Every business (small or big) seeks one thing – to grow and become better than they were the previous year. The major aim of every business is to market their products, sell more, and make profit. There are many factors to achieve this including increasing quality, increasing productivity, and using better marketing strategies.

With the strong influence of the Internet, having a strong online presence is now a part of the success story of most SMEs. About 76 per cent of consumers in the UK research online before making purchases. This shows that e-commerce has become the trending way of making more sales. The internet has also made available great opportunities for SMEs to secure contracts from the public sector and boost their brand.

However, maintaining and growing an online business requires more than just establishing one. The following are five tips on how to accelerate the growth of your online business in 2019…

Define your target and work towards it

Every business should have a target it intends to meet at the end of a business year. Having a drawn up plan helps to keep you in check and to reach your target. Set measurable goals such as the number of new customers you intend to win or the number of products you intend to sell within a specific period of time. Conduct regular appraisals to ensure that you are still on track.

Create and maintain a professional website

Every business, big or small should have a professional website as it is the first point of contact with potential customers. It is essential to have a functioning, friendly, responsive, and accessible website. You should also incorporate a regularly updated blog to keep customers abreast with information concerning your brand. They can share your blog posts too and make you reach a wider audience.

Get Social

With over 2 billion estimated users in 2019, social media offers companies an avenue to reach out to more customers and build their brand. To do this, you need to study your audience and focus on the particular social media platform. You can run ads or engage your audience through comments, emails, and direct messages.

Focus on the customer’s need

You have a business when you have customers. They are the backbone of every business. Their happiness should be your top priority. Once you have your online targeted customers in any platform, your major focus should be on their needs. Advertise the right products which are to their benefit and watch them sell out. Give the perfect customer treatment, send thank you emails, and reply to all questions.

Make use of proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques

Research suggests that 71 per cent of online users focus majorly on the first page results of search engine. Based on this, SEO is a great way to boost your online presence. SEO increases search engine traffic to your website by ranking it higher in online search results. To achieve this, you should have a mobile-friendly website and quality content. Implementing these SEO strategies will boost your conversion rate.

Conclusion

Building an online presence and maintaining it takes effort and time. However, the reward comes in folds for greater brand awareness and higher conversion rate to greater customer loyalty and being influential in your niche. Be intentional about growing your brand and watch it soar.