Costa Mesa has been impacted by the current pandemic, and small businesses have been upended across the board. What worked in the past increasingly falls short, and the signs around us are numerous. The word “remote” pops up endlessly in social media feeds, blog posts, and news articles, and rumors of the demise of small businesses abound. The new marketplace is a perilous one – and a return to normal will likely prove slow at best.
However, for small business owners in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel – maintaining a strong digital presence during these uncertain times is an excellent way to continue capturing the business you depend on to thrive. If you operate a business in Newport Beach or Costa Mesa, the team at Imagine Monkey is here to offer some important neighborly advice.
The Need for a Strong Digital Presence
Pre-COVID, business was being conducted online at an unprecedented rate, but the arrival of COVID-19 accelerated e-commerce to an almost blistering pace. In fact, it seems like overnight, e-commerce has transitioned from being the way of the future to being an absolute necessity of the present. As a result, the importance of maintaining an effective web presence has shifted from “beneficial” to “absolute must” for three specific purposes:
- Optimizing your online store. Ensure your online store is intuitive, speedy, responsive, and fully updated with your entire set of product and service offerings.
- Keeping customers updated. Utilize your online presence to keep your customers informed about all things business-related, from your brick-and-mortar operating hours to current promotions and available merchandise.
- Building strong relationships. The best way to build customer relationships is to interact with them where they’re most familiar – most often, social media sites and online blogs. Optimizing your social presence helps you connect with customers even when they can’t physically enter your business.
How to Utilize SEO Tools When Building a New Website
If COVID-19 has prompted you to get your online presence in gear with a brand new, more effective website, it’s crucial to employ Local Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, to ensure your site will be visible to people searching for products or services like yours. Local SEO takes into consideration the regional factors that most directly affect a small, geographically based business – for us here in Orange County, we’re not only targeting our local friends and neighbors but a significant number of tourists unfamiliar with the amenities in the area. To help, we’ve developed a few tips to help you get started:
- Optimize your website. Utilize your website to keep local users current regarding your business. Mention local news events, keep a blog to connect with users, and ensure you’re offering users a way to make a purchase or stay engaged with your business while online.
- Tackle local keywords. Utilize Google’s Keyword Planner to find keywords often utilized by customers in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach, and include relevant keywords throughout your website. Aim to include them in blog titles, page title tags, product pages, and more – you can even create location pages to focus on a particular city to ensure your content is relevant to users nearby.
- Build backlinks. Once you’ve created quality content, shared local news, and incorporated local keywords into both, you’ll need to get other quality pages to link to your site – doing so enhances your visibility and increases your perception of authority and trust. Connect with local bloggers, social media influences, or other businesses to inquire about guest blogging, or even just featuring a link back.
- Encourage reviews. Consumers trust online product reviews nearly as much as they do personal recommendations for friends and family. It follows that local users viewing your website will be more likely to make a purchase if they can see others recommending your products.
- Create a Google My Business account. After your website is SEO-ready, boost your position on Google’s search engine results page by creating a Google My Business Account. You’ll be able to include hours of operation, logos, contact information, and even navigation to your business, plus reviews, Q&A, and more.
Trust Imagine Monkey
As a busy entrepreneur, the requirements of today’s online marketplace can be daunting – you may even lack the time to tackle SEO on your own. If you live in the Costa Mesa area, Imagine Monkey offers a better option. With an exclusive listing on Costa Mesa’s Business Assistance Collaborative (BAC), Imagine Monkey’s team of web designers handcrafts stellar, user-friendly, fast-loading websites for entrepreneurs at all levels, and has specialized in local SEO since 2011.
As a service to local Costa Mesa and Newport Beach area businesses, Imagine Monkey will provide one free month of maintenance and hosting on our high-speed servers once your site has been launched. Target local clients, the impending influx of tourists, and customers across the country with an optimized website and a unique SEO strategy built just for you.
Are you ready for a beautiful, professional, smooth-running website that is tailored exclusively for your business and optimized to meet your customers’ needs? Trust Imagine Monkey.
