Marketing · 30 Aug 2014 · 2 min read

Free ways to market your local business website

Marketing a local business website doesn’t have to mean an advertising budget. Most of what moves the needle for a small, local business costs nothing but time.

Set up a page on Facebook, join X (formerly Twitter), and create a YouTube channel with your business URL in every video description. Link to each of these from your website with a visible icon, and keep them active rather than treating them as one-off listings.

Get listed everywhere your customers look

Join business directories and professional associations relevant to your niche, and claim your Google Business Profile — including a Google Maps listing with accurate geo-tags. Attend local networking events and hand out your business card while you’re there; online and offline visibility reinforce each other.

Publish content consistently

Write articles related to your niche and share them wherever your audience already reads — forum posts, guest articles, or your own blog. A short, well-written piece with your business URL attached does more over time than one long piece published once. An e-book or report offered free to subscribers is a good way to start an email list in the first place.

Use email deliberately

Send regular newsletters to your list rather than one-off blasts, and look for list swaps or joint ventures with businesses that offer complementary, not competing, services — both introduce your business to an audience that’s already primed to trust a recommendation.

Make the most of what you already have

Advertise your website in your physical shop if you have one, link to other reputable businesses in your area, and respond to customer questions quickly and politely. Good service generates word of mouth on its own; free listings on local classifieds sites add a bit more reach on top of it.

Conclusion

None of this requires a marketing budget — it requires consistency. A business that keeps its listings accurate, its content flowing and its customer service responsive will out-market a competitor who spent money on ads and stopped there.