Marketing Your Startup Business Online For Free - DIY Tips for boosting your web presence

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This new series is all about How to get free online marketing and exposure for Startups and small Business. 

Follow this Blog series to get your Startup Business a Web Presence for free. Not all small businesses especially startups, have the budget for outsourcing social media marketing management. They do it themselves and often it's on a shoe-string budget with very little know-how.

​This series will provide some tips on free listings, places your business can be seen online and many more DIY tips. 

Most Startups have little or no cash flow let alone a marketing budget. Small businesses just starting out should make the most of every free online marketing tool there is available.  Market the business across multiple social media and online platforms for free.

Something a Startup learns very quickly is how to be resourceful. Tight budgets, time poor and busy doing and being everything from CEO, CFO, CIO to taking a crash course in being a Marketing and PR Manager.

Get your business on the biggest (online) map!
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Does your Business have an online 'location'?
Can customers tag you, say they have 'been there' or tag your business as a location?
Can they search for you in Google Maps on their phone as a 'Place'?

 Startups who are hungry for free exposure read on.

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Google My Business
No better starting point than Google.
​Get yourself set up on all of the Google platforms that you can manage. List your Startup free and be found by customers across Google search, Google + Brand Pages and Maps. FREE! So easy for customers searching to be able to click to call, click your website link, leave a review and read other customer reviews.

Do you want customers to be able to share Facebook or Instagram Posts and tag your business or  ​Check-in and use it as a location when posting on Social Media?  Once you get yourself on Google you will be able to.

Have you ever googled a business and noticed the Map, Image or Photo and the stars on the right hand side of the search results? It even shows location, business hours, website and more! Get yourself there without paying a cent. There is a paid option of course but nothing is stopping you from getting on Google for free. 

Be Mobile Friendly (wherever you can)
It's all about being Mobile-friendly these days! Nearly a third of mobile searches are local.
​Smartphone usage and searching for business can lead a customer to your door. Make it easy to be found and if customers search you on their phones your number is clickable! The 2016 Sensis Social Media Report found that purchasers use their mobile devices on their 'Path to Purchase' with Smartphone product research taking over the PC since last year with 71% of the resulting purchases being made online!

Now this is going to take a little time and planning such as setting up an account and getting it verified, adding content etc but you won't look back.   Start with listing your business on Google here www.google.com/business/ 
Even online businesses can do this, once you verify your business you can alter the settings so the address doesn't appear and a radius replaces the street address.

Google My Business App
So your customers are looking for your brand or business on Google. Use this App to manage your business listing and use it to understand how customers find and review you on Google. 

Gmail for Business
Get a custom name and 30GB storage. Maybe you already have a Gmail account, well you are one step closer to being easier to find online, otherwise you can find it here.

Google+ Brand Pages
Reach out to your customers and clients, post updates, share information, specials, videos and basically promote your brand for free! You can also add Analytics to your dashboard as well. This set up will be an option when you register for Google My Business.

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Next Post in this series will cover monitoring, Google Reviews, getting your business on the Map and how to best utilise the tagging and location features once you have set yourself up on Google My Business. 

There's a lot more on offer for small businesses so stay tuned for future posts where we will cover even more free online tools and platforms.

​If you have any questions please make contact via email deb@beefree.com.au or leave a comment below or better still log into your Google account and leave a Google Review

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You can read Part II in this series here.