The web is powerful. It also happens to be the least expensive way to promote a business outside of word-of-mouth. That being said, many small retailers do not have any web presence, or do not keep up with the site. That is a big mistake.

The web is not just about bringing people into your store today, it is about building a presence for your retail establishment in a community. The web can bring in foot traffic through Google searches and online advertising, but it also helps build relationships with long-term customers.

A few tips we have gathered here at Black Cow Press. We have a longer version of this in PDF form; email us and we can send it your way.

1. Don’t redesign your site too often. Redesign your website only after you have thought about, and gathered, the content that you want on the site. When you move your site, you move URLs and links. Google can find you, but there is a lag time.
2. Make your photos real. So often, websites show canned or old photos, and have non-descriptive language. If you can’t afford a professional photographer, get out there with a camera yourself and take lots of creative angles. Be creative.
3. Try Tumblr, Flickr and the rest. Set up some independent sites with your company name as a user name on Blogspot, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr and other social networking sites. This is obvious advice, but it isn’t done enough. Registering and posting information at these sites helps to fill the first page of Google results with YOUR sites.
4. Link to other people (though not your competition). If you want to get other people to link to you, you need to link to them first. Good outbound links won’t hurt your Google rank.
5. Do mention staff and product names. You want to have as many things that might catch a reader in a “long-tail” search. Make sure staff names, brand and product names and geographic names are all mentioned on your site.
6. Explain How To Do Things. If you sell clothes, talk about clothing. If you sell hardware, teach people how to build things. Make your content helpful, and that will bring traffic. Restaurant? Give out recipes. Remember that “HOW TO” pages are very popular on the web.
7. Describe your location in words, not just a Google map. Words catch Google, and giving a longer description of the neighborhood of your location can help you. Instead of just an address, make it descriptive, and you have that many more chances to snag the search engines. “Joe’s Auto Service, located at the southeast corner of Palm and Vine Streets at 304 South Vine Street. The location is convenient to Mercy Hospital, the Holiday Inn in the Piney Oaks region of Anytown, U.S.A.

This is just the short version; we’ve got more. We can send you our much more detailed PDF report, 15 Ways to Promote Yourself on the Web. Talk to Content Editor Garland Pollard at Black Cow Press. He loves to discuss ways he can improve your business. Call 703-745-8602.