The problem is that most people don’t use it correctly.

They type in a one-line prompt, take whatever generic response they get and call it a day. They churn out AI-generated content and wonder why it doesn’t rank. SEO isn’t just about pushing words onto a page; it’s about trust, expertise and context. And AI doesn’t inherently have those things. But it can help you build them.

At its core, SEO is laborious: Keyword research, content creation, technical audits and competitor analysis. AI won’t do it all for you, but it can automate the repetitive, speed up the tedious and help you get more done for less. The key is knowing where and how to use it.

Before we go through some of the most effective – and creative – ways that you can use AI for your business’ website, let’s go through some common mistakes people make.

Mistake #1: Using one-line prompts and ending up with generic, low-value content

People assume AI can read minds. They give it vague prompts like: “Write a blog about the best SEO strategies.”

AI then pulls together a mash-up of generic tips from random blogs used to train its LLM (Large Language Model). Nothing that Google – or your audience – hasn’t seen a thousand times.

A better approach? Treat AI like an intern – give it clear instructions, context and a specific goal.

Try: “Write a 1500-word guide on SEO strategies for e-commerce websites. Cover technical SEO, product page optimisation and link-building. Keep it conversational, with real-world examples. Avoid generic advice like ‘use keywords’ and focus on advanced tactics.”

Now, AI has clear guidelines to follow. It knows the audience (e-commerce site owners), the tone (conversational) and the structure (detailed strategies with examples).

Don’t expect AI to do all the work while you sit back. After all, you wouldn’t tell a junior employee to write a report and expect perfection. You’d guide them and add your expertise. AI is no different.

Wrong ways to use AI:

• Ask for a full blog post and copy-paste whatever it gives.
• Expect AI to understand nuance without context.
• Use AI-generated content without fact-checking or editing.

Right ways to use AI:

• Use AI to brainstorm ideas and refine rough drafts.
• Guide AI with detailed prompts and clear instructions.
• Edit, fact-check and add human insight.

Mistake #2: Publishing AI content without trust signals

Think of AI like an eager student: It’s great at summarising existing information but terrible at establishing authority. A search engine isn’t just looking for content, it’s looking for content that deserves to rank.

What doesn’t work:

• AI-generated content with no real expertise.
• Articles that repeat what’s already ranking.
• Blog posts with no human perspective or unique insights.

What works:

• Adding real examples (case studies, first-hand experience or industry data).
• Using authoritative sources to back up claims.
• Injecting a human voice.

The above ‘What works’ examples are all ‘trust signals’, which will tell search engines that your content should rank higher.

Let’s say you’re writing about technical SEO mistakes:

A generic text would look like this: “One common mistake is not optimising site speed. A slow website can negatively impact rankings and user experience.”

A stronger, more trustworthy version would look like this: “A slow website doesn’t just frustrate users; it can kill conversions. In 2023, Google reported that if a page takes longer than three seconds to load, 53 per cent of mobile users will abandon it. One of our clients, an e-commerce store, saw a 27 per cent increase in sales just by reducing load time from 4.5 seconds to 2.8 seconds.”

See the difference? The second example contains real data and real impact. That’s what makes content credible.

How to use AI the right way for SEO

Most people just use AI for content generation, but that’s like buying a Swiss Army knife just to open bottles. AI can streamline keyword research, content strategy, technical SEO and competitor analysis, saving you time, effort and money.

The key? Use AI strategically: Feed it the right inputs, refine outputs and leverage its capabilities beyond content creation.

Let’s break down some ways you can use AI to make sure your business ranks.

Conducting keyword research

Many people approach keyword research like they’re shopping for groceries – grabbing items off the shelf without thinking about the full meal. AI changes that. Instead of looking at individual keywords in silos, AI helps you see the bigger picture – related terms, supporting topics and the entire search-intent funnel.

Most people blindly trust keyword research tools like Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner (GKP). But here’s the catch: Ahrefs relies on historical data and averages, meaning it doesn’t always detect emerging trends. GKP excludes many valuable keywords and often pushes advertisers toward higher CPC terms.

AI can process vast amounts of data and help uncover hidden opportunities. Say you’re selling smartphones. Instead of just targeting ‘best smartphones’, AI can:

• Identify related searches: ‘Best camera phone under $1000’.
• Surface supporting products: Screen protectors, fast chargers, wireless earbuds.
• Spot seasonal trends: ‘Best phone for Christmas 2025’.

