In the recently concluded PubCon 2011, Google associate Matt Cutts said that the “Web is the only place where small businesses can move faster than the big guys.” He’s 100% right. Every individual or organization starts the same way in the web and their efforts (or the lack of it) will determine how this marketing channel would help their business grow.
So how can small businesses compete with big businesses in the web? Do what they do but make sure that it’s tailored for your organization. Here are some examples that will help you understand what the last statement meant.
In-house vs. Outsourced Web Design and Maintenance
Big businesses have money. They can afford to hire their own team of web developers and designers and keep them in the company payroll to maintain their web sites. Can a small business do that? Probably. But is it necessary? No. There are many web design companies that cater specifically to small businesses. These firms understand that small business owners are better off spending their resources on keeping their business afloat rather than hire a full-time team of web developers. Thus, they offer affordable web site design and maintenance services that can save small business owners money.
Social Media Marketing
Big companies are into social media big time. You can see major brands like PepsiCo, American Express, and Google driving customer service and engagement through different social networks like Twitter and Facebook. This is something that small businesses can and must emulate. Observe how the big boys do it and apply their best practices in your own social media marketing plan. In doing so, I hope that you don’t lose that charm that many small businesses seem to have in common.
Search engine optimization
When you do a Google search for any topic, it will pull up a list of web pages most relevant to your subject. That’s called search engine results and it’s a very coveted spot. Brands, both corporate and personal, are competing to be on the top spot of search engine results and it’s considered a great success if you find your brand on the first page of search engine results.
How do you get on first page? Through consistent search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Big businesses pay top dollar to SEO experts to make sure that their web sites appear before the competition in these results. For small businesses, you can hire a freelancer or a small SEO firm to do it for you at reasonable prices. Or, you have the option of doing SEO on your own. We have a wonderful collection of SEO articles here:
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More online marketing tips coming your way
The tactics mentioned above are just some of the strategies that small businesses can employ to ensure that they don’t get left behind in the web. There’s a lot more and we invite you to come back to this blog and check out our past and future posts on this subject matter. Remember, small businesses can apply big business tactics in the world wide web.