11 Tips to Grow Your Business Online With WordPress

11 Tips to Grow Your Business Online With WordPressHaving a Business is great. It allows you to pursue something you are passionate about while making money from it. But growing that business can be quite a task. You will need to apply various strategies to improve productivity and efficiency.

A good business development strategy is to take your business online (if you haven’t done so already). But if you are already online, using the wrong platform that isn’t business-friendly can impede your growth. WordPress is a recommended platform for small and large businesses.

It is a free CMS for building and managing business websites and eCommerce platforms. It provides you with everything a growing business needs to succeed at an “almost free” price.

In this guide, we’ll look at 11 ways to use WordPress to grow your business quickly. Additionally, we will highlight four tested business growth strategies that should be at your fingertips as a business owner.

Content:

The Hard Question – Should You Grow The Business?

To grow your small business, you first need to consider if it is ready for growth. Investing your time and money into a business is a bad idea without first considering its potential.

If your business is new, with little data, you may want to observe it for some time. This will allow you to see how it progresses to avoid growing too soon.

how to grow your business with wordpress

Market Potential

To determine if your business is ready for growth, you need first to consider that your niche market is growing. Suppose there is potential for growth in your business industry. You can tailor your resources towards that to ensure success.

An industry with no booming future insight might not be a place to spend your time and resources on. You will be competing with established businesses that are almost impossible to beat.

You will likely be pumping your resources into a market that may soon become obsolete. So unless you have an innovative business model in that niche, you want to thoroughly introspect to decide if you’re betting on the right horse.

Consider Your Budget

This is not necessarily a huge barrier to growth if you manage your business with WordPress. Most of the tools you need are available for free. But you still need money to keep your business running in case of a sudden surge in demand.

Therefore, you need to consider the cash inflow from other sources besides the business. The money from other sources should be enough to manage your business for a few years to prepare for growth.

Consider Your Target Market

If your business steadily increases customers who want more of what you offer, you can consider your business ripened for growth.

Customers are the backbone of any business. Therefore, you should not consider a company that lacks clear indications of people who want more of the product/service for growth.

What Are the 11 Ways to Grow Your Business With WordPress?

As said earlier, WordPress is a business-friendly platform. You can scale your business with little effort using the various tools available to WP site owners. Below are the 11 tips on how to grow your business online with WordPress.

1. Keep Your Website Simple To Grow Your Business

While complex websites may provide several features, most of these features are not usually needed. Having too many unnecessary plugins can affect the user experience on your website.

A rule of thumb to drive growth is to make the website as easy to use as possible. This way, customers are not at a loss on how to navigate your website. Also, they won’t face distractions from unnecessary features.

Most WordPress themes come with useful features that your website needs to function. So you don’t need to purchase additional features to make your website more complex. You can simply select and install a suitable theme from our list of recommended free WordPress themes on your website. That will make you ready to start doing business.

2. Optimize Your Website Speed

The average human attention span is now shorter than a goldfish’s, according to this commentary from Orlando Sentinel.

You have less than 9 seconds to impress your website visitors and convert them into paying customers. These 9 seconds include your website response speed and the time required to load your web page contents to visitors.

Your website should load its contents in less than 1.5 seconds to grab user attention. To achieve this, you may need to check out our complete guide on how to speed up your WordPress site.

The following WordPress plugins also help to improve your website pages for faster loading:

WordPress caching plugin

These plugins work by caching your web pages and minimizing your images and JavaScript/CSS size. They also optimize your Database to serve content faster.

With a fast-loading website, you are closer to providing an excellent user experience for your customers. This is a great factor in growing your business since it directly improves the conversion rate.

3. Be Easily Accessible To Grow Your Business

To get more sales or conversions, you should make it easier for your customers to contact you. They may need more information concerning a product or service, then scan your webpage to see how to contact you.

You should make a contact form accessible. For this, you can use a free contact form or chatbot plugin from WordPress collections. Since there are so many, you may want to check our recommended WordPress plugins for live chat.

Live chat software is an effective way to engage your customers since they can have more personalized communication with you. Most of these plugins utilize AI to make personalized recommendations based on customers’ inputs. So you can automate the process while offline.

Likewise, you can utilize contact forms, where customers can drop their queries and expect feedback from you. This also allows for personalized conversations as you can address the user based on their requests.

To help decide on a suitable free contact form plugin for your website, we have options for you. You may want to check out our comparison of the 15 best WordPress contact form plugins.

Whether you are using live chat or a contact form, you want to be sure they can find it by placing it in a place that is accessible.

A recommended way to do this is to create a floating button for contact. Once a user is on your website, they will easily notice the button. That way they will know where to contact you once they have an issue. You may also set up a chatbot plugin to automatically start conversations with visitors once they are on your website. Here is an example of the one we use at Fixrunner.

Fixrunner chatbot

Further, you can take a leaf from large eCommerce websites by including contact information or live chat in the shopping cart and checkout.

Optimize Your Website for High-Conversion

Your purpose for creating a business website is to convert visitors to paying customers. But most users visiting your site may never find it the second time.

