{"id":5497,"date":"2013-07-04T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T21:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/?p=5497"},"modified":"2013-09-06T14:45:22","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T21:45:22","slug":"look-like-a-big-business-in-4-simple-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/look-like-a-big-business-in-4-simple-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"Look Like a Big Business in 4 Simple Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Bryan Goode.\u00a0 Bryan is CEO of Infratel, a company dedicated to revolutionizing the \u201cContact Us\u201d experience for SMBs.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou never get a second chance to make a first impression\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As you just start to get your new business off the ground, it is important to consider how your customers will perceive you. Will they look at you as a credible business<\/a> that is capable of assisting them with their needs?\u00a0 A small business that makes a negative first impression will find it difficult to close deals, and a business that\u2019s unimpressionable is just plain forgotten.<\/p>\n

So how do you look like a big business even though you\u2019re just getting started?\u00a0 It\u2019s actually pretty easy using some simple online tools:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0First things first, create a professional looking website and get a domain for your business. Adding professional or stock photos and other media to personalize the site. Just be careful not to go overboard \u2013 only add the tools that project the image you want to show to your potential customers.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Next, think about how customers will contact you with questions or sales inquiries. Recent inquires with online shoppers indicate that telephone support is still the preferred method of pre-sales assistance for a majority of website visitors.<\/p>\n

Yet, BIA Kelsey<\/a> indicates that 60% of small businesses don\u2019t show a contact phone number on their website.<\/p>\n

Using a simple cloud-based tool like MightyCall<\/a> can give you a local or toll-free business number with an auto-attendant and is fully compatible with your existing cell phone.<\/p>\n

\"Toll<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Once you have a custom domain, a great looking website and a centralized business phone number, go ahead and list your business online<\/a>. Think about all the places where prospective customers can find you. Pay special attention to Google Places and Yelp, where you can submit your business listing free of charge!<\/p>\n

\"List<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Finally, don\u2019t forget social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Knowing which of these platforms to focus on will depend on your target audience. The great thing about social media is that it is typically free of charge and allows you to build up a base of customers and followers who can then recommend you to others. Add social media buttons to your website so that visitors can \u201cLike\u201d you on Facebook or \u201cFollow\u201d you on LinkedIn or Twitter.<\/p>\n

\"Social<\/p>\n

Taking advantage of these tools is really simple and millions of other small businesses have already gotten started using Yola, MightyCall and other inexpensive or free web tools, including small companies like Guided Pathway<\/a>, LuckyCom<\/a> and Productions Octopus<\/a> [among many others].<\/p>\n

Look and sound like a Big Business today to make a great first impression.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

About Bryan Goode:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prior to Infratel, Bryan was Vice President and General Manager at Parallels, where he was responsible for worldwide business development and offering SaaS solutions for SMBs through the company\u2019s 1000+ cloud service provider partners. \u00a0Before joining Parallels, Bryan was responsible for product and business management for SQL Server at Microsoft.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Bryan Goode.\u00a0 Bryan is CEO of Infratel, a company dedicated to revolutionizing the \u201cContact Us\u201d experience for SMBs. \u201cYou never get a second chance to make a first impression\u201d As you just start to get your new business off the ground, it is important to consider how your customers will perceive you.… Read More »Look Like a Big Business in 4 Simple Steps<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":468,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false},"categories":[119],"tags":[330,305,316,1113,297],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5497"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6088,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5497\/revisions\/6088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}