5 things you can do during lockdown to improve your business
by Startacus Admin
Lockdown could be the perfect time to improve your business. Paul Malone of Tall Paul Marketing suggests these simple steps...
Let’s face it; we could face the very real prospect of social distancing measures in some guise being in force for at least another 12 months or until a successful vaccine is found.
Now’s the time to do some work on your business and reassert your goals for the future with actionable targets that you and your team can all get involved with.
Start with these simple steps and I promise, you will be happier, your customers will be happier and ultimately, your business will prosper
Go through every page of your website and get rid of dated content
When I first started a Digital Transformation Project on the Queen’s Accommodation website for Queen’s University Belfast, the website had so many pages and subpages that it was impossible to find specific information.
This is what it looked like before we began:
And this is what it looks like today:
As you can see, I cut down on content dramatically.
Do the same with your website.
Print out every page of your website, get a highlighter and go through every sentence and ask yourself “Do customers really need this?”
You will surprise yourself at how little of it you need to keep, what is being repeated on multiple pages etc.
Check all your content for accuracy, spelling and grammar
We’re all humans and we all make mistakes.
You’ve already printed out all the pages of your website so now that point 1 is complete, start reading all of your content for accuracy, grammar and typos.
Sometimes it’s hard to spot our own mistakes so ask a friend, family member or a professional copywriter to read all your content and correct any errors.
Better still; ask them to rewrite the content so that it’s fresh, to the point and engaging.
Digital savvy businesses are the future
If there’s one revelation from the current pandemic it’s that everything is now moving at breakneck speed towards remote working and digitally-focussed businesses.
Are you ready for that?
Think about new ways you can engage with your customers. Could you add buttons to your website to encourage people to WhatsApp you with queries?
Could you set up your business with more digitally-focussed technology like Zoom and MS Teams to avoid unnecessary and time consuming meetings
Concentrate on your blog
Your blog is one of the most valuable, yet most neglected, parts of your website.
Sometimes I am so busy writing blogs for my client’s websites that I deprioritise writing content for my own blog.
Think of your blog as the perfect sneak-peek into the personality of your business.
It’s your chance to showcase what your business does, provide informative and helpful content and instigate discussions in your industry.
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It can even improve your search ranking on Google, Yahoo and Bing with savvy SEO optimised content.
Decide today that you’re going to use your spare time during lockdown to create 12 new blog posts and schedule them into your Content Management System to publish each month.
Once you start seeing results from these initial monthly blog posts you will want to up the ante and create a weekly blog post.
But for now, focus on writing 12 of the greatest blog posts you would love to read if you stumbled across them yourself.
Reassess your social media platforms
Just because they’re available and popular right now, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should create an account there.
Different social media platforms suit different types of businesses.
Example: Newry Times creates newsworthy, shareable content so the focus is on Facebook (still number one in the world), Twitter and to a lesser extent, Instagram and YouTube.
I haven’t jumped on the TikTok or Snapchat bandwagons because they don’t fit my business or content.
With Tall Paul Marketing I focus on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as all of my content is mostly written 
and appeals to people who like reading to educate themselves.
Depending on your business, focus on a small handful of platforms.
If you’re a restaurant or coffee shop that might be Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat as you can really showcase your mouth-watering food in video and photograph.
If you’re a career coach you might focus on professional networks such as LinkedIn.
These 5 tips will really help your business adapt to our new normal.
Paul Malone is a freelance content writer at Tall Paul Marketing: www.tallpaulmarketing.com
Follow Paul Malone on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tallpaulmarketing
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Published on: 14th May 2020
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