Image by Ronny Overhate from Pixabay

By Tracie Johnson

When launching a small business, you must consider the type of impressions you wish to make. While you might want to look friendly, fun, or humorous, appearing professional is always necessary. Irrespective of your business type, appearing professional to suppliers and consumers is indispensable.

As denoted by Forbes, you only have about seven seconds to make a great first impression to your visitors. If you want potential customers to rank your business highly, you should look as professional as possible from the word go. Achieving this fete when starting a business may seem like an uphill task.

To help you streamline the process, here are proven ways to make your business appear more professional:

1) Build a professional website

Today’s business world needs you to have a professional website to succeed. Also, the website needs to be as professional and clean as possible. You should avoid including plenty of whistles and bells, but it should appear neat, offer acceptable content, and be easy to navigate.

The good thing is that several platforms on the internet can help you build a professional website without prior web design knowledge. For a business website, you should consider paying for a premium domain instead of using the free options. A unique and premium domain is not only professional but also easier to remember.

2) Get professional business cards

You can quickly get your brand and contact information to the target audience with business cards. Suppose you are in a meeting and don’t have a business card to give a couple of attendants at the end of the session. In that case, you may look unprofessional. A business card emphasizes the idea that you have a legit company.

You need to avoid the free business cards, as most often incorporate the brand of the printing company. It makes you look like you cannot afford a nonbranded business, and remember you are marketing the printing company for free by having their contacts on your business card. If possible, incorporate an embossed logo on your business card. You can even go as far as having an embossed logo on stationery, note pads, sticky notes, coffee mugs, pens, and other functional items to emphasize your brand.

3) Use consistent branding

It’s essential to have consistent branding on all platforms by ensuring the message is aesthetic and consistent. Besides reinforcing your image, ensuring branding consistency makes you appear business-minded and put-together. Your business cards, social media channels, website, and storefront should share logos, photos, and colors.

Your stationery and packaging should also echo your brand. While you don’t need to publish every image and logo you have on each platform, all the things need to match. If it fails, your business could appear as careless or sloppy.

4) Pay attention to your social media channels

In today’s digital era, you need social media channels to communicate with modern customers. You should not just open a social media channel and leave it alone. Instead, upload fresh content regularly, engage with users, and inform clients about any news via the channels.

Remember to keep messaging and branding across all social media channels consistently. You should not e on all websites, but an active presence on several social media platforms will help you appear much more professional.

5) Have a business email address

You may look unprofessional if your business uses standard email addresses like Gmail and Yahoo. Besides looking like a personal address, your account could belong to anybody making it look unsafe. On the other hand, an email address containing your domain makes you appear professional. You can make your business look established by using unique email addresses for a couple of dollars monthly. Also, emailing can be an effective marketing tool if done correctly, but you certainly don’t want to be flagged as sending spam. For help in avoiding this, hop over to these guys.

6) Get a dedicated business phone number

Phone calls are still helpful in the present digital world. Most customers still opt to reach out to businesses over the phone. Due to the prevalence of phone calls, it’s crucial to have a dedicated phone number for your business. Instead of using a personal phone number for your company, get a landline of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. Get the 800 number to appear even more professional.

The bottom line

While you can show a lot in your first impression, it is always advisable to demonstrate that your business is professional. This way, customers and other businesses regard you as a trustworthy and serious consideration. Follow the tips mentioned above to make your business seem professional. By utilizing the tips, a company of any size will look a class above the rest.

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Tracie Johnson is a New Jersey native and an alum of Penn State University. Tracie is passionate about writing, reading, and living a healthy lifestyle. She feels happiest when around a campfire surrounded by friends, family, and her Dachshund named Rufus.