In this day and age, business and technology go hand in hand. Technology is yet another thing for small business owners to juggle among their other duties, and it encompasses several different parts of business. On a very basic level, small business owners need to worry about things like data, security, and ensuring that their systems move as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, technology is also instrumental in terms of increasing the strength of a small business’s presence. Things like search engine optimization and marketing are key to making sure that your business is as visible to potential clients and customers as possible. Below, we’ll look into how you can keep your small business competitive by bringing it into the present — and indeed the future. From SEM to choosing a cloud web host, you can gain a lot by choosing an online marketing agency. Outsourcing technological issues can simplify and streamline a lot of your business workings. Certainly, it can free up the time and money you would have spent trying to figure out online technology and allow you to focus more on growing your business in a more hands-on sense.

Understanding The Cloud

Before we move on to issues like SEM, perhaps we should look at the basics of the cloud. Despite it being now ubiquitous, many still don’t know what the cloud is, let alone how to handle it. Luckily, IT firms and marketing agencies can help you tackle the cloud head-on. You don’t have to move all of your technological business onto the cloud. If you want, you can move just one application to the cloud. Poll respondents indicated that if they could move on application to the cloud, 25% would choose storage. Of course, moving to cloud hosting services is about more than just storage. In fact, as with many outsourcing techniques, it can end up saving you a lot of money. Reportedly, 82% of companies saved money by moving to the cloud, and 80% saw improvements after switching over. Now, there’s also the simple fact to consider that the cloud is in many ways the future of technology. As many, many businesses move to the cloud, it’s in a new business’s best interests to do the same to remain relevant and competitive. Right now, 87% of companies are on the cloud — so it only seems inevitable that the businesses that aren’t will eventually follow suit.

Increasing Your Online Presence Through SEO

SEM, or search engine marketing, is a technique that incorporates several different types of online marketing strategies. This includes search engine optimization, which uses keywords to draw potential clients and customers to a website. SEO techniques include everything from articles to videos. Essentially, these pieces of media are created with the purpose of advertising, without actually looking like traditional advertisements. They appear more like normal articles and videos. Of course, there are plenty of other ways through which SEM can be utilized. SEM doesn’t have to equal articles and lists — it can also be done through emails and social media marketing.

Social Media Marketing

There are so many ways through which social media marketing can enhance your company’s online presence. Of course, by social media we mean everything from a simple email to Facebook and Instagram pages. Email marketing has always been a rather popular means of online marketing. The strength of email is its simplicity. Yet many companies attempting to reach out to younger clients might find utilizing sites like the abovementioned Facebook and Instagram or even Twitter or Youtube more ideal. This all falls under the basically umbrella of SEO or SEM. But having a presence on more popular or even “edgy” sites can completely change the image of your company.

Remember: in this day and age, you cannot have a successful business without a strong online presence. Certainly, if you do not feel confident in your own ability to accomplish this, an online marketing agency might be the right place to turn to.