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Thank you for supporting us for 13 lovely years!

We have decided to end the LYF Solutions chapter after 13 lovely years in small business (24 if you count our hobby days).

I want to thank every client who supported our purpose-led mission and invite you to continue this with us at our company, True Green® Hosting.

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Lots of love,

Ray Pastoors

Founder – LYF Solutions

Ray Pastoors Founder of LYF Solutions ethical digital marketing firm

How to Grow Your Audience: Top Tech Tips for Small Businesses

Did you know that tech-savvy small businesses tend to have a more diverse audience and broader customer base? 

And that’s not all. A 2021 Deloitte study in the US highlighted small businesses embracing digital engagement were able to double their revenue per employee!

In fact, going digital is one of the leading business trends identified by the Australian Government this year.

And when it comes to all things tech and digital marketing, assistance and advice for small businesses, well, at LYF Solutions, we live and breathe it. 

So, we’ve asked our team of experts what the most common tech questions and online hurdles for SMEs are and gathered their top tech tips for small businesses. 

Our team answered questions relating to building your business’s customer base, how to measure website success, website metrics, and why you should get Google Analytics. 

First up, though, why is it so crucial for businesses to have a finger on the technology pulse?

Why should small businesses invest in a digital presence?

# 1: There are only so many roles you can juggle successfully

Decide which hat you want to wear as a small business owner.

Analysing industry trends and innovations, planning, budgeting, scheduling clients, wrangling human resources, following up on quoting and invoicing, developing a snazzy marketing and communications plan, and getting all tech systems to talk to each other is a tall order for any small business owner. 

How many different hats do you wear? How many roles do you take on in your business? 

Trying to tackle it all by yourself can mean you are simply spreading yourself too thin and can no longer focus on what you do best, the primary purpose, the heart of your business – let alone give yourself a break.

Decide which hat(s) you wear and the vital business functions you want to take on. 

You have options! 

  • Consider investing in digital solutions and software to save you time and money, measure outcomes, and increase productivity in the long run.
  • Expand your team and hire professional knowledge.  
  • Outsource specific business areas to experts in that particular field. 

# 2: Tech solutions let you optimise your business

Embrace technology – it’s not going away! Digitised business processes, e-commerce, and digital marketing strategies are increasingly vital and good practice. 

Technology will allow you to optimise your operations. For example, business software lets you track budgets and take on scheduling, quoting, invoicing, and your people management. We are big fans of the Freshbooks solution that makes accounting and cash flow so much easier.

Website analytics, such as Google Analytics, is free and will allow you to optimise your online performance. So start somewhere, get advice, and test any software before buying.

# 3: An online presence can level the playing field

When your business – big or small – is online, you can effectively level the playing field with more prominent companies and locations! 

Your online presence lets you tap into new markets, attract new customers at a relatively low cost, and engage with a broader customer base. 

Consider this: A business doesn’t exist without an online presence, especially if you’re in the Gen Y (1980 – 1995) or Gen Z (1995 – 2009) generation.

Top 5 tech tips to help you grow your audience

Tech Tip 1: Measure your website’s success

Not having a business web presence these days is like placing a large billboard in the desert – hardly anyone is going to see it. 

By just leaving it there, not measuring the traffic – and reaction – to that billboard in the sand dunes, means you also do not get any information on its impact and, ultimately, an idea of your ROI.

Keeping an eye on how your website is tracking is definitely not as complicated as it sounds! There are many tech tools to help you measure and guide your digital marketing strategy so you can analyse and tweak your content accordingly. 

The most popular tools are:

Each one has its pros and cons, and it’s worthwhile to take the time to familiarise yourself with a tool to choose the right one for your business. 

We also recommend using two different methods to comprehensively measure your website’s traffic to understand its performance.

Tech Tip 2: Understand website metrics

Over time, what metrics will give you the business data you need to support your decision-making, identify trends and inform your business strategy? What will you need to measure to get data on the goals, projects or KPIs that matter to your business?

Metrics may differ from company to company, but if you are looking to measure the success of your online presence, your metrics and reporting on these should give you data on:

  • Progress made on short- and long-term goals
  • The impact of any changes made or specific activities (what initiative or change was successful and what didn’t work)
  • Which web pages have the highest traffic and get the most viewers?
  • Where are the gaps, and what is the conversion rate from leads to sales?

Tech Tip 3: Familiarise yourself with Google Analytics

One of the most common questions is, “Do I need Google Analytics on my website?” The short answer is a resounding YES. 

The long answer is that other platforms are available, but Google Analytics is the most popular. That means there is a raft of valuable and practical guides and examples available online. 

It just recently launched its updated version, Google Analytics 4. And while existing Analytics users still have access to its previous version, GA4 is the default version for new users.

It boasts a new user setting and interface, a new search bar, real-time reports, a simplified admin section, and a few other new and improved features.

We’ve already tested and summarised the main functionalities and changes for you, but do get in touch with us to look at how GA4 can help grow your business. 

Tech Tip 4: Audit your website regularly

Seeing that a measly 5% of users search past page 1 on Google, appearing on that page 1 pole position can make all the difference to a business’s success. 

But SEO (keyword relevancy) is no longer the only factor in the search engine’s algorithm. Several variables can seriously affect a website’s Google ranking.

So on top of your SEO reporting, consider auditing and reporting on your website’s technical performance as well, including:

  • 404 errors – broken links to other websites
  • Broken links on your website
  • Links from other sites to your website (backlinks) acquired or lost
  • Slow loading pages or images
  • Meta titles or meta descriptions are too long or duplicate (you can quickly check whether they meet recommended length with this handy tool.
  • Multiple or missing Heading 1 (there should only be one per post or page)

Tech Tip 5: More steps to improve your website traffic

You’ve done a stocktake of your website traffic, analysed it and compared it with your short and long-term goals and strategy. You’ve identified a few opportunities to grow your audience. 

Well, we’ve got a few more nifty tech tips on how to improve your website traffic!

  • SEO – Search Engine Optimisation. Yup. It’s not the only factor in Google’s algorithm, but it should be a vital part of your strategy to increase your traffic organically. And there are tech tools that will make your life so much easier like SEO plugins (these are for WordPress) and The SEMRush writing assistant.
  • Create social media profiles for your business, then use them to engage your customers and promote your website on social media.
  • Vice versa, place social media icons on your website to link back to your social communication channels.
  • Create a webpage that is logical to navigate, downloads easily and looks good—supporting your message with pictures, videos, icons and graphs. 
  • Optimise your website for mobile so that it is user friendly across all devices. This simple mobile friendly tool will let you check whether your website performs well across all devices.

The best tech tip: Ask the experts!

Do you need help with your online presence and tech tools?

We understand that information, options, and continuous innovation in the tech space can be overwhelming. Talk to us! Helping businesses grow their online presence sustainably is what we do best. 

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