Buying a Small Business in Boise, Idaho: What to Know Beforehand

Many small businesses and startups have found a home in Boise, giving you a chance for success; however, before you buy a small business, come up with designs for a new website, or decide whether you’ll need a Boise SEO company to help you market your products and services, there are a few things to consider before you sign on the dotted line.

If you live in Boise and have been considering the purchase of an existing small business, there are a number of factors that will affect your decision, from the price to the location. Many small businesses and startups have found a home in Boise, giving you a chance for success; however, before you buy a small business, come up with designs for a new website, or decide whether you’ll need a Boise SEO company to help you market your products and services, there are a few things to consider before you sign on the dotted line. 

Is the Business Already Established? 

If you’re buying a small business that’s already well-established in the Boise area, then you may have fewer problems than someone who’s starting a company from scratch. Your greatest advantage will be that you may already have a loyal customer base that will remain with the company, even if ownership changes hands. However, you may want to keep in mind that if you make a number of changes to the products, store policies, or prices, this might cause some customers to look to another brand, as not all consumers respond positively to change. If you do plan to make changes, talk to some of the customers who come in regularly and ask them how your proposed changes would affect their brand loyalty. In some cases, customers react better to changes in their shopping experience when they are asked their opinion. On the positive side, buying a business that is already established will save you money on construction and signage costs and the time it might otherwise take you to build a marketing campaign from scratch. 

Do You Have a Business Plan in Place? 

One of the biggest mistakes many small business owners make is failing to have a solid business plan in place before they purchase or start their company. While owning a small business can be a satisfying and thrilling experience, it also takes long-term planning to ensure that all necessary pieces are in place before you begin. Working with a mentor, joining a small business association, and writing out a five-year plan for your small business will help you envision your goals and perceive any possible problems you may not have considered before. Having a plan in place will be particularly helpful financially, as you will be able to work out solutions to common problems beforehand, such as what you will do if you cannot secure a business loan.

Who is Selling the Business and Why?

Sometimes individuals jump into buying a small business because they are excited about being their own boss and selling a product or service they’ve built up from scratch, but one thing that often destroys their chances of success is failing to fully realize why the current owner is selling it. While not every business owner sells a business for lack of customers or profit, there are some that may be trying to unload a business on an unsuspecting newcomer. Before you buy a small business, you are within your rights to check out the current owner’s credit history and have access to profit reports to ensure that you aren’t putting all your money into a sinking ship. If rent for the space has been late a number of times, employees haven’t been paid, or there are a number of unpaid debts connected with the business, then you may want to think twice, as these are all signs of imminent failure and you would only have to start all over once everything collapsed. 

Buying a small business in Boise and watching it grow with the help of community, a smart marketing plan from a Boise SEO company, and your own hard work can be a highly satisfying experience, but before you put any money down on a property, you must first have a business plan in place, know exactly what you can spend on start-up costs, and be wise about your investment to ensure the growth of your profits and your well-being as a small business owner.

Update Your SEO Marketing Tactics for Greater Small Business Success

You might believe that SEO is no longer a relevant tool when it comes to marketing for small business, but in truth, SEO has evolved into something that can be more useful than ever, if you’re willing to learn how it has changed, take advantage of those changes, and them implement them as part of your small business marketing strategy in order to increase your chances of success.

As a small business owner, every marketing move you make must bring you some measure of success, as you cannot afford to waste time or money. From Google marketing to making connections with other small business owners in order to form business relationships that may prove profitable in the long run, your tactics must evolve with the times, or you will find yourself left behind. One strategy where you might find yourself lagging is in how you use search engine optimization (SEO) to drive traffic to your website. You might even believe that SEO is no longer a relevant tool when it comes to marketing for small business, but in truth, SEO has evolved into something that can be more useful than ever, if you’re willing to learn how it has changed, take advantage of those changes, and them implement them as part of your small business marketing strategy in order to increase your chances of success. 

Focus on ROI, not Keywords 

You have probably focused a great deal on which keywords will bring the most customers to your website and cause your rankings to climb on Google, but perhaps this focus hasn’t met with the success that you were hoping for. This may even lead you to think that keyword research is no longer relevant; however, while it is still a vital component of any Google marketing strategy, you may want to use it to discover how it’s affecting your return on investment (ROI) in order to measure monetary success. For example, if you own a small photography business in Tampa that specializes in engagement and wedding photography and you’ve been trying to rank for “wedding photography Tampa,” does it do much good for your bottom line if you’re ranking #1 or #2 if you’re not sure what this means for your ROI? Focusing on how infographics, content, and other marketing tools translate into dollars and cents will help you better track which keywords are having the greatest positive impact on your business. 

