How to pivot your business and succeed online 

 How to pivot your business and succeed online 

Small firms across the UK are taking their businesses online to keep trading during the COVID-19 pandemic. With many businesses affected by local or national lockdowns, developing an online presence may be the only way you can stay in touch with customers and continue trading. Here’s how you can start selling online and stay connected with clients If you’re one of the many small businesses across the UK that have had to close its doors during the coronavirus lockdown, selling online could be your best chance of long-term survival. Here are some of the most important things to consider when creating your own eCommerce business and building your online presence.

✅ Design a great website Customer experience is the name of the game with any eCommerce website. If your website look’s like it’s gathering dust, the first thing visitors might see is out-of-date images, old news stories or an abandoned blog. Your website should be appealing, easy to navigate and it should work just as well on phones and tablets as it does on a laptop. Start by posting information about how you are operating during the pandemic. Have you changed your opening hours? Are you operating a click and collect or takeaway service? How are you ensuring that staff and customers are safe? Can shoppers buy online? Use this time to update your website. Online shoppers want to see pictures of the products they are looking to buy, from different angles and with the ability to zoom in. It’s also a good idea to publish a picture of you and your team on your website to show the real people behind the online brand.

✅Make your website fast According to Google, a 30% increase in page load speed can result in a 30% increase in business – and a fast eCommerce website will rank better too. This mainly comes down to the hosting package you choose so it can be worth paying a little more.

✅Get found on Google Search engines like Google love websites with lots of up-to-date content so make sure you include plenty of product information and keep the site fresh. In simple terms, search engine optimisation (SEO) is about making sure that you include key search words and phrases liberally in your website so when someone searches for a business like yours – and in your area – your business comes at or near the top of the list. Start by researching which keywords and phrases are most commonly used when someone is searching for the kinds of products or services that you offer. Google’s keyword planner is a useful tool. The next step is to insert them into your site content, meta tags, product and page descriptions and image tags. However, Google will spot a cynical attempt to stuff a website full of keywords. So, make sure they appear naturally within good-quality content. And post new content regularly to show Google that your website is up to date.

✅ Take advantage of online advertising Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a good way to get your business to the top of search engine results. These sponsored links appear above the natural search results and help your business to stand out from the crowd. Popular PPC providers include Google AdWords and Microsoft Advertising. These services allow you to create targeted ads using specific keywords that take online visitors to a landing page on your website. The good news is that you only pay when someone clicks on the ad and you can control your advertising costs by setting limits. ⁠Need HELP? Our team of experts would be