By Antonia Chitty

In this article, I explain five main tips to help you grow your business online.

1. Online business growth is all about reach. You need more people to know about your business and visit your website before you can start making serious money. If you’re not yet involved, develop your own social media strategy with ways to really develop relationships. Social media is not about bombarding people with sales messages: instead showcase your expertise, offer help, pass on good content and give your followers great value.

2. Mix online and offline. While social media is great, don’t forget to take part in events, hand out business cards, network, distribute flyers etc. It can take up to seven views of your details before someone takes action so you need to continue marketing in as many varied channels as possible. Just make sure that you are clear about who your target audience is, and pick the best ways to reach them.

3. Build trust. Once you’ve started spreading the word widely, more people will be aware of your business. Now you need to build trust. Use case studies and testimonials from happy customers on your site, link to those from social media and include them on printed materials too. Do some PR too: a review in the media gives people the feeling that an independent journalist rates your products or services, and can build trust far more than advertising. Finally, make the most of word of mouth. Encourage happy customers to spread the word: offer them incentives if appropriate.

4. Develop a deeper relationship. Once people know about you, encourage them to find out more. Write expert tips and articles on your blog, and ask to guest post on complementary sites. Give people the incentive to commit and share their email with you. Don’t just offer them the chance to sign up to your newsletter. Instead create a free report or eBook, if you offer a service, or offer a discount voucher as an incentive to sign up.

5. Now, you’re ready to make more sales. Sales take place when you know exactly what ‘problem’ your customers are looking to solve. Provide the solution in what you offer in your newsletter. Stimulate sales by limiting what you offer, so items are only available for a certain time or in restricted quantities. Do occasional offers by social media and at events, but keep the best deals for the people who know you, like what your business offers and have trusted you with their contact information. Build, nurture and invest in the people on your mailing list and you’ll find your online business will boom!

If you want to get more ideas and a blueprint to boost your business online, Antonia is running a webinar on Wednesday 28th September, How to Make More Money Online. Get the full details here.

Antonia Chitty is an author and an entrepreneur at ACE Inspire.

www.aceinspire.com