This is because they often stumbled upon it by making a query via a search engine. But if they can’t find what they are looking for on their first visit, they are less likely to visit a second time.

You need to set up several conversion tactics to convert these visitors to paying customers and keep them coming back. A plugin that allows you to create campaigns that prompt users to take action upon their first visit is vital.

You can set up time-based discounts and make an offer in exchange for their email address for follow-up. You can also create an exit-intent popup that provides personalized recommendations to keep visitors engaged.

A recommended tool that helps to convert your website visitors to paying customers is OptinMonster. This is a powerful lead generation tool.

While they don’t offer a free trial, their pricing structure is considerate, with their basic plan starting at only $9 per month.

Other WordPress plugins for Lead Generation and Conversion are:

WPForms plugin - how to gorw your business

  • WPForms – A Drag-and-drop WordPress form builder plugin.
  • SeedProd – A landing page builder plugin.
  • RafflePress  – A WordPress Plugin for creating giveaways.
  • PushEngage – A WordPress plugin for creating push notifications.

Using these, you can turn visitors into customers, even if they choose not to purchase immediately.

Build Promotional Lists for Marketing Campaigns

This section is more like a follow-up to the previous tip above. We recommend having an email list of website visitors and past customers.

Anyone visiting your website is a potential customer. They are more likely to be interested in any offer you come up with. Therefore, you can request their email address with the promise of sending them promotional offers. That’s an opportunity to market and further grow your business.

Also, you want to create proper email lists of those that opt-in. Then, you should send them offers, promotions, news, etc., according to their interest.

Another email-building strategy is to offer coupons to visitors. Once a user makes a purchase, you can request them to opt-in for future promotional offers in which they may develop an interest.

You can use the free WP Coupons and Deals plugin to offer coupons to visitors. It allows you to display coupons to visitors, among other helpful marketing tools.

WP Coupons and Deals plugin

You need an email campaign plugin to send promotional offers to your customers. They provide useful tools to collect customer email addresses and send customized and personalized emails to your email lists.

To decide on a suitable plugin for email campaigns, you may check out our list of the top 10 newsletter plugins.

Use Content Marketing To Drive Organic Traffic

Having a good content marketing strategy is an effective way to drive traffic to your website. You can build a system by creating related content in your niche. This exposes your website to a broader audience.

People are more likely to visit your website if they share your content or tag them in a post. And you can convert them to paying customers using the tips we explained above.

You can concentrate on creating video content or blog posts. These are useful for SEO since Google usually ranks your website when you produce quality content. Luckily, WordPress offers you a blog feature on your website. To create a blog, you may view our guide on how to start a blog on your WordPress site.

To be successful, you need to concentrate on creating quality content that visitors find helpful. This way, they will regard your site as a place to obtain quality information.

You can also monetize your content and add to your income streams. Check our step-by-step guide on how to monetize a blog to generate passive income from your website.

Learn, Practice, and Invest in SEO

To help search engines understand your website content, you need to concentrate on implementing the required SEO guidelines.

These are basic instructions on structuring and adding markups to your website content to make it search-engine friendly. When done rightly, they can improve your online presence.

You need to take SEO seriously to beat competitors to the top position in search results. Luckily, these guidelines are not too technical. You can implement them on your own if you follow our definitive guide to WordPress SEO for beginners.

If you run an online store with WooCommerce, you may find these additional tips for WooCommerce SEO equally helpful.

Below are some additional WordPress SEO plugins that you can use to optimize your website pages:

WordPress SEO Plugins to grow your business

You will rank high in search results when your website is set up for SEO. This directly improves your website visits, leading to a gradual increment in conversion and growth.

Grow Your Business On Social Media

Social media is a good source of traffic for your business. Social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter are among the most popular platforms for promoting your business.

You can learn how to grow your business on social media. The point is to use these platforms to build followership for your business. You can engage them to convert them to website visitors, and, by extension, paying customers.

While social media marketing requires skills and patience, it is a necessary tool that you must learn to utilize. To build engaging followership, you need to create engaging content on your social media page.

You also need to practice corporate social responsibility. This helps to build a sense of inclusiveness with your audience. Sharing your blog posts is a good way to create engaging content on social media.

WordPress Publicize is a plugin that you can use to automate this process. Alternatively, you can manually copy the link to your content and share it with your audience on Social Media.

You need a way to manage your growing social media presence. To assist you, you may check out our top picks of 15 free social media management tools for your business.

Ensure a Pleasant Customer Experience

One thing customers look at before patronizing a business is its rating. User experience rating can either make or mar your business.

Customers who feel satisfied with your business are more likely to recommend it to their friends. In a way, this serves as an unpaid advertisement.

You can ensure customer satisfaction by providing personalized service during and after sales. Attending customer complaints promptly shows you are concerned about them. This helps to increase the confidence that your customers have in you.

You can use the following customer service plugins to achieve this:

3CX Free Live Chat plugin

Maintain a positive attitude while communicating with customers. You should also listen actively to their conversation, whether it is a phone or live chat. This will make them feel valued and result in high customer retention.

