Tried And Tested Strategies To Get Clients Online
Want to know how to get clients online?
There is one main reason why businesses are online. And that is to make a sale.
But it is not that easy.
One, you have to compete with many other businesses on the internet.
Second, it is not easy to make brand searchable and rank on the first page of Google or other search engines, in a single day. It takes time and a good, effective digital strategy.
And if you want to be searchable in an instant, you need to pay extra, which most business owners are hesitant to do.
With many years in the industry as a digital strategist, I always suggest to my clients to use the organic strategy of digital promotion, before going to the paid method. This is to make the most out of their overall digital marketing strategy.
If you can get clients online for free, then why spend hundreds or thousands?
However, the downside of the organic method is that it takes time. You need to wait for six months or even a year before your strategy can be effective.
And I would like to share with you this digital strategy I did for Savvi Accounting, a local accounting firm in Angeles City.
Since it was established, I was the one who handled its digital marketing campaigns. The company is now a year old, and fortunately, is gaining one to two clients per month. And most of the clients are inquiries online.
One to two clients a month may sound small, but this is not bad compared to having no client at all. And besides, the marketing strategy that I used is organic. The company did not pay for anything.
So if you want to get clients online for your business, I suggest trying these things that I did.
Step 1 – Build a website
One way to be online is to create your website. As a company, it is important to have a website where your customers can see all the information about you. Having a website also gives your business credibility. However, if you really want to build credibility, make sure that your website is professional looking and fits the requirements of your company branding.
Today, you can easily build your website. There are a lot of website creators on the internet that you can choose from. I recommend using WordPress and Wix for this. Both are easy to use and has a lot of professional-looking templates that you can just modify and customize. For Savvi Accounting, we used WordPress.
If you are a busy business owner and don’t have time to build your own and customized website, you can always hire an expert who will do everything for you. From setup, installation, design, development, testing, and even maintenance.
Another critical thing that you need to remember in building a website is that you need to buy a domain and find a hosting provider.
I used to go with cheaper hosting providers. But I learned my lesson. I may have saved a couple of dimes, but I experienced a lot of downtime and bugs.
For domain and hosting, I suggest going for GoDaddy. They are cheaper and they offer a complete package when it comes to hosting. I love GoDaddy, simply because it is popular and Google recognized it. That is why it is easy to rank in the search engine when your website is hosted by GoDaddy. This is probably the only expense that you will be making in getting clients online. And this is an investment with a return. So you don’t have to be hesitant about it.
Another affordable domain provider is web.com.ph. I buy domains to them because they are way cheaper than GoDaddy when it comes to .com.ph or .ph domains.
2. Create social media accounts
It is not enough that you have a website. You need social media accounts to reach out to your audience and possibly get clients online. Your customers are active on social media. So you should be where your customers are. Most of your customers will message or communicate with you through these platforms, so make sure you are active on social media.
It is important that you customize your social media accounts based on your brand. You also need to fill out all the necessary information about your company. It is also critical to provide fresh content every now and then, to stay active and relevant.
It is a lot of work, but it pays to have an active social media.
Another good thing about social media is that they rank high on Google and other search engines. So if they search your company, and you don’t have a website, Google will suggest your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media page that you have. It is another good opportunity to be found online.
So make sure to set up accounts on all applicable social media for your brand. Setting social media accounts is free unless you are thinking of social media ads, then you need to create a separate budget for that.
For my client, we do get inquiries on social media and I updated all the accounts with fresh content every day. We are not yet doing paid ads since we are still getting clients using organic social media marketing.
Managing all of your social media accounts can be a lot of work. That is why most companies hire social media managers and content creators to oversee their accounts. Hiring an expert is actually a good thing so you can focus on the more important parts of your business.
3. Focus on a single and relevant long-tail keyword
If you want to rank on Google and other search engines, you need to choose a relevant keyword. Relevant, because the keyword needs to be about your brand or your services. If the keyword is not relevant, you won’t find your customers, or more specifically, your customers won’t find you.
Your keyword should also be clear and specific. If you think using a broad and generic keyword will make you more searchable, think again. If you use a broad and generic keyword, you will only get lost in thousands and thousands of search results. And Google won’t even bother to notice you and put you on the first page since there are other more relevant websites for that keyword.
In my experience, I used to create five or more long tail keywords for my clients. I love using long tail because they are more specific and relevant. I also create a long list of keywords in the hope that the company will be able to rank in all these keywords.
But I was half right. My clients did rank on all the list of long tail keywords that I used. But the ranking is not as high as my target. The highest that I got is ranked 5 and the lowest is ranked 300 plus. Rank 5 is on the first page while rank 300 plus is in the forgotten pages of Google. I did rank, but it is useless.
So with Savvi Accounting, I decided to use only ONE long tail keyword. And that is “accounting firm in Angeles City”.
And it worked!
I was so amazed that after a year of doing organic method using this single long tail keyword, we were able to rank on Google’s first page against the other famous and prestigious firms in the city. And this keyword got us a number of clients.