Why does it matter? Because Google doesn’t look at a keyword in isolation – it looks at context. The better your content fits into a larger ecosystem of related queries, the stronger your SEO strategy.

Make transcripts of audio or video content

Do you have any audio or visual content on your website? Don’t just optimise titles and descriptions; turn your audio and video into transcripts for easy content. 

Use AI to transcribe and summarise videos for blog content. You can also extract key insights for FAQs, snippets or even social-media posts, which then link back to the main content on your website.

For example, a 20-minute podcast on digital marketing can be repurposed into:

• A 1500-word blog post.
• A Twitter thread of key takeaways.
• A LinkedIn post with insights from the discussion.

Use AI for schema markup

Help search engines better understand your website content by using schema markup. This step is often very intimidating for non-technical business owners. Even something as simple as JSON-LD can look like hieroglyphics. But structured data boosts visibility in search results with rich snippets, FAQs and star ratings, so you should be using it if you want to rank highly.

AI can generate schema for you, explain errors in schema markup, and fix or validate structure data before you implement it.

AI can generate:

• FAQ Schema
• Product Schema
• Event Schema

… but always validate it in Google’s Rich Results Test.

Check out competitors’ SEO strategies

If you want to see how your top competitors are optimising for search, there’s no need to manually check all of their blogs, titles and metadata. 

AI can visit your competitors’ site and scrape the top 10 ranking pages for a given keyword. It can analyse meta titles and descriptions, heading structures (H1, H2, H3s), common themes and formatting tricks. You can then use what you find to edit your own content. For example, if three of your top competitors use ‘2025’ in their blog titles, guess what? You should, too.

What AI can do:

• Analyse the top-10 ranking pages for keywords.
• Identify common themes in metadata, content length (word count), and keyword usage.
• Identify other content styles, like product comparison tables.

Say you want to scan a competitor’s page to see if they’re using structured data. Instead of digging through their source code, you can:

• Create a JavaScript bookmarklet that extracts schema markup.
• Click it while on their page.
• AI instantly summarises what schema they’re using and how it affects rankings.
• It saves you hours of manual checking and gives you instant insights into competitor SEO strategies.

Identify duplicate content issues

Google considers duplicate content as not having any value, small changes can make a big difference. AI can compare your content to your competitors’ and highlight similarities. Then, you can ask it to rewrite your content to be unique, keyword-rich and engaging.

Fix Google Search Console (GSC) errors

It can be hard to understand error messages if you’re not tech savvy. AI can act as an SEO translator for non-tech users by breaking down tech speak into actionable fixes in plain English. 

For example:

• Error: “Page indexed, but blocked by robots.txt”
• AI explanation: “Google tried to index your page but was blocked. Check robots.txt and remove disallow rules.”

Automate technical SEO Tasks

There are lots of small, repetitive, and/or technical SEO-related tasks that AI can help with. For instance, AI can:

• Create robots.txt
• Create sitemaps
• Create hreflang tags
• Check title tags
• Scan for broken links
• Monitor redirects

Handle Google warnings

Ever had Google flag your site with a site safety warning or a CrUX (Chrome User Experience) issue? It’s like getting a cryptic message from a mechanic: “Your car has an issue, but we’re not going to tell you exactly what’s wrong.”

Instead of seeing a Google warning and blindly tweaking code without understanding the root cause, or spending hours Googling solutions, hoping for a fix, use an AI-enhanced approach.

AI-enhanced approach:

1. Upload your source code to AI and ask it to diagnose issues.
2. Get an easy-to-understand explanation of what’s broken and how to fix it.

Using AI to reduce friction between funnel stages

SEO is not about just rankings, it’s also about moving users through the sales funnel. Most businesses lose potential customers because of friction between Tofu (Top of Funnel), Mofu (Middle of Funnel) and Bofu (Bottom of Funnel).

This friction can occur when you expect users to convert immediately after reading a blog without considering what might be stopping them from taking action.

AI can map out user journeys and identify gaps in content. It can suggest micro-conversions to move users smoothly from top of funnel to middle of funnel to bottom of funnel.

For example, say you have an e-commerce store selling running shoes. A blog post on ‘Best running shoes for flat feet’ is getting traffic, but people aren’t buying.

AI can help by:

• Analysing drop-off points (where users leave without purchasing).
• Suggesting content upgrades (like an interactive shoe selector).
• Optimising calls to action (for example, changing ‘Buy now’ to ‘Find your perfect fit’).

