Lockdown number two is here and it’s a strange time for all of us. Businesses are closing until December at the very least and people have to work from home if they are able. If you run a business and you’re worried about what you could be doing from home, here are 5 things you can do during Lockdown that can help your business online.

Set up ways for people to order from you online

If people can’t come to your shop, bring the shop to them. Make it easy for them to order from you online! If you have a website use plugins such as WooCommerce and Shopify so people can order products directly from your website. They also allow you to take payments through things like Paypal, so it really couldn’t be any easier. You can also use Instagram Shopping to sell products online. This is especially useful if you’re really active on Instagram, as you can tag in products on your feed which can link to your website. If you don’t have a website, don’t worry. Instagram Shopping can be set up without a website, so you can sell your products directly through Instagram without the need of a website.

Name images on your website

When it’s busy it’s easy to upload images and forget to name them properly. But those images can help your Google ranking if you give them titles and descriptions. If you find that you have a bit more time, go through your website’s media library and give each image a title and a description that include keywords you want to rank for.

So for example, if I owned a shoe shop in Plymouth and I wanted customers to find me when they search ‘Plymouth Shoe Shop’, I would use key phrases such as ‘Plymouth Shoe Shop’ ‘Shoe shops in Plymouth’ ‘Mens shoes Plymouth’ and so on. This will help your Google ranking and make it easier for people to find you online.

Re-engage with people online

When your business is in full flow during normal working hours, it’s really easy to neglect your social media platforms, in particular engaging with other people. But engaging with your customers and other businesses can increase your sales, engagement and reach. This is particularly important for platforms that focus on conversations and encourage interaction between accounts like Twitter and Instagram, because both of those platforms like to connect you with people that you know or interact with a lot.

So if John in Exeter comments and likes a lot of photos on Tesco’s Instagram, Instagram will think that John likes Tesco and will show John more of Tesco’s content. So use Twitter lists to engage with the people you want quickly and easily, and remember to comment and like on other people’s photos on Instagram too.

Keep posting on social media

Because the majority of people will be at home or working from home at the moment, you can get high levels of interaction now throughout the day. Before lockdown it was advisable to post early morning or evening as people get home, but with more home workers you can more flexible with your timings, posting earlier or even as late as 9pm. However, its important to note that although you want to promote your business, don’t come across too salesy. Post behind the scenes photos, what you’re doing to keep yourself positive and other things so that you can connect as a person as well as a business.

Stay positive and look out for one another

It’s a strange time for everyone, and everyone’s business will be in the same boat more or less. So as we’re all in this together, make sure you share and retweet other local businesses’ news and content. They’ll appreciate it and more often than not they’ll share your content too. Remember to keep your feed positive; it’ll keep your engagement high and you never know which of your customers will appreciate the positivity.

And that’s our list. If you have any questions about anything we’ve spoken about let us know in the comments. Stay safe and stay positive everyone.