New statistics released by Nielsen show just how ubiquitous Internet activity has become. This insight into user behavior demonstrates how crucial interacting online is for small businesses who want to attract more business.
Users spent an average of 58 hours online in January, and visited an average of 2,621 Web pages while online, according to the report. The average person visits 90 unique sites per month. The challenge is making your business one of those 90 for people in your community.
Here are some tips to attract some of the more than 200 million U.S. residents who will use the Internet this month:
1) Start with search – Search engines are the first stop online for most people. Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft are the three most popular online brands, and the majority of their traffic comes from searchers. Your company can capture some of the traffic originating from search engine by having a Search Engine Optimization strategy that puts your company’s site in front of Internet users searching for your product or service.
2) Use social media – Social media sites, especially Facebook, are a large part of most people’s online experiences. Users spend an average of seven hours on Facebook per month, which is more time than the other four sites in the top five combined. Having a presence where people spend their time is crucial to business success online. Users are also beginning to use Facebook for search more, as total searches on the site increased 13 percent month-over-month. Can potential customers find you when they search on Facebook?
3) Create content – Generating content with intuitive keywords, especially through blogging, helps businesses attract larger audiences of searchers. Think of content creation as making more avenues for your customers to reach your company’s destination online. If you only have 30 pages on your Web site currently, you’re only offering 30 ways for customers to reach you. If you write four blog posts per week, you can double the entry points to your Web site in just two months.