The key takeaway? AI isn’t just for content – use it for keyword discovery, technical fixes, automation, competitor research and more. The smarter you use AI, the further you’ll outpace those still doing everything manually.

• This article first appeared in issue 48 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine.

The post AI won’t save your SEO, but it can supercharge it; here’s how appeared first on Inside Small Business.

Holyoake had spent years building up his Google Business Profile (GBP), an important asset for local and service-based businesses. Then, one day, it was suspended without warning – and with no reason given.

“You’re simply sent an email saying ‘Your profile has been suspended’, and a link to a labyrinth of policy documentation,” said Holyoake. “It’s up to you to figure out why, and you only have two chances to ‘appeal’ their decision.”

If your GBP has been suspended, you’ll know that it’s a distressing place – and that it can cost your business significantly. You’ll also know that the process of getting your GBP restored can be endlessly frustrating and mysterious.

To find out how Google’s verification process works, and how businesses can have their profiles restored, ISB spoke to SEO specialist and Google Product Expert Pulkit Agrawal.

Why did my Google Business Profile get suspended?

The number one reason for GBP suspension is violation of Google’s policies – the same ones Holyoake described as “a labyrinth”.

“If the business has been suspended, it’s because of policy violations…99 per cent of the time,” said Agrawal.

As to why Google doesn’t give a reason for the violation: it’s not in their financial interest, according to Agrawal. From Google’s point of view, the profiles are a free service – why spend time and money telling business owners what they did wrong? Moreover, helping bad actors to pinpoint what they did wrong is also not in the company’s best interests.

Suspensions are also not doled out by humans generally, but it can happen. Instead, Google’s algorithms trawl profiles for elements that don’t align with policies – and they’re very sensitive, to weed out fraudsters who might be trying to game the system. 

“People are becoming creative, they are using employee addresses to verify different locations,” said Agrawal. “I even know businesses that go around and look for rundown houses… because they want to target multiple locations.”

But as fraudulent businesses get taken down, so do many legitimate ones – like Holyoake’s. If this has happened to you too, here’s what to do.

How can I get my Google Business Profile reinstated?

Once your profile is taken down, you’ll have two chances to appeal the decision.

In Holyoake’s case, both appeals were rejected, even though he provided seemingly substantial evidence to prove his business’ legitimacy: documentation, business information, photos of workers in uniform. But Agrawal said even the most bulletproof evidence of your business’ existence won’t cut it if you’ve somehow violated Google’s policy. 

“The only reason why appeals get rejected is because of policy violations – they go by the book,” he explained.

Agrawal always recommends looking at the policy violations with a fine-toothed comb before you appeal. Once you’ve found the area that your profile doesn’t comply with, fix it up and then appeal. If you don’t think you’ve violated any policies after having a good readthrough – or if your appeal is rejected – the Google Business Profile Help Community is the next place to go.

Google’s help community 

Google’s help community is a forum, but it can be useful in getting your GBP restored, Agrawal said. This community is where Google Product Experts hang out – these are volunteers who are in direct contact with Google and often attend conferences to learn more about their products and services. When Matt Holyoake’s GBP was suspended, it was one of these Product Experts who finally got the profile reinstated.

“If appeals are rejected, your only option is to turn to Google’s support ‘Community’, where a ‘Google Product Expert’ might answer your questions,” said Holyoake. “…When one of Google’s Product Experts somehow got our profile reinstated, no reason was given for the downtime.”

Agrawal is a Google Product Expert. Though he was unable to share how the process works exactly, he said he works with both business owners and Google Support to make sure that policy violations are fixed. He added that false positives, where no policy violations occurred, are “fairly common”.

So, if you engage with these community pages, you may be able to find an expert who can help you: either by liaising with Google or by identifying what policy your GBP might be violating.

Note: Agrawal warned never to give your logins or personal information away to anyone helping you – you shouldn’t need to do this to get a solution.

Google support

Google Product Experts aren’t the only people who handle cases like these; business owners can also reach out to Google’s support via a form online. 

Yes, there is a dedicated support team for GBPs – but it can be a “slow burn” to get help, according to Agrawal. And you may not be assigned a human if your case isn’t deemed worthy of one, or if you don’t provide much detail in your form.

So, in sum – if your GBP is suspended, it can be an arduous process getting it back up. And the damage a missing profile can do to your business is devastating.

