Many businesses don’t realize just how important it is to have an online presence. As of 2020, 97% of search engine users search online to find a local business and 28% of local searches result in a purchase. In this post, I’d like to discuss the four steps that have become mandatory for any business to get online in 2020. I recommend reading the entire post to understand how these steps work together to build your online presence. 1. Get your own domain and custom email address. Photo Credit Email addresses behind your own domain allow your customers to build confidence in your business. Which seems more trustworthy: greatlandscaping@yahoo.com or service@greatlandscaping.com? If you’re like most consumers, you will prefer service@greatlandscaping.com. In fact, 77% of customers trust businesses that have their own domain, and 64% of customers have little to no trust in businesses that use free email addresses. That is an absolutely massive percentage of potential business you’re losing if your email comes from Gmail or Yahoo. Getting your own domain is simple. There are many online services that allow you to register a domain. Google Domains offers a quick and easy domain registration and allows you to use Gmail as your email interface. GoDaddy NameCheap Domains are extremely affordable and typically cost between $10 and $20 a year. 2. Get a simple business website. Photo Credit It’s important to have a website that potential customers can use to discover your business and get valuable information about your services. There are a number of services available that make creating a website simple: Squarespace Weebly Wix WordPress If you already have your own domain (from step 1 above), these services will allow you to use your own domain for your website. If you don’t have your own domain yet, many of these services allow you to register your domain while you are building your website. This can make the process very easy. Your website does not need to be complex; a single page often does the job. While you are making your website, keep in mind that there are a few pieces of data that you must have in order to help your customers: Business Name - Make sure your customers know what business they are looking at and make sure they see it often. Contact information - Having an email address and phone number is critical. Many potential customers will want to ask questions before choosing to hire you or purchase from you. Address - If a customer needs to visit your business, be sure to list your address on your website. According to Search Engine Land, address information is the #1 piece of information sought by local searchers. Explanation of services - Customers often evaluate and compare the services offered by multiple businesses before making their decision. Positive reviews - This piece of information is often overlooked by businesses but is one of the most important. 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, making reviews one of your most valuable marketing tools. 3. Claim your business on Yelp & Google Photo Credit Claiming your business on Yelp is quick and easy, and 56% of local retailers have not claimed their Google My Business listing. The Boston Consulting Group has found that business owners see an average of $8,000 annual revenue from being on Yelp. That should be the only reason you need to add your business to Yelp. However, if you’re looking for additional reasons, here are a few: You will be found by potential customers who use Yelp to search for local businesses. You might already be on Yelp. Many business listings on Yelp are first created by a reviewer and not the business owner. Claiming your business allows you to control the information that displays. You can add photos of your business and the services or products you offer. You can respond publicly to reviews. If someone leaves an unfounded negative review for your business, you can make sure that future Yelpers understand exactly why that review was unfounded. You will get notified when someone leaves a new review of your business, allowing you to be aware of what information other potential customers can see. 4. List your business on Google Maps and Apple Maps. Photo Credit Much like adding your business to Yelp, adding your business to Google Maps or Apple Maps provides additional visibility. BrightLocal’s recent consumer survey found that the vast majority of consumers search for local businesses online, many performing this search from their phones. Only 44% of businesses have claimed their business listing on Google, which means that claiming your listing can give you a significant advantage over your competition. Follow these links to claim your business on Google and Apple now.

