Congratulations. You’re in business. There’s more than enough demand for what you supply. People like you, they really do. They like your personality, your philosophy and they love your products. So, what now?

Time to push your cart into the digital marketplace, that mysterious world inside your computer where much of today’s business takes place. So just how do you take all that love coming from your first faithful fans and spread it around to, say, ten million potential viewers?

Here’s a really, really rudimentary rundown of how to add to your lovable base:

Show Your Love 

Content is the bread and butter of your website, which we assume you already have. Any word, image, data or doohickey on your site is content, essentially your intellectual property. Does it fire on all cylinders like a Superbowl Ad or sit there like a limp latke? Initially you may create-it-yourself in-house with the staff’s help, but eventually, you may want to outsource to a skilled content writer for blogs, eBooks, landing pages and other professionally-prepared pieces of likeable content.

Grant A Good Time

Eventually, you’ll have to stop congratulating yourself for having a website at all and dive deeper into the user experience (UX). All that good content you prepared has to be as simple to find as a Starbucks, while also having the wow-power of a Vegas casino. In addition to an intuitive menu for clear navigation, you’ll want, among many things, a fast loading speed, chatbots for round-the-clock assistance and a way for customers to provide feedback (leave complaints). And, of course, the best landing page can’t make up for a poorly planned Contact Us experience.

Remember to Write

You have the list. The email list. Maybe you’ve already been developing a loyal following by sending out notifications for significant sales and promotions. It’s also a great tool for handling customer service issues like billing, deliveries and returns. So you will probably realize a high return on a relatively low investment of time and money when you nurture existing customers. Tracking the rate of response is simple, the average purchase is 2-3X higher and email customers are more likely to share your message on their social media feeds. Remember the old adage: Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is pure email marketing gold!

Keep the Mystery Alive

Who doesn’t want a little genie to pop out of a bottle and grant three wishes? That’s essentially what chatbots do. They appear out of nowhere when you least expect it, at your service to make suggestions, answer questions or notify you when a sale is coming up. Quite often they are the only customer service representative available in the middle of the night to answer questions like, “Where’s my order?” or “How do I change my password?” A website that incorporates these intuitive digital darlings can expect greater engagement, happier clients and more complete-to-cart sales.

Make Goo-Goo Eyes with Google

SEO (search engine optimization) sounds intimidating and is really complex unless you are coding or content writing for a living. It has as its sole goal the ranking of your company on Google, Bing and other search engines. When done right, it’s invaluable because searchers are purchasers. Companies and brands earn their ranking based on how well their website is “optimized,” that is, not only having the requisite bells and whistles such as video blogs, voice search and digital assistants (chatbots) but also a fine user experience, ample viewers comments, verifiable links and mobile responsiveness.

Stay Fresh

No…not the fabric softener, although this may make your site more “touchably soft.” I’m talking about blog writing. It’s adding fresh content (there’s that word again) to your website on a consistent basis that will garner you well-deserved attention from Google. It’s also your way of showing a business bond by going just a little out of your way to develop articles worth reading and remembering. Blogging is a way to give customers the very best, latest, most interesting and inspiring news and views to make better choices or improve their lives.

Guess what? Websites with a serious, consistent blog get over 50% more leads than those without one.

Give Group Hugs

The best way to strenghten your love base is through social media marketing. Your customers will expect to see you on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or whatever platforms are appropriate. The DIY marketer wanting to showcase their business and products can gain followers and increase engagement beyond their imagination just by posting consistently. By using strategic hashtags and engaging with comments, a business can gradually develop an emotional connection, as well. Once the popular platforms become routine, a company can advance to more complex ones like Pinterest, YouTube and Reddit. For consistent posting, a social media writer can be extremely helpful.

Being a new business owner is stressful enough with everything required from staffing to servicing clients. But marketing is always the key to getting the word out and the orders in. Having an online digital presence is no longer a nice value-added attraction. It’s a must. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the new technological advances that come out every day, changing everything you’ve just learned. With an optimized website, think of the wide range of customers you can reach who will love you, too.

If you need content or any other digital marketing services for your new business, we’d love to hear from you. After all, at iwebcontent, we love to write!