What’s more, Google only seems to be getting stricter with its crackdowns. In his opinion piece, Holyoake referenced a recent statement by a Google employee who said that the company took down 12 million fake business profiles in 2024.

“With my recent experience and countless posts on Reddit and Google’s support forums detailing similar experiences, I’m willing to bet a great chunk of those ’12 million fake businesses’ are not fake,” said Holyoake.

As both an SEO specialist and a Product Expert, Agrawal deals with GBP suspensions all the time, to the point that he jokes about them keeping him in business.

“Business profile violations are how we break our bread,” he said. “But it’s really hard. I really pity the business owners.”

The post Why your Google Business Profile was suspended – and how to get it back appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The statistics come from the Digital 2025 Australia report by Meltwater and We Are Social, who asked Australian internet users over 16 what they used to conduct brand research.

Shockingly, only 37 per cent used a business’ own website to research its products and services.

There’s no doubt that social media is now a crucial part of any brand’s online presence. However, the same report shows that search is still king in some areas.

Search engines are still the most common way that Australians discover a business in the first place, with 37.6 per cent of internet users over the age of 16 finding brands this way. In fact, social media is only the fourth-most common source of brand discovery. 

Only 26.8 per cent of users discover new brands via this channel, behind word of mouth (34.3 per cent) and TV ads (29.5 per cent).

What might this mean?

Your Australian customers are still most likely to stumble upon your business via search engine results page, meaning a great SEO strategy remains your most powerful weapon of discovery.

However, when it comes to researching a brand, Australians are increasingly turning to social channels – more so than even brand websites. In other words, consumers now view social media as one of the best ways to get to know your business.

This means that it’s more important than ever to make sure that your social media accounts contain everything your customer needs to know about your business. This doesn’t just mean your products and services, either. Increasingly, people are turning to social media to understand a business’ purpose, ethos, and trustworthiness.

The post Social media rivals search as top tool for brand research in Australia appeared first on Inside Small Business.

With the prevalence of eCommerce and digital offerings, customers expect businesses to meet them where they are – in person or online – regardless of the product or service. The lines have truly blurred between what sets one business apart from another, so the best way to stand out is through exceptional customer service and digital experience.

Research from Zendesk’s CX Trends 2024 Report shows that:

• 81 per cent of customers will make another purchase if they have a great experience.
• After one bad experience, 61 per cent of customers will switch to a competitor.
• After multiple bad experiences, 73 per cent of customers will switch to a competitor.

Delivering a great customer experience can lead to greater visibility for a business, positive customer reviews and referrals – which in turn create more revenue.

As customers search for more meaningful interactions across multiple channels, how does a small business meet these expectations with limited budgets and resources?

Automation

The never-ending list of administrative duties like invoicing, billing, pay roll, accounting, marketing, scheduling and managing appointments go on and on.

Many small-business owners find that they have so much to do and such little time to do it. They become so bogged down with administrative tasks that they can’t work on the business itself. Automation allows you to connect with customers in an authentic way, while reducing your workload.

Most small businesses don’t have the luxury of a marketing team, an accounts receivable team, a social media team, or a customer service team. Most of the time it’s one or two people juggling these duties to ensure the business stays running.

Automation allows your business to send personalised messages and market to your customers effectively without requiring any manual involvement in the process.

Digitise your communication

Did you know that 93 per cent of customers will spend more with your business if you communicate with them on their preferred platform?

Building a digital presence is a challenge many small businesses face when resources are tight and scarce – but it is possible!

So, how do you choose what channel is right for you and your customers?

1. Build a website. It may seem like an obvious choice but having a strong website will meet your customers at the crucial intersection of their search journey. Offering additional benefits such as booking online will mean instant bookings and customer growth.
2. Leverage social media. Social media channels are the best platform for small businesses to establish a digital presence. By identifying which channels your audience prefers, you can tailor your content to reach them where they are. Automating content through scheduling is a cost-effective way to ensure a steady stream of content that keeps the conversation going and your business front of mind.
3. Optimise for SEO. Increase your visibility by appearing higher in organic search results. Make it easier for consumers to find you and make your website as visible as possible on search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You can do this using SEO best practice, such as understanding which search terms your customers are using to find your website, creating content that includes these search terms and reducing any duplicate content on your site.

