If you run a restaurant, salon, or any other kind of storefront business, have you ever thought,
"It's hard to justify spending money on free papers or newspaper inserts (they don't get much response). But what else can I do?"

Lately you can see the situation for yourself: the number of ads carried in free papers has declined compared with before, and several publications have ceased publishing altogether. Of course, we don't think free papers are finished or ineffective, but it's a fact that their power to attract customers has weakened compared with the past.

That said, storefront customer acquisition has traditionally relied heavily on "print advertising" (precisely because it was so effective), so the longer a shop has been in business, the more likely its owner hasn't managed to shift to the alternative—online customer acquisition.

Now, when people hear "online customer acquisition," they often assume it means "building our own website to attract customers." Of course, it goes without saying that building a website, conveying your appeal to users, and getting them to visit your store is important… but having a website does cost a fair amount to produce, so it's understandable that owners of small restaurants and salons feel it's a high hurdle.

So, "should shops without a website give up on online customer acquisition?"
—Don't worry! These days, online customer acquisition isn't limited to websites; there are all kinds of services available. The most obvious example that comes to mind is attracting customers through social media such as Facebook, and many people are no doubt already doing this.

In this article, we've put together [3 Ways to Attract Customers Without a Website]—methods that get results by combining free services (including the social media mentioned above) or by adding "just one extra touch" to things many people are already doing.

Naturally, these are effective for people who do have a website as well. In fact, they can amplify the effect of your website.
So don't dismiss this as someone else's concern—please read on.
And if there's anything here you haven't tried yet, we'd love for you to give it a go right away.

1. Get your shop listed in Google searches for "area name + your business type"

Try searching on Google (or Yahoo!) for "area name + your business type." For example, "Hamamatsu beauty salon," "Iwata plumbing," "Fukuroi ramen shop," "Kakegawa house painting," and so on… A map will appear in the search results, with related shops and companies displayed on it.

Is your shop listed there?
And if it is, does the listing include detailed information?

If you look closely, you'll notice that among the shops listed, some show business hours and closing days, while others show nothing but the shop name.

Shops that have been in business a long time are sometimes already registered and listed. And if yours isn't… no problem—you can easily get listed by registering with a service called Google My Business.

Even if your shop is already registered, the listing may show nothing more than basic information such as the shop name, address, and phone number. So by registering with Google My Business, you can display far more specific information—not just business hours and closing days, but also photos of your shop's exterior and interior.

Simply providing solid information here may be enough to encourage customers to visit. That's because users are searching precisely because they're interested in that area and that service.
So if you can capture their interest, it's easy to turn that interest into an actual visit.

2. Register your shop with a Facebook Page

Many people use Facebook to stay connected with customers and acquaintances while posting shop news and event information for promotion. For salons and restaurants, it's no exaggeration to say this is a tried-and-true customer acquisition method right alongside LINE.

Surprisingly often, though, people force their personal Facebook account into service by using their shop name for it. There's nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but if you want to use Facebook efficiently and effectively, you should use a Facebook Page.

Why should you use a Facebook Page? There are three main reasons.

* When someone searches Google (or Yahoo!) for "area name + your business type," a Facebook Page is more likely to show up in the results.

* Not only you as the owner, but also your staff and employees can manage it together.

* You can include much more shop information, such as business hours, closing days, and photos of your shop.
Those are the reasons.

You can easily set up a Facebook Page as long as you have a personal Facebook account.
Roughly speaking, the process is: (1) log in to Facebook with your personal account, (2) choose "Create Page" from the settings menu, (3) select a page type, (4) enter basic information such as category, shop name, and phone number, (5) configure the various detailed settings, and (6) set your target audience, and so on.

As mentioned in the advantages above, with a Facebook Page you can add other page administrators besides yourself (your staff or employees, for example).
Not only can your whole team run the page together, but your staff's personal account information isn't visible to viewers, so it doesn't put any psychological burden on them.

3. Register with portal sites

It means registering your business on a portal site — a service that lists shops by industry, such as restaurants or beauty salons, and by area, making it easy for users to search and compare them.

For restaurants, think of "Tabelog"; for salons, "Kireie" or "Ekiten" — you probably know them.
So what are the benefits of registering on a portal site? To explain, let's try searching the web for "Hamamatsu Station Italian."
When you search on Google...

After the map is displayed, the top result among the web pages is "Recommended Italian Restaurants (Italian Cuisine) near Hamamatsu Station [Tabelog]." Here, Tabelog appears at the very top.

As you can see, in the restaurant industry, portal sites such as "Tabelog" and "Hot Pepper" occupy the top search results in most cases.
And from Tabelog, users choose the option that best matches their interests and requirements, and then take action (visit the shop). Of course, this isn't limited to the restaurant industry — the same tendency applies to salons and other categories as well.

Seen in that light, being registered on a portal site is less of an advantage than not being registered is a serious disadvantage. Because not being listed on a portal site means users aren't even aware that your shop exists.

That's a stage even before the question of whether you get chosen or not...

To continue with Tabelog as an example, just like the Google map listing above, your shop may already be registered.
This happens when a customer who visited your shop registered it in order to post a review. So there are lucky cases where your shop gets registered without you doing anything, receives good reviews, and attracts other customers for you.
That said, customer reviews — good or bad — are something the shop cannot control. That's why the first thing you should do as an owner is to properly convey your appeal to users whose needs match what you offer.
And for that, registering accurate and detailed shop information is essential.