As your business grows, the need to employ customer service representatives arises. Ensure you also train the reps you onboard on your team. This helps to maintain a good relationship with customers.

You should ask customers to rate your service, website, or products after tending to their needs. Plugins such as Site Reviews and Customer Reviews for WooCommerce can help you get feedback from your customers.

Utilize The Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

This translates to using psychological hacks to grow your business. Fear of missing out (FOMO) describes customers’ attitudes toward missing out on ongoing sales.

Once customers notice a product/service is selling out fast, they often conclude that there must be something special about it. Thus, they will not want to miss out on purchasing such an offer. This is the case especially if the stocks are limited or if there is a discount.

Using FOMO on your website is very easy if you manage it with WordPress. You can achieve this using a social proof plugin, and we recommend the Trustpulse plugin.

Trustpulse plugin

It is a plugin that allows you to create pop-ups that display recent user activities, such as new purchases and email signups on your website.

You can create campaigns in multiple languages. Also, you can customize the displayed badge and where it appears on your website. This gives you complete control over the aesthetic and behavior of your campaign.

Use Analytical Tools for Data-driven Decision

When taking business loans, spending on ads, targeting a niche, etc. you should be as calculative as possible. You can make this process easier using analytic tools like Google analytics.

Google analytics - how to grow your business

Google Analytics is a free tool that you can integrate into your website to gain insight into its visitors. This includes the activities they perform and the source of traffic. There are various ways to interpret these analytics and use them to drive your decision-making.

See our guide to learn how to integrate Google Analytics in your WordPress site.

You will need to consider factors such as your website conversion rate to make a decision. Factors include time spent by each user, sites they visit, and your customer base.

If you use alternate traffic sources, such as paid ads, you can also compare their conversion rates against organic traffic. Depending on your decision, you may find this information helpful.

Another recommended analytics plugin is the Google Site Kit Plugin. To learn more about this plugin, please check out our Google Site Kit’s definitive guide.

Bonus Information – The 4 Growth Strategies

Now that we’re done with direct tips, you can implement on WordPress to grow your business. Let’s help you grasp the business strategies that every successful business must employ.

These are strategies that large companies employ to grow and dominate the market. You can do the same.

It is never recommended to approach growth without employing a solid strategy. This likewise applies to growing your small business; they don’t grow by accident. But rather, you need to take strategic business plans to achieve growth.

We’re going to consider the 4 growth strategies. These are market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification.

Market Penetration

Researching your competitors to grow your business

This strategy involves taking action to dominate competitors. This includes getting more customers to buy your product or use your service. You can do this by researching your competitors and planning to outdo them. Additionally, you can offer products/services in more quality or quantity. You can also provide utilities, such as discount sales, to attract new customers to your business.

Market penetration is essential if you are doing business in an established niche. You have many competitors, and to experience growth, you need to build authority.

Product Development

Product development

This strategy heavily relies on your creative ability. Because several others offer similar products/services to yours, you will likely experience stiff competition.

To beat this to further grow your business, you need to be creative with your offering. You can diversify to offer a similar but distinct product/service. Also, try adding more features that competitors do not provide.

Additionally, you can offer a customer loyalty program to reward your customers. This way, consumers will choose you because of your uniqueness or because of the extra value you provide.

Lastly, you need to hire the right people. The quality of your team determines the growth rate of your business.

Market Development

Improve market development strategy

This strategy focuses on the current customers and regions where you offer your product/service. You need to increase your consumer base by providing the best customer service. Also, increase it by taking your product to new regions.

When you satisfy existing customers, they can recommend your product to others, increasing your publicity. You also need to make a conscious effort toward increasing your consumer base. You can do this by studying new regions. After that, you make them offers tailored to their needs.

You can create a product/service in languages specific to that region. Additionally, you can tailor your offer to their culture.

Diversification

Diversify to grow your business online

This strategy involves taking a new approach to growing your business. It can also mean adding to your product lines. This strategy is the riskiest since you will be delving into the unknown.

Unlike your already established product/service, you have limited data on your audience and how they will accept your offer. Therefore, you need to apply risk management strategies when using this approach to expand your business.

You can employ these strategies sequentially to grow your business quickly on WordPress. If you are just starting or have an established business, you may need to grow your business from a market penetration strategy to a diversification strategy.

Conclusion – Grow Your Business Online

Having a business is a great idea in today’s evolving economy and the unstable job market. But it is not always easy to grow that business to success. Hence, about 90% of startups failed, with 10% falling in the first year.

To be among those that build successful businesses, you need to equip yourself with the required knowledge. This includes the 11 tips we shared in this article that you can apply to your WordPress site immediately. In addition, we shared 4 growth strategies that should guide your overall growth path.

We also provided you with recommended tools and WordPress plugins to make starting and growing a business as cost-effective as possible.

With this knowledge, you should be prepared to grow your business to success – either as a startup or an established company. But if you are just beginning to use WordPress, you may want to check out our WordPress for beginners guide.