Remember, the main goal for digital transformation is to alleviate the pressure of business administration and digitise the tasks that are taking up time and resources and keeping you up at night. It will also improve your clients’ experience by using their preferred method of communication in line with the expectation of online convenience in 2024.

The post Embracing digital transformation to drive cost efficiencies and customer service appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The numbers speak for themselves. Studies have shown in 2024 that short-form video provides 31 per cent of ROI, high-quality still images provide an ROI of 22 per cent blog posts provide an ROI of 15 per cent case studies and podcasts or other audio content provide an ROI of 14-15 per cent.

What I do know as a solo small-business owner in the digital marketing area, is that these are some of the strategies I use with digital marketing, to slash the cost of running my business, and increase my profits. Here are three things that work for me:

Content marketing has emerged as a beacon for me as a small business to reduce my operational costs while effectively reaching my target audience. By creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content, I can attract and retain a clearly defined audience, ultimately driving profitable customer/new client action without breaking my bank.

With creativity and strategic planning, small businesses like mine, with modest budgets, can produce compelling and engaging content that resonates with my audience. This approach not only slashes my marketing costs by focusing on owned rather than paid media but also builds a long-term brand presence that continues to yield results over time. It’s the consistency with my content marketing and following a strategy that I have built for myself that continues to deliver results.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an invaluable tool to slash the cost of running your small business. I find working on this myself every week is a cost-efficient way to boost my online presence without the hefty price tag associated with traditional advertising methods. The higher my relevance as ranked by Google, increases the likelihood of conversion, turning my visitors into customers at a fraction of the cost of paid advertising campaigns. By optimising my website content, structure, and on-page elements like keywords and meta tags, I consistently improve my search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find me, even with a sea of competitors, especially as solo small-business owner in the digital marketing area.

Email Marketing is a standout for my small business as a remarkably cost-effective strategy cutting down operational costs while maintaining a strong connection with my audience. It offers a direct line of communication with my customers at a fraction of the cost. By continually building and leveraging my email list and crafting targeted messages I can deliver personalised content straight to the inboxes of my potential and existing clients/customers, promoting what I sell without the need for expensive advertising campaigns. The beauty of email marketing isn’t only in its affordability but also in its versatility and measurability. You can see who has opened it, the percentage of opens, the number of clicks and bounce rates allowing me to fine-tune this strategy for maximum impact at minimal cost.

Unlike traditional advertising methods that often require substantial financial investment for short-term visibility, content marketing, search engine optimisation and email marketing, offer a sustainable and cost-effective alternative.

The post Three surprising ways to slash the cost of running your small business appeared first on Inside Small Business.

Understanding AI-SEO, an era of innovation

Artificial intelligence has revolutionised several aspects of digital marketing, and SEO is no exception. AI’s ability to gather data, analyse it, and provide actionable insights can dramatically enhance SEO strategies. It automates the SEO processes, allowing businesses to focus on content creation, customer engagement, and other essential tasks.

Keyword research and content optimisation

Keyword research is the backbone of SEO. AI can automate this tedious process and generate accurate results. Tools like ChatGPT use it to provide a comprehensive list of keywords relevant to your business niche.

Furthermore, AI can streamline content optimisation. It can identify the right keywords to use, the density of those keywords, and other critical aspects of SEO content. Platforms such as Frase, Semrush, SurferSEO, and MarketMuse use AI to offer content optimisation suggestions, ensuring your content is SEO-friendly and caters to your audience’s needs.

Voice search SEO

Voice search is the future of SEO. According to reports, the number of voice assistants will double in 2024, from 4.2 to 8.4 billion. Moreover, according to Google’s voice search statistics, 27% of the global population is using voice search on their mobile devices. AI-powered tools help you optimise your content for voice search by providing long-tail keywords and conversational phrases commonly used in voice queries. This ensures your website ranks well in voice search results, enhancing your online visibility.

Technical SEO

AI can significantly streamline technical SEO, a typically complex aspect of SEO strategy. It can identify technical issues like broken links, slow-loading pages, and 404 errors that might harm your website’s ranking. It can also automate website audits, optimize content, understand user intent, implement structured data markup, analyse user experience, optimise for voice search, and monitor algorithmic updates. Semrush, SurferSEO, and Frase are some of the best tools that use it for improving the technical SEO of your website and other content.

