For the many small businesses that have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown, the cost of not having an online presence to continue to engage with customers has been significant.
 
In particular, hospitality and retail providers from restaurants and cafés, to local take-away outlets, boutique shops and small convenience stores have been starved of business without a means for customers to order online or simply find out when they are open again.
 
Get started with a basic website or social media page
 
The cost to create a small business website or basic social media page is incredibly low compared to the cost of lost business and missed opportunities.
 
You don’t need to know anything about the digital realm to become part of it. Small businesses, like CopyEdit, specialise in helping business owners create a website, write content and implement social media campaigns to attract new customers and engage with existing ones. It’s not hard and it’s a lot more affordable than you may think.
 
In this day and age, there has never been a more important time to get online and safeguard against future business disruption. It’s affordable, fast and delivers long-term benefits that you simply can’t afford to ignore.

Writing blogs can be daunting if it’s not something you’ve done before. Just thinking of what to write about can prevent you getting past go.
 
The truth is that a blog doesn’t have to be long or highly detailed. In fact short blogs (3 or 4 paragraphs) are often easier for a reader to digest, particularly if you write about one subject/topic at a time.
 
Blog content ideas
 
Here are some suggestions to get you started.
 
Who do you want to read your blog?
 
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
 
Think about who your prospective customers are and why they would want to engage with your business. Are they looking for a specialist who can demonstrate industry knowledge and expertise? Or perhaps a tradesperson who they can trust and will impart good advice.  
 
Writing blogs about current trends, the best products to use (and why) or even interesting jobs you’ve recently completed are all topics that attract search.
 
What words should you use in your blog?
 
Your blog content should speak directly to your target audience in their own language so forget acronyms and industry terms.
 
Write in the style and tone you would use if you were speaking in person with your customers. For example, you may want to adopt a conversational tone to build trust and rapport or an authoritative tone to share your knowledge about your industry and current/future trends.
 
What outcome do you want your blog to achieve?
 
Blogs are generally read to find out information or have a question answered. Ask yourself what kind of information you could share with your customers that would be of value to them.
 
Then think about what action you want them to take. For example, you may want them to click through to your products and services page so include a link back to your website, preferably in the body copy so it has relevance.
 
The key is to remember that blogs are not written to make a sale – they are written to inform so keep them light, interesting and conversational.