Create Content for a Mobile Audience 

There is more to small business success than achieving brand familiarity and being able to compete in your business niche, especially when you consider how rapidly the market changes. Fluctuations in the economy, customer interest, and the way consumers look for goods and services change constantly, and one big change over the past few years in Internet marketing is a shift to focusing on mobile traffic. Since 2012, the browsing capabilities on both iOS and Android have improved greatly, and search engines such as Google and Bing have recently started to rank mobile-friendly pages higher because they fulfill the positive user experience these companies are aiming for. If it’s been a few years since you’ve made any major changes to your website other than blog content, then it’s time to update it for mobile-friendly use. There are several tools online that can help you determine if your site is already mobile friendly. 

Use SEO to Engage with Your Social Media Audience 

While you probably already understand the importance of reaching out to potential customers through social media, you will need to change tactics if you find that the hashtags and keywords you’re using on Twitter and Facebook are no longer effective. One way to increase engagement is to shift your focus to creating a conversation with your customers instead of simply marketing your products and services to them. For example, if you own a candle-making business and sell your products online, offer your social media followers tips and tricks for making candles last longer, how to choose the right scents, and how to use them safely, and don’t forget to include a few relevant hashtags or keywords in your post. This will create a conversation between you and your customers as they ask questions and offer comments about what you’ve posted, and the more people you can draw into the conversation with your keywords, the more people you will engage with in order to increase sales.

Three Effective Offsite SEO Tactics for Your Small Business

As a small business owner, there are a number of SEO tactics you can use, but one that is especially useful is offsite SEO. This tactic allows you to build ranking and visibility off your page by posting content and links in other locations, and even if you’ve never used offsite SEO before, there are a few tactics you can use that are simple yet effective when it comes to gaining rank, increasing brand visibility, and gaining new customers.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is still necessary for the success of any marketing campaign, whether you’re a small company in Idaho using a Boise SEO company to build your marketing or whether you’re running a small business in a larger city where there’s more competition, such as Los Angeles. No matter the nature of your business, SEO works to give your website visibility and ranking, and without it, your site won’t be seen by anyone, no matter how dynamic it is. As a small business owner, there are a number of SEO tactics you can use, but one that is especially useful is offsite SEO. This tactic allows you to build ranking and visibility off your page by posting content and links in other locations. Even if you’ve never used offsite SEO before, there are a few tactics you can use that are simple yet effective when it comes to gaining rank, increasing brand visibility, and gaining new customers.

Blog Commenting

This offsite SEO tactic takes less time than guest blogging and is much easier to achieve. Although guest blogging can be useful, the time it takes to find quality blogs, create a working relationship with the author of a site, and then create material may not be something you can afford to spend, especially if you’re just starting out and haven’t yet gained a reputation as an expert in your field. Blog commenting, however, is simpler, doesn’t take as much time, and you can do it almost anywhere. Start off by creating a professional profile across several popular blogs in your industry that includes an avatar with your business logo and a link to your website in the tagline. Each time you comment on a blog, your link will be posted along with your comment, which may prompt readers to visit the site if they find your comments interesting. Be sure to only comment when you have something to contribute and avoid trying to market your business directly. The more blogs you comment on, the more you can spread your link around, and this will eventually build a reputation that will allow you to begin guest blogging.

Press Releases

Press releases are an effective offsite SEO tactic that will help you gain readership and brand awareness. These releases, which provide the general public with information about what your business does, what it sells, and about pricing and services, can give your website a boost by linking back to it somewhere in the text. If you have never written a press release before, there are SEO companies that specialize in offsite SEO tactics and may offer the creation of press releases as a part of their overall package. For example, if you have recently opened a small business in the Idaho area that provides interior decorating services for homes and businesses and you need help writing press releases, a Boise SEO company could create them for you and distribute them on a monthly or bi-monthly basis to sites that publish them for free. New products, price changes, and exclusive services from your company could all be fodder for an effective press release.