Market research

AI can assist in market research by automating data collection, analysing large volumes of information, predicting market trends, segmenting customers, conducting sentiment analysis, performing competitive analysis, enabling personalised marketing, forecasting demand, and identifying market trends. While humans will take days to analyse big chunks of data, AI can do it in minutes or seconds. In fact, 41 per cent of marketers that used AI in marketing experienced increased campaign revenue and performance. CrawlIQ, Codeit, Semrush Market Explorer use AI to help users in market research.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, AI has emerged as a game-changer in the SEO landscape. For small businesses, leveraging AI for SEO is an investment that can yield significant returns. It saves time, optimises your SEO strategy, and helps you stay ahead in the competitive digital world. So, it’s time to embrace AI, optimise your SEO, and take your small business to new heights.

Remember, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes consistent effort and adjustment according to the ever-evolving SEO trends and Google algorithms. And with AI by your side, you can stay on top of these changes and succeed in your SEO journey.

The post Top tips for small businesses on leveraging AI for SEO success appeared first on Inside Small Business.

Consider Australia’s hyper-competitive retail sector. Retail marketing is the combination of tactics used to promote your business, acquire new customers, retain existing customers and build a strong brand presence. And the best thing is, it needn’t cost the earth. Here are just a handful of the many cost-effective ways you can fill your store without emptying your bank. 

Promote key information

Start with the basics. If you want people to find you, ensure your stock items, address, prices, website, contact details and opening hours are added to business listings and on the likes of Google and Facebook. Build free profiles on Facebook, Instagram and anywhere else your digitally-savvy shoppers are searching. Use hashtags and experiment with geotags on your post. After all, if you’re not there at the discovery phase, your business doesn’t exist.

Customer reviews

Your existing customers are your biggest, most influential advocates when it comes to reaching new audiences. They’re an incredibly powerful social proof that can either encourage people to visit your store or avoid it entirely. Almost nine in ten people trust what others say about a business through reviews, while Harvard Business School research found that a business’ average star rating translates to a five to nine per cent revenue increase. So, encourage your customers to leave them for you, and even consider incentivising them with the offer of a discount on a future purchase.

Search engine optimisation…

…or SEO is the process of increasing your ranking on search engines like Google. The better your SEO, the higher your store will appear when related keywords are searched. There are a number of easy ways to boost yours. For example, claim your Google Business Profile, use local keywords – such as ‘homewares retailer near me’ or ‘vinyl record store Newtown’ – optimise your website for mobile, add backlinks to your website (for example from social media, blogs or local directories) and encourage online reviews.

Promote special offers such as LTOs

‘FOMO’ is real, so tap into it. Limited Time Offers (LTOs) are a common tactic to attract potential shoppers because they are regarded as rare and special. If you decide to drop a new collection or discount a popular item, LTOs build it up as something unique enough to draw shoppers and help boost your sales for a short period of time.

Local event marketing

Local event marketing helps get your name out there. Handing out flyers or even hosting a sample stand at various local events are some examples of ways to use event marketing to your advantage. Think outside the box and find creative ways that help your business stand out from the rest. Consider posting QR codes in the local neighbourhood that link to your website.

Loyalty programs

A loyalty program is a great way to drive customer retention. Tied in with a POS, a loyalty program allows you to track customer buying habits and create campaigns around those habits. For example, you could offer shoppers a free product when they make a purchase over a certain value or a voucher to spend on their birthday (remember, LTO!). Or if you notice most of your shoppers purchase just one item, you could offer ‘buy two get one free’. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective methods, making it great if you’re on a budget.

As interest rates and inflation continue to put pressure on small business budgets, it’s likely that you have a little less to invest in marketing than usual. However, that doesn’t have to come at the expense of impactful customer retention and acquisition strategies that work just as hard for your retail business as you do.

The post Impactful marketing strategies for any small-business budget appeared first on Inside Small Business.

In this sort of environment, it’s important you look for cost-effective ways to grow your business, like the 10 below.

Even if you implement just one or two, they could make a significant difference to your bottom line.

1. Sell more to your existing customers

Analyse what your customers buy to see if you can offer them more products or services. One way to cross-sell to your existing customers is to segment your database and send people emails about products or services they don’t currently buy.

2. Increase your social media presence

Regularly post helpful tips on social media. That will establish you as an expert, and make people more willing to do business with you.

3. Look for additional income streams

Look for wastage in your business. For example, do your staff have downtime? If so, what else could they be doing during those hours?

Does your manufacturing process create wastage? If so, is there an opportunity to turn that into a by-product?

