If you are an entrepreneur, you would know that an act of kindness can have a huge impact on your surroundings. In the days of the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen multiple people showing an act of kindness to support all those in need. Just like the coronavirus, another thing that is spreading very quickly is the way in which people are finding ways to support local businesses. These businesses can be cafes, boutiques, pet shops, etc. Many business owners are trying to help small business owners so they can get through the pandemic restrictions.
When the world experienced lockdown in the initial phase of coronavirus, small businesses were one of the biggest aspects that took the bullets. Ever since these restrictions, world leaders have been trying to find ways to protect their country’s economy and maintain public safety. Therefore, we must come up with practical solutions to support small businesses.
Reasons for Supporting Small Business
1. Online Presence
When we make our minds to support local businesses, we hope that these businesses attract as many clients as possible. If you want to create an online presence for your business, it is important to have effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategies in place. SEO strategies will help you to increase your website traffic and bring more in-person visits to a storefront. As an entrepreneur, you always try to work hard to make a change within your surroundings. However, that hard work could come to no use if you have nobody recognizing your work.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
As a result, SEO strategies enable you to not just attract website traffic but also improve your online presence. If you add key elements to your business websites, such as logos, blogs, and images, there is no reason why Google won’t recognize your website. By adding content to your website consistently, you will be able to establish trust with the search engines.
2. Customer Reputation
According to the search engine journal website, 76%of the consumers put their trust in online reviews rather than going by what their families and relatives say. Similarly, 76%-,76%25,-%3A%20The%20percentage%20of) of the online public are happy in supporting local businesses via their smartphones. They go to a local shop nearby to buy something or visit a business close to their residence. These indicators show that people do not support local businesses that do not appear in the search engines.
Image taken from Google
Unless they personally know about the small business, the consumers will only make up their minds after checking their presence on Google. They would like to see where that business is located and why they should go there. There is no point in drawing customers via local magazines, billboards, or banners. A trustworthy small business should have a website with a reasonable search engine ranking. Its website should contain a profile of complete business hours and services.
3. Customer Feedback
If we want to support local businesses, one of the first things we consider is customer feedback. Customer feedback is important not just for small businesses but also for massive organizations worldwide. If you have just established a website related to a small business, you can use the positive feedback coming your way and incorporate it into your website design. This will create a positive presence for your business and attract further clients to your online platform. When the customers recognize a small business on Google, the first thing they check is their online reviews. If they find positive reviews, they become part of that business.
Image taken from Strikingly
By relying on Strikingly, you can create effective business websites and generate positive online reviews. If your customers have any queries, you can add information related to your social media accounts and emails, so they can contact you directly. You may also receive positive customer feedback just for hearing out the customer’s queries. Many business owners disregard the online queries, making them lose their customers.
4. Online Advertising
Recently, we have seen many small firms that have struggled to put aside their funds for marketing purposes. Luckily, many web directories, such as Google My Business, support local businesses by adding their information for free. You can increase your brand awareness without any cost by opting for this strategy. Rather than going for an expensive advertising strategy, you can attract visitors through this strategy.
If your business website doesn’t have a web directory, you are basically wasting a free advertisement. If you are yet to know about web directories or own a small business that doesn’t have a Google My Business account, make sure that you get it soon and build on your online presence.
Strategies for Supporting Small Business
1. Check Your Surroundings
If you have just opened a small business, the first thing that strikes your mind is how you can bring customers to your platform. In this regard, the easiest thing to do is to go to Google and type “support local business near me” in the search field. It is not very difficult to look for and support local businesses as everyone is aware of their surroundings. During the lockdown period, we have seen many small businesses open up in the majority of the places.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
You can have a look around and see whether your area is under the same wavelength or not. If you want customers to support your local business, you must rely on an effective website builder, such as Strikingly. Here in Strikingly, we can see Namesake Coffee's example (shown above). This website provides customers with navigation elements that help them go through the contact section, background, blog, and other storylines.
2. Food Delivery
Ever since the pandemic, ordering food has become one of the most common things in the online world. It may look easy on the eye, but you must know that this is one of the common ways to support local businesses today. For example, if a food point offers hot pie or roasted chicken, you can inform your family and relatives and tell them to order food from there. By doing this, you will benefit the small business owner.
Image taken from Strikingly
Strikingly enables you to create a food website for completing food deliveries. Ensure that you include all the menus and recipes provided by your kitchenette or cuisine, and the customers will come rushing in. If you feel that the customers may have a problem with food delivery, you must add your social media details so that they can interact with you directly.
3. Use Social Media
One of the most common ways to support local businesses today is social media. As much as website reviews play an important part in your brand awareness, you simply cannot disregard the influence of social media. If you have a Facebook account, you can share the best deals to show your support for a particular small business near your location. You can also share a Facebook live link of shops that provide discounts on selected items. For example, you can check out a pet shop that provides a discount on pet food or grooming packages.
4. Provide Positive Reviews
As we have said before, positive reviews have become a major factor to support local businesses and large businesses. After making an online purchase or ordering food from these local shops, you can leave a comment or share reviews of their services on their website. If your customers are satisfied, it will open the door for broader business opportunities. You will have a chance to build on your traffic by attracting customers from nearby places and other areas.
If a customer is unaware of a local shop nearby, he will look into what the other people say about the shop before thinking about buying local goods from there. Strikingly provides its users with a feature through which they can incorporate positive reviews on their website. This is considered one of the most important features of a user’s website because it enables them to attract new visitors and retain the current ones.
Conclusion
In the fragile coronavirus pandemic situation, it has become more important than ever to support small businesses. An act of kindness fulfills the demands of those in need and adds to your online presence. It is similar to how you support the small businesses near you. For example, you benefit the local shop owners if you buy local goods. By benefitting them, these local shop owners will be able to pay salaries to their employees on time and sustain their families' needs.
The search engine rankings of your small business are influenced by the dynamics, consistency, and dissemination of your business idea. This also says a lot about your website traffic, foot traffic, and transactions. By relying on Strikingly, you can create a website that brings your advocacy into action. For the local shops nearby, you can create online communities for support. Head over to Strikingly, complete the registration process and support local businesses near you.