Social Media

If you haven’t created social media accounts for your brand already, now may be a good time to do so. Small businesses have found great success on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. When you create these accounts, ensure that you use the same avatar for each one so that people start associating your company with it when they see it. Keep in mind that when using social media, your followers will want to see more than just ads, as most people follow an account for information and to be entertained. Post tips and tidbits of information that are relevant to your business and its niche, infographics that offer discounts, and humorous content that your followers will relate to and share. Using social media as an offsite SEO tactic will increase brand visibility and drive traffic to your site, which increases your chances to make sales and gain loyal customers.

YouTube: Creating Online Video Marketing for Small Business

Millions of people use YouTube every day, and small business owners have discovered its potential as a marketing tool in order to promote their products and services and as a social platform that helps them drive traffic to their websites.

If you own a small business and want to market a product or service online, you may be searching for social media platforms as a way to reach out to potential customers. If you’re like many small business owners, you may have created Facebook and Twitter accounts when you first introduced your brand online. However, in addition to these social media platforms, you should also consider YouTube as a marketing tool. This Google-owned site, where people can upload videos that they have created in order to share them with the whole world, was created in 2005 and has since gained millions of users. It is a place where certain trends or concepts go viral; that is, that they are shared in a very short period of time by thousands of people all over the Internet. It is a service that anyone can use, and many businesses have found marketing success by sharing videos that highlight their products and services. Along with other Google marketing tools and social media advertising, Using YouTube in order to market your business is a great way to bring more traffic and potential customers to your site. 

Using YouTube as a Marketing Tool 

Like many other social media sites, YouTube is free to use. All you need to do is register, create a profile that lets people know about your product and what it offers, and then use the service as a hook, where you can post videos about your product that offer a preview or a sneak peak, and then, at the end of the video, you can add a “find out more” tag and display your site link so that people can go to your Web page. Once there, the chances of them buying your product increases. This is a marketing strategy that has worked wonders for other online business owners. In some cases, offering a sneak peak of your product can pique the interest of a buyer more than a banner ad. A great many people who market digital media use YouTube for their advertising because they can offer preview clips in order to hook the viewer on their videos and then get them to sign up for a membership on their site. 

How to Make a YouTube Video Ad

Even if you have never recorded a video before, making a YouTube video ad isn’t difficult. Before you begin, sit down and consider the best way to highlight your product or service within 45 to 60 minutes, as a video ad shouldn’t run longer than one minute. While it’s not necessary to create a script, a bit of planning will help you feel more confident about creating an ad. One of the greatest advantages to advertising on YouTube is that the ad is only limited by your imagination. The tone of the ad is up to you: you can either go with a more formal ad, where you present your products and services in a straightforward way, or you can choose to be a little more creative. No matter which method you use, an effective video ad will promote your product and to leave the viewer wanting more. At the end of each video, add contact information and a link to your website so that those who want to know more about your business can visit. 

Connecting with Customers Through Feedback

Many small business owners enjoy using YouTube as a Google marketing tool because they can connect with customers through the comments they leave after viewing the video. While the viewer comment section will allow you to answer questions and thank people for their business, it can be a double-edged sword because customers who are unhappy about some aspect of a product or service you have received might choose to address it publicly in the comments section. However, this also gives you the opportunity to clear up any grievances a customer might have and show potential clients that you always make customer service a priority. If you do encounter an angry customer in the comment section, try to avoid arguing back and forth with them and ask them to contact you directly so that you can try to solve their issue privately instead. YouTube marketing for your small business can be highly effective, but only if you remain professional and give it the time and effort it requires.

Three Ways to Promote Your Small Business Online Through Social Media

While building an engaging business website and building quality backlinks are important factors in the success of any small business, promoting your business through social media can raise your Google rankings, create buzz about your product, and allow you to engage with a wide variety of people. Linking a Facebook business page, Instagram photos, and Twitter content to your main business website creates a network of information that will engage anyone who visits.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have grown from places to chat and keep in touch with family and friends to advertising powerhouses that give small business owners the opportunity to reach thousands of potential customers. While building an engaging business website and building quality backlinks are important factors in the success of any small business, promoting your business through social media can raise your Google rankings, create buzz about your product, and allow you to engage with a wide variety of people. Linking a Facebook business page, Instagram photos, and Twitter content to your main business website creates a network of information that will engage anyone who visits.

