Turn this mandatory self-isolating to an opportunity to grow your business.

These days COVID-19 and self-isolating affecting all businesses and for many small businesses it is a life changer. However, as an entrepreneur, we should be vigilant and look for opportunities in different occasions. Working with several small business owners and start-ups, I realised how much they ignore some basic principals of their business set up and leave them for the spare time they never have. So, perhaps this self-isolation is a great chance to work on the list I prepared to boost your business and make an advantage when this turbulence passes.

Here I make this list and I am sure all of them are DIY tasks and you can learn how to them while staying home.

1. Set up and register your business in "Google My Business"

This is a great way to introduce your business to locals and people searching for that service. As you know nearly everyone use Google to find what they need, and if your business is not here, you're going to miss out.

You have to provide your business address and Google will verify your address by sending you an actual letter with a unique code which you must enter.

And Yes, you can do it if even you don't have a website. What about if you are a mobile business or don't want to serve customers at your address? There is an option to Not show address to customers.

This is very easy but extremely important and many businesses do not know or ignore to register their business with Google my business.

2. if you don't have a website, now is a great chance to make one. These days developing a website is very easy and DIY. You can use WIX, SqaureSpace, GoDaddy or many other website builders. There are pros & cons of using each of them. But the fact that these are extremely easy and cheap to use, make them perfect choice to start with.

Basically you don't need more 5-6 pages to start your website, to start you only need Home, About us, Services & Products, Contact us and a Blog. Obviously you can add more later.

3. If you have a website, it is a good time to see what pages performing well sort out your Google search. You need to register your website with Google Search Console to check each page performance and customers interests. This is the description from its page "Search Console tools and reports help you measure your site's Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results"

Check pages performance in a period of time, what pages people spend more time on and what topics are more in demand, they give you good indication about new contents you provide.

4. Get certified in free online Digital marketing course by Google. Google Digital Garage provides lots of valuable training for free which is also a great activity for staying home time.

5. Learn about SEO (search engine optimisation) from different sources. You can watch YouTube videos or use Udemy. However, I really suggest reading this PDF file by HubSpot: 20 SEO Myths you should leave behind in 2020. SEO is like any other skill, you can learn it and be master of it.

6. Learn why your competitors rank so high and how you can outrank them. You can check their keywords, top pages and more by just entering their link into websites like: https://neilpatel.com/

7. Don't forget Google likes fresh contents and it is crucial for your website SEO. So, make sure you update your old posts and also provide new fresh content. Your content should preferably be something valuable and more interesting for your audience. I am sure each of you are expert in your own field, so why not writing some in-depth articles about your expertise and share it with your customers (people) via your website. First, it is your SEO's best friend and then it make you as a credible provider of that business to customers.

8. Again, if you already have a website, making sure your website is nice and neat and working properly is as important as any other activity. So, ensure all your links are working and connected. (Google doesn't like broken links). Also, check in another browser whether all your pages are working and loading well. If you have old pages with outdated events or data you can potentially remove them. I just repeat, Google likes to see a fresh, dynamic website, so updating and maintaining it don't go wrong.

9. Considering staying home situation, you should consider adding online payment options to your website and business. Services like Square, PayPal. etc are some of your options. You can issue invoices and receipts via these services as well.

10. Prepare and start your business Social Media presence. These days social media is a required element of each business and based of type of your business, you can decide which social media you want to be in and focus on. If you are a Business to Customer you want to be on Facebook and Instagram, and for Business to Business your presence in LinkedIn in necessary. There are plenty of sources to read and learn about these topics which are another good activity for self-isolation. You can create a business page on Facebook here.

If you have done most of the above list already, I should say you've done a great job and your business is in a good order. Otherwise, it is a good start to make your business up to date and also avoid boredom.

I will put together another to-do list soon and publish it again. Hopefully we pass these days in a good way and be ready for the time the world goes back to normal.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND STAY SAFE.

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