FindHer Online Business Directory and Community

Suppose the business operates out of physical premises. In that case, they generally rely on foot traffic and signage and perhaps dabble in print or broadcast advertising. Suppose the business owner sells their products or services exclusively online. In that case, they need to create digital content that is easily found when a potential customer is looking for their offerings.

Most business owners who sell exclusively online start with the expense and time-consuming task of creating a website. But here’s the kicker … these small business owners generally hope and pray that when they hit the publish button on their website, they’ll immediately get leads or online purchases. It will be smooth sailing to riches from there on end.

Unfortunately, a shiny new website doesn’t attract visitors because it’s a tiny island in the search engine sea, and most business owners don’t know the rules of search engine optimisation (SEO). They think people will simply sail on up to their business, dock and do a spot of shopping. Unfortunately, this island is, in most cases, not discoverable. And why would it be easily found when millions of other big islands in the internet sea have been there for a long time, have an excellent reputation and are, therefore, on the itinerary for a consumer stopover?

The business owner hasn’t lost hope because she’s been told, time and time again by digital marketing ‘experts’ and social media ‘gurus’, that if she creates stop-scrolling graphics with trending tunes and copywriting magic and does this repeatedly every single day on social media, she will eventually build a large audience and some of them may speedboat their way to her oasis.

Still no sales 🙁

She’s told that she needs to repurpose her content and spread it over many social media channels, just in case her ideal customer is on that platform and may spot the branded content and may also be at the buying stage in her purchase decision-making process.

The business owner starts to get a bit exhausted by all this hoo-hah. Still, she persists because she doesn’t know how expensive the opportunity cost of her precious time is as she strives to create brand awareness the best way she knows how for her business.

Creating content day in and day out in the hope of getting a sale really starts to wear her thin, so she tries Facebook and Google Ads but pulls the pin because, after a week, she’s spent $500 and hasn’t made a sale.

What does she do now? She’s getting hit every which way with software subscription bills and other business expenses.

She’s at a loss. Her business is running at a loss.

She joins Facebook groups looking for time slots where she can promote her business. She keeps her fingers crossed that someone will see her products and she’ll make a quick sale. Nothing. So she shares stories of her struggles.

This business owner has a lovely website that she is super proud of, and she’s all over social media all the time, and she’s even tried Ads. She’s trying hard to keep depression at bay because she KNOWS her product offering is incredible.

Still, no one is stopping by to buy. The regret starts to creep in to fill her lonely nights of worry.

Karley Beadman discovered the struggles of business owners when she joined Facebook networking groups to document the networking behaviour of women in Australia. She did this for a competitor analysis for a case study while studying for a Master of Marketing at Griffith University. What surprised Karley was that most new business owners are unprepared for the complexities of running their own small business, and they also didn’t allocate enough funds or advertising. Instead, they thought of a business idea and jumped in head first, with buckets loads of passion and empty buckets of money, without considering how they would create brand awareness.

Fascinated by what she saw in these networking groups, Karley dived into secondary research to uncover the facts surrounding women and entrepreneurship. Empirical data confirmed that there are more barriers to entrepreneurial entry if you’re a woman.

Shock.

Karley put on her creative thinking cap, the mortar board type. She reflected on her success as an entrepreneur and her newfound academic business and marketing knowledge. Through the ideation process of what to do to help these struggling women, Karley thought of creating sub-websites for these women business owners. A mini version of websites is what she had in mind to showcase products and services made by women and then direct online shoppers to their respective websites.

As a Marketer, Karley embarked on the creation of a strategic marketing plan because she learnt how powerful they were when she did her Master’s degree. During this strategic process, she recognised that her sub-website idea to help drive traffic to women’s websites was already created and they are called online business directories. So with the tangible product nailed in and a refined and segmented target market, Karley jumped back into the Facebook networking groups she frequented in the past and asked for founding members to help build her minimum viable product, ie. an online business directory filled with brands owned by women. Karley was not surprised when thousands of women requested to be founding members, so she led them to a waitlist form. It quickly filled with potential business listings.

Not one to waste an opportunity, Karley opened her own Facebook group. Instead of “flogging off her wares” as all other Facebook Admins seem to do, Karley kept her eyes on the future and the big picture. She forewent a quick buck, closed her group off when it hit 500 members and literally got in the trenches with her members, helping them with their business struggles, and giving them actionable steps to turn the needle towards their own prosperity.

What sets Karley Beadman apart from all other online business directory owners and leaders of community groups is that she cares about the mental well-being of the women in her inner circle. She has a deep understanding of their struggles and she has made it her life’s work to help women in business.

As FindHer Online Business Directory grows through user-generated-content, member-get-member retention strategies and a herculean spend on advertising, plus relentless hours of SEO work; Karley’s immediate goal is to build a high domain authority website directory to give her members a valuable backlink, with the long-term vision of helping every self-employed woman in Australia create highly profitable brands, so they in turn can employ women in their firm. The result: all women from all walks of life will have the financial freedom to walk to the beat of their own beautiful drum.