Create a Facebook Business Page

While you might think that creating a Facebook business site isn’t necessary because you already have a website for your business, reaching out to potential customers on this social media giant has a number of benefits. Most importantly, a business page on Facebook is much more accessible to those who use their smartphones and tablets to view web content and are much more likely to view a mobile-friendly page than one they have to view with a browser app. Even with an app like this, not all websites load completely on mobile devices, especially if they are image heavy. A business page on Facebook would give those on the go instant access to your business’ information, which is especially important if you own a local business. Consider adding a Facebook button to your main website that links users to your business page, as this gives visitors the incentive to like or become a fan of your page and gives your company wider exposure when their followers see your brand on their feed.

Post Infographics on Twitter

Despite the 140 character limit that is Twitter’s trademark, there are still plenty of ways to advertise your business there, and many companies have found great success in linking their Twitter feeds to their main website. One of the best ways to build an audience on Twitter and advertise your business is to post infographics on your feed. Photos that focus on a certain aspect of your business and also offer potential clients information are much more likely to catch their eye on Twitter than ads that contain nothing but text. Infographics also allow you to be creative and innovative with your advertising while staying within the 140 character limit. Consider offering your followers discounts, coupons, and tips and tricks with colorful infographics, and then add a live link to your main website so those who visit the site for the first time can scroll through your Twitter feed as well, which may inspire them to follow you.

Pique the Interest of Local Customers with Instagram

If you own a local business, then you should consider creating a business account on Instagram, a social media site that allows users to upload photos, follow other users, and comment on what they see. Content on Instagram is also searchable, which means you can use hashtags to tag your business so that others can find it. For example, if you own a small local bakery in Park City, Utah, you can take photos of your pastry creations and post them to your Instagram business account and tag them with the name of your business and also with keywords like “Park City bakery” or “baked goods.” However, you should try to be selective about how many hashtags you use per photo, as using too many at once might annoy your followers. When you use hashtags on your Instagram business account, use two or three with each post and always try to include your business’ geographical location so that those who live in the area and search Instagram for local businesses can find your account easily.

Promoting your small business through social media can be a daunting but rewarding experience that allows you to reach a wider audience with informative and engaging content, helping it grow more than ever before.

A Local SEO Company Can Help Boost Brand Visibility for Your Small Business

If you’re ready to open a small business in the Boise area, you may be surprised to know that there are many ways a local SEO company can help increase local awareness of your brand in a number of ways that are both effective and affordable.

One of the greatest problems small business owners face today is how to make their brand more visible to local customers. Small businesses rely heavily on local traffic, especially if the company offers services, not goods, to the local area. Making people aware of your business can take up a great deal of time and money, precious resources that small business owners with only a handful of employees can afford to spend. If you’re ready to open a small business in the Boise area, you may be surprised to know that there are many ways a local SEO company can help increase local awareness of your brand in a number of ways that are both effective and affordable. You will see an increase in website rank and traffic as a result of well executed SEO strategies.

Listing Your Business on Google

Millions of people use Google every day to discover information about local businesses, such as their location, phone number, and hours, particularly on mobile devices as they shop. Registering your business on Google is an effective way to increase your business’ visibility, but registration with Google and other large search engines can be confusing and time consuming. If you make an error that gets published, it may be difficult to undo. However, a local SEO company can register your business on Google and other sites for one low price. Not only do the professionals at these companies understand the rules of business registration, but they will ensure that the verification process is as seamless as possible too. Once your business is verified on Google, customers who search for local services will be able to find the information they need with the tap of an app and then view your website directly from the listing.

Website Design and Optimization

Even if you don’t sell tangible goods through your company, an effective website will encourage visitors to find out more about your services and about the history of your small business. In fact, if you’re like most small business owners, you have a unique story to tell about how your business got started, and telling that story online is one way to increase local awareness for it. SEO company professionals can plan and then create a website for your business that is completely personalized and uses search engine optimization and researched keywords that will drive traffic to your page. For example, if you have just opened a local pet sitting service in Park City UT, a local SEO company will better understand the needs of pet owners in the area than one that’s located out of state and use that knowledge to create a website designed with these potential customers in mind.

