DIY Internet Marketing For Small Businesses

I’ll admit, I’ve gotten lucky with my own small business and I’m booked solid with clients and projects. The downside is that I find myself turning down a lot of requests from other small business owners. So, this blog post is for them - for those small business owners, nonprofits and solo healthcare providers who might be able to do some of their own marketing work. Hopefully it’s helpful advice and my own recommendations for tools and tips that I’ve learned throughout the past 15+ years consulting with other small business owners  and nonprofits. 
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Put One Foot in Front of the Other.
In the words of Kris Kringle advising the Warlock, just get started walking forward. Commit to doing one thing to help your business each week or each month - whether it’s writing a blog post (see what I did there), organizing your email contacts, or crafting your own social media posts regularly, you can start the ball rolling on your own marketing.

Improve Your Website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

​SEO is simply the art of improving your rankings with websites like Google. We don’t know the secret recipe to Google’s algorithm but we can play their game and set websites up for success by doing the basics.

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1. The SEO Basics

• Write Custom Page Titles

Each page on your website has a page title and these are written for search engines. This is where you want to use the main keywords that anyone might use to search for a business like yours. You should review each of your page titles and write or re-write each one and describe the context or purpose of your page. These should be 60-70 characters max, including spaces.

• Write Custom Page Descriptions

While page titles are written for search engines like Google, page descriptions should be written for humans - people read these so sell your services here. Limit these to 155-160  characters including spaces - similar to one long sentence.

• Add Image Descriptions

Last, remember to write write image descriptions for any image on your site that isn’t considered decorative. These are also known as image alt tags and should describe the intent of the image and be no more than about 10 words long.

• Keywords

Keywords aren’t a thing anymore. Search engines basically create your keywords for you by using the content in your url and on your page. If you’re concerned about keywords - start by making sure you use them on your page more than once.


2. SEO Next Level
Other things you can do after the basics are completed include the following:

• Increase links to your website

Link authority matters - update any directories or free listings online - claim them all and keep increasing in quantity moving forward - even if just a little.

• Review your web content

Are you using popular search terms on your pages? Are those popular search terms getting used in paragraph titles also? Your paragraph titles are called H1’s - there should be one on every page and it should be similar to the page title.

• Update your website more often

Fresh content is noticed - this is a great reason to have a blog ;-)

• How fast is your website - especially on mobile devices?

If it’s too slow, check your image sizes - are they too big? Are your pages too large/lengthy?



Free Tools For Small Business Websites

Here's a short list of common free tools you can - and probably should - be using:
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• Google Analytics - Use this for website tracking info.
• Google Search Console - This tool tells Google your website exists.
• Google Business - Get found on maps or just claim this free business listing and don’t share an address - it’s important to have and make sure it’s accurate.
• Find out how your website is doing with this tool: website.grader.com.
• Try thinkwithgoogle.com/testmysite - Another free website grader tool.
• ADA Compliance - Check your site for accessibility improvements you could make.
• Check your site for broken links with this free tool.
• Go to debbielamb.com/tips - General small biz tips from this Northern California marketing consultant (this is me promoting my own website!). 

Email Marketing 

Email marketing works - surprising but true. Below are a few ways to get started.

• Begin small maybe - with your inner circle. It’s ok to include relatives when starting out.
• If you’re hesitating on using email, consider the possibility you might write a book one day. Publishers care how many contacts & followers you have. 
• Find a professional email service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact - both have free plans. Your emails will look more professional and you won’t have to personally update your list with any unsubscribe requests or old, dead email addresses.
• When emailing, keep messages simple and of single focus when possible. Also, it depends on your industry but typically you’ll want to send out emails mid-week.
• Last - Keep your email list alive by emailing folks once or twice a year at a minimum. You don’t want to email folks after 5 years and find that half your list is now full of bad email addresses.

Advertising

There are lots of places out there to advertise. The trick is in finding what works for your business.
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• Google is still Queen - however it’s a bit geeked out for non-advertising folks. You may want to get help setting these up. If you’re spending money on ads, you should probably make extra sure it’s not wasted.
• The number one mistake most folks make is the don’t target their ads enough. Most folks have a fear of missing out (FOMO) and want to make sure everyone sees their message. Just remember, you don’t have Michelle Obama’s book publisher’s advertising budget - you have to spend your ad money on ads most likely to convert.
• Check out other places to advertising that might be easier to set up on your own. NextDoor is a great one for advertising/running special offers easily.
• Facebook makes it easy for you to run ads also but it’s not a good fit for all types of businesses.

Overwhelmed?
​Sorry about that. If I lost you, just return to Kris Kringle’s great words of advice and put one foot in front of the other - just pick one thing and ignore the rest for now. Think of this all like a snowball rolling downhill - it will grow - and so will your business! It just needs a push. You’ve got this!

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