No industry is safe from the effects of the pandemic. Travel bans and mandated quarantine have ravaged the tourism industry. Bars and restaurants have been forced to closed due to health concerns. Even prominent brands have been affected by the reduction in demand and transactions.
To cope with the economic recession, businesses are being forced to adjust. Here are a few ways you can lower your business’ expenses:
Explore Other Options
Instead of going for the popular, straightforward choice, look for alternatives. For example, go with a G Suite Business reseller instead of subscribing to Google itself.
G Suite is a must for businesses because of its extensive features. You can get a customized email address that includes your business’ site instead of a generic address. This makes your email correspondence look more professional. It also has handy apps like Google Docs and Calendar to make collaborations easier.
There are several reasons why you should go to a reseller instead of the official site. Resellers offer consultation services to determine the plan that suits your needs. On top of that, they also offer technical support so you can make sure that everything’s working right. The best of all, you can save up to 50% compared to subscribing to the original provider.
Besides digital services, you can also search for alternatives for your supplies. There’s almost always a supplier that offers lower prices. Or, you can cite your sales and the need to be competitive to negotiate a better deal from your current supplier. You can also mention their brand on your site in exchange for a lower price.
If you have a brick and mortar store, you can reduce expenses by working on your online presence. If it proves to be successful, you can shut down your physical store and focus on your site. Websites are much cheaper and easier to maintain. To complement your sales, consider selling through third party sites. For example, if you own a grocery or a restaurant, you can partner with a delivery service. It instantly makes your products much more accessible.
Focus on Organic Traffic
Website visits are the bread and butter of online businesses. Without website traffic, there aren’t any sales and profits. When it comes to website traffic, there are two basic sources: organic and paid. Paid traffic refers to visits gained from advertisements. It can be ads from social media sites or search engines. For the latter, they are labeled as ads and typically appear from the very top of the results page. On the other hand, organic traffic refer to visits from search engines without the use of ads.
There are a few drawbacks from using ads for your website. One, it can be expensive. Two, it can be competitive. Depending on the nature of your business, you may have well-established competitors. They have bigger budgets and popularity on their side which makes it harder for you to get visits. Three, it doesn’t automatically translate into actual sales. While you may get more visits from your ads, it doesn’t mean that those visitors will buy from you. The sales you get from your ads may not be worth the ad spend. To lessen your dependence on paid traffic, you should focus on generating organic traffic.
To rank high on search results, there are a few factors you must focus on. First, you should be using the proper keywords related to your business. Next, you should be producing unique content. If your content is the same as everyone else, news sites and big businesses will rank higher than your site. Then, your site should also load fast and be mobile-friendly. You can do this by reducing the size of the images and videos on your website and going on your website host.
DIY and Outsourcing
If business has slowed down due to the pandemic, consider doing some tasks yourself. It’s unsure when the economy will get back to normal so it makes sense for the long term. For example, instead of hiring a marketing company to handle your social media accounts, create posts yourself. All you need to do is to maintain the same tone and be consistent with your branding.
Another way to reduce costs is by outsourcing. Instead of hiring a full-time IT expert to handle your site, hire an IT service. They’re typically available to contact 24/7 so you can call whenever you encounter a tech problem.
The pandemic has spared no one. Every business has been forced to adjust and compromise to survive. While it may be a difficult time, there’s still a few ways to stay afloat.