There's no shortage of articles online telling you the five things you "must" do to grow your business. Most of them read the same, because most of them are written by people who haven't actually done any of it.

I run three websites and an off-page marketing services business, and over the years I've tried a lot of different strategies - some that worked brilliantly, some that didn't work at all for me, and one big lesson that took me a while to properly learn. Here's what's genuinely made a difference, based on what I've actually done.

1. SEO is the foundation of everything

If you run a website and want it to make money, SEO isn't optional. I own and run multiple websites, and I also work with other businesses on their online marketing - so I have to practise what I preach. If my own sites don't rank well, nothing else I do really matters, because there's no traffic to convert in the first place.

For me, SEO is genuinely the long game. It's not glamorous and it doesn't produce overnight results, but content that ranks well keeps working for you for years. I review and rewrite older content regularly, and keep an eye on what's actually performing using tools like Google Search Console and Ahrefs. It's slow, steady work, but it's the strategy that underpins everything else on this list.

The honest reality is that it's also a constant fight against algorithm updates. Just when something is working well, Google changes how it ranks content and traffic can drop overnight, sometimes for reasons that aren't fully clear even after the fact. A lot of my SEO work now isn't just about growing traffic, it's about maintaining what I've already got in the face of these updates. It's an ongoing process rather than something you ever really "finish."

2. Email marketing - but know your audience

Email marketing has worked well for me, but the approach is different depending on who you're talking to.

For my consumer audience, I send out automated workflow emails focused on helping people make or save money - things like free money offers, cashback opportunities, and money-saving tips. A lot of these include my affiliate links, so if someone signs up to something I've recommended, I earn a commission. The key here is that the advice has to be genuinely useful first. People can tell when an email is just trying to sell them something versus when it's actually trying to help them, and the useful ones perform far better.

For my B2B side - working with other businesses on their online marketing - email doesn't really work the same way. That side of things relies on cold outreach that's niche-specific, finding businesses that are likely to actually want what I offer and reaching out to them directly and manually. It's more time-consuming, but for B2B, a manual, targeted approach has worked far better for me than anything automated.

3. Use technology and social media to amplify your content

Technology and social media aren't strategies on their own for me, but they're a really useful amplifier for everything else. I use social media alongside SEO to get more eyes on my websites - sharing new content, driving people back to articles that are ranking, and keeping my profiles active.

Years ago, when I was running a jewellery business, I used scheduling tools like TweetDeck and Social Oomph to plan out posts in advance and save time. Anything that takes a repetitive task off your plate and lets you focus on the bigger picture is worth having in your toolkit. These days there are plenty of more modern alternatives, but the principle is the same: automate what you can, so your time goes towards the things that actually need a human.

4. Paid advertising - it didn't work for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you

Here's an honest one. About 14 years ago, when I ran a jewellery business, I tried paid advertising in a few different forms - Google Ads, paid tweets, and boosting Facebook posts. None of it really worked for me at the time.

What did work, surprisingly, was small business networking - but online, through things like Twitter parties and Facebook groups for small businesses, rather than paid ads. Joining in regularly, chatting with other business owners, and building genuine connections in those spaces brought in more sales for me than any of the paid ad campaigns did.

I want to be clear though - that's my experience, not a verdict on paid ads as a strategy. Plenty of people do very well with Google Ads and Facebook Ads, and there's a reason dedicated ads managers exist as a profession: targeting, budgets, and ad creative are genuinely a skill, and it's not always obvious how to get it right. If paid ads haven't worked for you either, it might be less about the platform and more about needing the right expertise behind the campaign - or it might just not be the right channel for your particular business and audience.

5. Identify risks and have a plan for them

This one matters more the longer you run a business. Things change - algorithm updates, platform policy changes, economic shifts, you name it. Part of running a sustainable business is thinking ahead about what could go wrong and having at least some kind of plan if it does.

I've experienced this firsthand. I've had long-term campaigns with brands that provided a consistent, reliable income for months or even years, and then suddenly it's pulled or the terms change completely, and a big chunk of that income just disappears. Working in marketing as someone self-employed, this is genuinely part of the territory. It's always disappointing, and it's nerve-wracking when a large portion of your income vanishes with little warning, however well things had been going up to that point.

This might mean not relying on a single income stream, keeping an eye on where your traffic or income is genuinely coming from so you're not caught out if one source dries up, or simply having savings set aside for quieter periods. Speaking to business advisors can also help if you want a more structured look at where your risks actually lie and how to manage them.

6. The real strategy: perseverance

If I had to sum up what's actually grown my business over the years, it's not any single tactic from the list above. It's perseverance, persistence, and a willingness to keep learning and trying new things even when something doesn't work first time.

Being organised matters too - genuinely knowing what you're working on, what's performing, and what needs attention. And honestly, a lot of it comes down to just working a lot. There's no substitute for consistent effort over a long period of time. The tactics matter, but they only work if you keep showing up and adjusting as you go.