4. Set goals

Set yourself goals to expand your business. Draw up a plan with a timeline of what you need to do and set a deadline for it.

For example, if you want to grow your turnover by 5 per cent:

• How would you do it?
• When is your deadline?
• What do you need to do today to make that happen?
• How will you measure your progress?

5. Know everything about your business

It’s important to be on top of everything that is happening in your business. That means asking yourself tough questions, such as:

• What problem does your business solve?
• How can you expand your business to solve more problems?
• What does every employee do the whole day and are they efficient?
• What is your top-selling product or service and why?
• What is your lowest-selling product or service and should it be scrapped?

6. Partner with other small businesses

Informal networks between small business owners are a great way to cut costs and grow your business.

Two medical professionals could join forces to share office space and a receptionist. If you’re complementary, like an optometrist and a nutritionist, you’ll gain exposure to your partner’s customers.

7. Understand your industry

Speak to your customers and suppliers about your industry and what changes they’d like to see. This will give you the chance to find a gap that needs to be filled.

8. Embrace technology

Try to automate as many processes as you can, such as by switching from manual to e-invoicing.

If your staff are answering the same customer queries repeatedly, consider investing in a chatbot for your website.

9. Focus on SEO

The more people who know about your business, the more potential customers you have. Ensure your website has a lot of content written with SEO, or search engine optimisation, in mind (i.e. uses the right keywords) to increase the chances of your website appearing prominently in search results.

10. Join networking groups

Sign up for business networking groups, like BNI, that give you the chance to tap into a network of smart, motivated referral partners.

But don’t take a “sell, sell, sell” approach – you won’t receive any referrals that way. Instead, focus on building relationships and helping other group members. If you do that, they’ll go out of their way to refer potential customers to your business.

The post The top ten things you can do to grow your business in 2023 appeared first on Inside Small Business.

All businesses, whether they’ve existed in the same bricks-and-mortar shopfront for a century or they’re a recently opened online-only operation, need to do one thing to survive: meet, and ideally exceed, customer expectations.

Businesses often overlook the need to meet these expectations throughout the entire customer journey. Two areas that are particularly likely to be overlooked are the pre-purchase stage, when they first discover your business, and the consideration stage, when they’re evaluating whether to engage with you.

In the modern world, customers are spending the pre-purchase stages online. This means it’s essential for a small business to have a modern online presence that makes a positive first impression.

“Reviews have the same influence as traditional word-of-mouth marketing.”

If you’re a business with a minimal online presence, or if you haven’t monitored and updated your online information for a while, it can seem like a difficult and time-consuming task to modernise it. The best approach is to break it down into easy steps that can be rolled out one-by-one in a manageable timeframe. Below you’ll find a six-week plan to modernise your small business with a big digital strategy.

Week one: SWOT analysis

Before you can make any meaningful changes, you need to gather a full picture of your business’s relationship with technology and the online world. This should encompass everything from your Google search results through to post-purchase communication. I recommend doing this through a SWOT analysis, where you identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Since you know your business inside and out, you may be able to initially fill out a SWOT analysis from just thinking through each point. However, I’d encourage you to spend some time in the shoes of a prospective customer, and go through the motions they’d undertake when first searching and engaging with your business online.

For bonus points, you can also search and engage with the online presence of your competitors – just make sure to keep the SWOT analysis focused on your business. While doing this, if you see things you’d like to implement, jot them down as a note outside of the SWOT, so you can incorporate them at the right time.

Week two: reviews

For week two, focus on the first thing customers focus on: reviews.

During your SWOT analysis, one of the first things you probably noticed was your Google star rating. That’s the same case for potential customers.

Reviews have the same influence as traditional word-of-mouth marketing, so when customers assess your business for the first time, they’ll look towards reviews for reassurance on whether to continue with your business.

Google reviews are often the best place to start, but you’ll want to find out what customers say about you on other sites aligned with your field. For example, if you’re a hospitality business, you should look out for your rating on any food delivery apps, restaurant rating sites like Zomato, and tourism sites like Tripadvisor.

Pay attention to the average rating, the number of reviews, and any comments people leave. Any recurring themes should definitely be noted, but it’s also important to notice any errant experiences. If somebody has had a negative experience, engage with them and see how you can rectify the situation.

You can then optimise your review processes to increase the number of positive reviews you’re receiving. An easy way of doing this is directing customers to the most appropriate platform after a purchase. Through Podium, you can automatically invite customers to leave a review with almost no effort on their part, drastically increasing the chances of them leaving a valuable review.