About the Author Anne Maxwell is COO at InvoiceASAP. The end of the year and beginning of a new year is a great time for assessing your business and setting goals for the future. Here are 5 resolutions that can help you grow your business in 2018. Resolution 1: Expand Your Social Media Presence Photo Credit Social media is a great way to market and promote your business for free. But which social media platform should you spend your time on? The answer to this question depends on 2 things: The type of business you have Where your customers spend their social media time Instagram or Pinterest are great choices if your business has a visual element to it, like food, flower arrangement, event planning, design, photography, or landscaping. Even companies like roofing, plumbing, window replacement, and garage doors can show the quality of their work visually. Post beautiful pictures that highlight the work you do. Twitter is a good choice for social media when: You have a technology or information based business You sell a product or service You’re just better with words Although you can attach photos to a tweet to give it visual appeal, at its core, Twitter is about what’s said, not what’s seen. Consider Facebook or LinkedIn if you want to build a community. Facebook is great for creating business-to-consumer relationships LinkedIn is great for business-to-business relationships Resolution 2: Get Productive! No matter how much we may want it, we’re not getting any more hours in the day. So we need to find ways to become more productive with the time we have. Here are some quick ways to get productive fast: Become friends with Siri, Bixby or OK Google. Learn how you can quickly accomplish tasks by talking to your phone, rather than typing on it. Use the microphone on your phone’s keyboard to dictate to your phone, rather than typing text. It’s much easier and quicker to speak a reply to a text or email than to type it. You can use simple punctuation commands like “period,” “question mark,” “new line,” or “paragraph” to format your message correctly. There are tons of apps that can help with productivity. Take some time to find the apps that work for your business. Here are some examples: Apps to schedule your social media posts, like HootSuite or Buffer Apps to take notes, like Any.Do, Evernote, or OneNote Apps to make lists, like Wunderlist or Todoist Apps to manage your email accounts, like Notion, Newton or Edison Mail Apps to handle routine tasks on your mobile device, like Automate or IFTTT (If This Then That) Apps to master project management, like Trello, BaseCamp or DropTask Apps to communicate effectively with your team, like Slack, WhatsApp or Stride Apps to help you stay focused on a task, like Forest, FocusList or Momentum Apps to easily digitize documents, like Genius Scan or Scanbot If you are you still uncomfortable using mobile apps, try Pen and Paper, which lets you hand-write notes or draw images. And there are many other apps, like time tracking, expense tracking, and (of course) mobile invoicing. Resolution 3: Use Your Email Signature Take advantage of an automated email signature to feature a product, offer a discount, or provide your customer with valuable information about your business or upcoming changes. This is a simple but extremely effective way to communicate with your customers. And remember to keep your message fresh. Make sure you change the message at least once every quarter. Resolution 4: Don’t Just Look Forward, Look Back as Well When you are planning your new year, it’s easy to simply keep looking forward. But there is a lot of value in looking back. If you’re a new business, the natural ebb and flow of a business cycle may not be evident. But if you’ve been in business for a few years, you can benefit from looking at the past years to identify slow or busy cycles. For the new year, you want to consider at least 2 areas: How can you more efficiently manage your busy times? How can you increase business during your slow times? Answering these 2 simple questions will help you be more productive in 2018. Resolution 5: Sharing is Caring Okay, I know this is a trite saying. But hear me out. One of your biggest assets are your employees and team members. They represent you and your business. Here are some simple ways to keep them engaged in their jobs: Monthly staff meetings. Update your employees on upcoming projects, successful projects or lost contracts. What was good? What could be improved? Listen to your employees. Use staff meetings to answer questions and listen to your employees. Maybe they have good ideas, and maybe they don’t. But most people appreciate being heard. Celebrate employees’ birthdays and/or work anniversaries. It doesn’t take much to pass a card around and get the others to sign it. Your employees will appreciate that you remembered them. In-office celebrations for holidays, like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, 4th of July, etc. These don’t have to be elaborate, expensive or time-consuming. A box of donuts in the morning or cupcakes in the afternoon is all it takes. If your employee feels like he or she is appreciated, feels like his or her opinion matters, feels like he or she makes a difference in your business, you’ll have lower attrition, higher employee satisfaction, and that employee will not only go the extra mile for you when you need it, but will represent your company well both on and off the job. Planning for 2018 Growing a business can be hard. It’s easy to say work smarter, not harder. These 5 resolutions can help you do that.