Social Media Services

While you might think that your small Boise business doesn’t need social media services, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and even pages like Instagram and LinkedIn are being used more and more by businesses all over the world to increase brand visibility. Just because your business is small doesn’t mean that you can advertise and reach out to local customers and even other city businesses, which can create a network through which you might be able to find new customers. A Boise SEO company will set up a variety of accounts for you, ensuring brand consistency online, and then build a relationship with residents and other businesses in the area. Social media experts will also research hashtags related to your business and use them in your social media content. These hashtags, which are searchable on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, will lead users directly to your account, where they can follow your business’ tweets or posts with the click of a button. Even one or two retweets from your followers can have a positive impact on your business, as people tend to have followers on their feed that live in the same city, which makes more people who live locally aware of your business.

SEO company professionals have the knowledge, drive, and experience that you need when it comes to increasing brand visibility for your local business. Accurate local listings on Google, a unique and engaging website, and visibility on social media will all help you succeed in a city that is one of the fastest growing in the nation.

SEO and Rebranding Your Small Business: How an SEO Service Can Help You Succeed

An SEO service can guide you with what kinds of changes you need to make to make your small business rebranding a success and provide you with the tools you need to remain visible and relevant to your customers for years to come.

The face of small business is always changing, and as a small business owner, change sometimes means having to rebrand your company online. There are many reasons that you might want to rebrand your business, but even though you know that it’s something you must do, you may not know how to proceed. You may be wondering what kind of changes you need to make, whether it’s to revamp your social media accounts, update your logos and trademarks, or start from scratch in order to stand apart from your competitors. If you’re not sure where to begin, then the first step to take is to hire an SEO service to assist you with your rebranding. Not only can SEO professionals guide you with what kinds of changes you need to make to make your rebranding a success, they can provide you with the tools you need to remain visible and relevant to your customers for years to come.

Assistance with Rebranding Plans

An SEO service can help you take the steps to rebranding your company, as there are many to take. For example, a service like this will examine exactly why you’re rebranding in order to guide you in the proper direction. Are you rebranding because your initial business launch was less than a success? Have your social media campaigns been overshadowed by larger companies? Has your business changed its products, goals, or focus? These are all viable reasons for needed to rebrand, but the approach must be different for each in order to avoid making the mistakes that caused any failures the first time you attempted brand visibility online. Once an SEO service understands the reason for you wanting to rebrand your company, the better they will be able to serve your individual needs.

Social Media Management Can Improve Your Rebranding Efforts

If your attempts at using social media for your small business have been less than successful, handing over management of those accounts to an SEO service may help you gain insight about what your customers want. SMM experts have the ability to reach out to your followers, ask questions about what kinds of products and services they want to see, and what kind of content is most enjoyable when it comes to your website and social media accounts. Discovering how your followers perceive your business and asking what they might change will help an SEO service envision a rebranding that will be tailor made to their wants and needs.

Content is King

When you first launched your business website, did you remain vigilant about offering your visitors fresh, relevant content that linked directly to your social media accounts, or did adding content fall by the wayside as you struggled to maintain visible in a highly-competitive market? Perhaps you weren’t sure what type of content your company’s blog needed. No matter the reason, revamping your website with fresh, engaging content should be part of your rebranding plan, and an SEO service can help. SEO-savvy bloggers can write press releases about your rebranding, discuss changes to your company on your website, and fill your blog with content related to these changes. Ask the SEO service you choose to post new content often, as even though you’re striving to rebrand, your returning customers will enjoy seeing new, fresh posts each time they visit.

An SEO Service Can Help You Reimagine Your Brand

If your brand has suffered bad PR or you’re purchasing a company from a previous owner who had a different vision than you do, an SEO company can help you rebrand your business completely. Rebranding a company from the ground up will be more time consuming than simply updating your logo and website, but there are several different things that an SEO service can do for you in this case. Many companies like this offer website design services that will overhaul your defunct or newly-purchased website into something that your customers will want to visit again and again. If your website was flagged or penalized by the most recent Google update, an SEO service can repair the damage that was done and then implement changes that will ensure that such penalties won’t happen again. They can also optimize your page so that it climbs in rank and then ensure that your brand’s logo is consistent across all forms of social media so that it becomes instantly recognizable. Whether you’re trying to recover from a previously unsuccessful media campaign or need to rebuild your company’s online reputation, using an SEO service to rebrand your company will greatly increase your chances of success.

Peter Thronton is a full-time web content developer with over three years' experience in writing for the web and to date has written over 2,500 different articles over a wide range of topics, from travel to health care to women's issues. He works for Level9 SEO to help small business improve website rank. Peter currently lives in New Mexico with his family and a variety of pets.