Not long ago, the most branding a small business could do online was simply have a website. Visitors obtained the website URL from printed marketing material, and websites acted only as an extension of a brochure.
Nowadays, however, online branding is much more extensive. Small businesses can acquire a reputation single-handedly through online activities such as pay per click, paid banner advertising, and extensive SEO efforts.
But can a small business on a budget do online branding as well? Absolutely! Here are three online branding ideas you can implement for your small business for little or no money.
Social Media Updates
The fastest-growing online small business movement is through social media. Social websites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace all have accumulated millions of commercial pages whose owners use the sites to promote their businesses. You can too, as it’s free and easy.
Through a strategic plan and consistent and regular efforts, you can gather hundreds, or even thousands, of followers who receive your daily business messages and sales notices.
Regular Website Posts
This is part of SEO branding. Your website must be recognized by search engines as a prime site for certain keywords. Regular updates on your website keep it fresh and lets major search engines know that the content is the most dated and relevant material.
Updates can be brief blog posts – but at least 300 words. Any less and the content is probably not elaborate enough, but you don’t want the post to be more than 700-800 words. Longer posts may contain more material, but lose readers’ interest.
Get on Google Places
Take advantage of a free Google Places account for your commercial business. Setting up your account is easy, but you must take the first step in claiming your account.
What a Google Places account does for you is list your business on local maps when someone makes a local search for your keywords. The Google results lists not only websites, but a map with a direct pointer to your location, along with a link to your website, plus your instant contact information. This is free advertising!
The more your business gets seen by consumers who search your keywords, the more your business name is recognized.
