99% of worldwide traffic was accessed from a mobile device in 3rd quarter of 2017. Having your website ready for mobile devices shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should one of the primary considerations when evaluating whether your site is ready for online advertising.
The above four items are key areas to double-check before getting ready for an online advertising campaign. Once everything is ready, or if you want a marketing and web expert to review your site, contact us.