What’s good about using and focusing on a single long tail keyword is that it is easy to insert on your website content and on the back end of the website.
Another thing, is that, the competition for this keyword is very low, since it focuses only on a single area, unlike if we use “accounting firm in Pampanga”, “accounting firm in Central Luzon”, and “accounting firm in the Philippines”, where the competition is higher and difficult to rank.
Moreover, the long-tail keyword is very relevant to the company, as it only wants clients within “Angeles City”. So people or businesses who are looking for an accounting firm, specifically in Angeles City, were able to find us without difficulty.
Another good thing that happened with this is that we were organically being recommended by Google when people search accounting firms that are near Angeles City, like “Mabalacat” and “San Fernando”.
Focusing on one single relevant long-tail keyword is one of the secrets that I discovered when ranking with Google. Using so many keywords can be hard and overwhelming. It’s like shooting all over the place without actually hitting the target. But when you use the right keyword, even if it is only one, then you can hit the jackpot.
And now that we are ranking with this single relevant keyword, we can use another keyword to expand our searchability.
4. Sign up with Google for Business
Google for Business is very powerful. If you want to rank on Google, you must register your business here. Provide relevant information, especially your location, so Google can include your business in their Map. Once you are on the map, it is easy for your customers to find you. If they search your company on Google, it will provide a direction to your office and other relevant details like a website and your operation time.
Once you register your business on Google, you will have to wait at least 14 business days for a verification code. Google will send it to you via snail mail. This is an important process that you should not skip. Once successful, Google will recognize your business. So anyone looking for business around the area where you are located, Google will suggest your business on the search result.
5. Register your business to all legit business listing sites
Make your website visible to other places. If you are in other places on the internet, Google will have other options to show on their search result.
So search high ranking business listing sites and register your website and other business details here.
Some of the business listings that I used are Pampangadirectory.com (this is a local listing), tuugo.ph, Bing, Yelp, Clickthecity, among others. Google for Business is also a business listing site, but I put it on a separate category since it is a must strategy if you want to get clients online.
Once you have registered your business on these high ranking listings, you need to update your listings at least once or twice a month.
6. Write blogs on other websites
One way to increase your ranking is by creating blogs or articles and publish it on other websites. Guest posts on websites that are related to your industry. In your blog, insert your keyword and some links on your website. One or two links on your website are enough. You also need to include links on other websites. This is to avoid link spamming.
There are rules in guest posting on other sites, so make sure to follow them. Some guest posting sites only allow one link. There are also others that do not allow duplicated content, so you need to rewrite or spin your article.
This method is a lot of work. That is why many business owners hire content writers to do this for them. You need to do this at least once a week.
7. Blog, blog, blog
The standard is once a week. But if you can blog twice a week, better. Google also favors those who provide long-form, well-researched, and comprehensive content. So if you want to rank, make sure to give time creating well-crafted blogs. Having a blog every week will make your website updated. And Google favors an updated website with good content.
Readers will read your blog if they can get something from it. So make sure also to give value to your content. Don’t just write for the sake of writing, because people don’t have time to some crappy content. There are a lot of content on the internet that are way more interesting and valuable, so you need to make sure that your content will stand out. With all the list in the Google result, make sure that your blog is the one that they will click.
That is why most of the blogs that I create for Savvi Accounting are topics that most of our clients are concerned about.
Here are some samples:
- How To Raise Your Prices Without Losing Your Clients
- Secrets in Successfully Handling Your Business Finances
- Charging for initial meetings – good or bad?
- Licenses and Permits You Need To Start A Business In The Philippines
Blogging can take much of your time. If you don’t have time to do it, you can always hire someone to do it for you. This is another expense that you might want to consider. You are lucky if you will be able to find a digital marketer who does all the works for you.
8. Create other forms of content
Blogs are good, but if you mix it with videos and visuals, then your website traffic will increase. Videos are very popular and trending today. They are easy to consume and can be published to other platforms like social media. If your content is being published to a lot of platforms then you have a lot of chances of getting more traffic for your website.
And if you create content consistently, people will see you more often on the internet. And if they see you more often, they are more likely to remember you when they will make a purchase.
9. Publish content on social media
It is not enough that you have social media accounts. Just like your website, you need to update your accounts with fresh content, daily.
You also have to treat each social media differently. LinkedIn is a professional platform so your tone should be more professional and not that friendly. Twitter only requires 240 characters, so you have to limit your message with that. Instagram is for photos, and links are not clickable here. So if you have a single message, learn how to tweak the message into different forms depending on the requirement of the social media platform.
Do this regularly and you will be amazed how customers will flock into your accounts.
I am doing these strategies since the beginning and continuing them up until now, and it works. I suggest to also try these strategies on your brand and see how it will grow your business.
On the other hand, if you don’t know how to get started, just email us at dgstrategists@gmail.com.
May you have more clients online.
The Digital Strategists Team