Week three: interaction management

Week three will focus on how customers are able to interact with your business. After looking you up online, how can a customer contact you? How do they learn more about your services? Some typical answers here are by coming in store, by email, through a contact form on a website, or by calling.

Some options to consider that will help you stand out from your competitors are automated webchats, and text messages; Podium data shows over two-thirds of consumers indicate that texting is their preferred method of contact.

For the modern world, it’s important to offer a variety of contact options across a range of channels, like Google, Facebook, and your own website. This doesn’t have to be daunting or time-consuming, as there are systems that can integrate all your messages into a single access point.

Week four: website

Over week four, optimise your website. Customers want local businesses to have a website, and they trust it to have the most up-to-date information on your service offerings, opening hours, and contact details.

It’s important to think beyond the basics, and to make sure that your website is strategically designed to convert leads into customers. The way to do this is to upgrade from a static website to one that uses integrations that will engage with visitors and analyse their behaviour.

A great way to do this is to adopt a webchat function, which will pop-up on any page of your site and allow visitors to ask questions. From there, you can pre-program answers or engage in a real-time conversation. Webchat establishes a relationship between visitors and your business, which can result in 11 times more leads.

The next integration worth having is Google Analytics. It’s a free tool that will track your website traffic, providing you with useful information about how customers are finding and interacting with your site.

Finally, incorporate some search engine optimisation (SEO), so that your website is findable. We’ll focus on this next week.

Week five: SEO

The point of SEO is to legitimise and localise your business, so that when a customer is searching for ‘independent bike shop’ in a nearby suburb, your store appears as a top result.

Start enhancing your SEO by setting up your Google Business Profile. This will keep your information up to date on Google, and ensure your business appears on Google Maps.

Next, populate your website with any terms that may be used to describe your business, such as ‘custom cake decorator in Camberwell’ or ‘Brisbane e-bike specialist’. It’s important to make sure these terms naturally appear on your website, don’t just throw them randomly onto a page. 

As a final step, claim listings on other local directories, and make sure your business name and contact information are the same everywhere.

Week six: marketing

For week six, you’re going to upgrade your visibility with marketing technology. Consider where and how technology can fit into your existing marketing strategy. Things to think about include: lead generation, tracking and reporting; how you determine whether your existing marketing efforts are successful; and your social media presence.

It can be fruitful to consider what your competitors are doing here. While you might not be able to determine their back-end processes and technologies, you can assess their marketing strategies. Thinking back to your initial SWOT analysis, determine what marketing efforts or support would be most worthwhile for your business, and you’ll undoubtedly find appropriate technology to support you.

By the end of these six weeks, your online presence will now be in pretty great shape, and your site traffic should continue to grow organically. Remember to stay on top of your visibility by regularly updating your information, checking out your reviews and continuing to adopt worthwhile integrations.

This article first appeared in issue 38 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine

The post Six weeks to modernisation appeared first on Inside Small Business.

In addition, the average business scored just 42.8 per cent on website basics such as a clickable phone number, having opening hours and contact information displayed, and including a business address.

SEO assessment is also part of the assessment wherein it examined simple best practices such as having a content-rich website, being indexed in Google, and ensuring homepage meta title and description comply with Google’s recommendations. The research found that 22.1 per cent was reached for Google My Business and local search, while 30.0 per cent was reached for SEO best practices.

Specific criteria is also set for specific social media platforms. For Facebook, specific indicators include minimum of two posts per week and at least five recommendations received in the past two months. The research found that only 18.1 per cent of best practice markers were achieved in the platform.

Instagram’s indicators cover the listing of an Insta account as a business account, use of Instagram Highlights, and the use of hashtags on every post. The research noted that only 24.8 per cent was reached for that platform.

“The results show there’s still a lot of work required for SMEs to achieve a healthy digital presence,” Liz Ward, co-founder and CEO of Navii, said. “Across the board, the SMEs we surveyed were underdelivering across their website, social media, and search engine scores and therefore missing out on opportunities for better exposure and engagement with their target markets.

“The good news is that in many cases, making a fix can be simple and the rewards can be huge,” Ward added. “Now is the perfect time to reassess your digital health and take the steps required to meet the needs of your digitally-savvy customer.”

The post SMEs have a “less-than-healthy” digital presence appeared first on Inside Small Business.