If you are like me, you like to see results for your efforts. If something doesn’t produce the desired effect you tend to stop doing it. As small business operators, you’re all time poor but you know to stay in business you need to be where your customers are and that’s online. So let’s take a look at what’s become normalised.
In 2017, there are 4 things we consider that have now become so normalised they are now expectations, they are;
- Your Website
- Online booking capability
- Mobile responsiveness
- Social media
Your Website
Did you know that your Website is the only digital asset in which you own the content and have complete control of how it looks, feels and performs. I thought by now that having a Website had become “normalised”. But having a Website is not just about having one. It’s about keeping pace with your customers needs.
Today, your customers expect you to have a Website, we at the Tribe still consider have this primary digital asset is paramount to success. .
Getting your the basics right
Below is a checklist that contains most of the essential components. We suggest you take the time to ensure your Website has the following.
- Location address or tour start point
- Maps
- Directions on how to find business
- Contact Details
- Well organised useful information about products and/or services
- Real-time Availability and Booking
- Visual Appeal
- Quality Images
- Quality Video
- Ease of Navigation
- Consistency of Navigation
- Website Security (HTTPS)
- Enquiries Support (Phone or Email)
- Fast to load
- Phone number on every page
- Book now on every page
- Links to Social Media platforms
- Disability Services provided/information
- Mobile Responsive
Online Booking capability
Whilst all the above are important the ability to book online is paramount. If you haven’t invested in providing this facility you’ll never know how much business you are missing. If you’d like more information simply click here in this Hub you’ll find resources and lots of forum questions about which booking systems are best.
A mobile responsive Website
Consumers are using their mobiles to find everything online and your Website needs to be mobile responsive. What this actually means is viewable on a mobile, adjusted to work properly on that device.
If you are unsure whether or not your Website is mobile friendly, you can check using this simple Google tool, click here.
Social Media
It seems that Social Media is everywhere and in every conversation, sometimes not for the right reasons, but whether you like it or not it’s where your customers are. We at the Tribe know that this may appear daunting, you have to install it, learn how to use it, spend time on it and then nurture your audience. That would be fine if there was only one and they didn’t keep making changes to the platform.
For those of you new to Social Media we have a couple of tips.
- Develop your customer persona (see here for more information), who are they and more importantly where are they on Social Media.
- Immerse yourself in doing that platform really well, focus on just that one.
- Once you have mastered that platform try a second relevant to your customers.
For example your persona might be middle aged baby boomers who are really active on Facebook, but they may also use Instagram in the dreaming phase. They may never use Snapchat so why would you invest your limited time with Snapchat?.
So let’s recap, our 4 top tips to online success are, make sure your Website meets all the minimum requirements, has booking capability and works well on an mobile device and focus on a primary social media platform that is used by the customers you are targeting.
