Black History Month may be on the calendar once a year but when you’re an entrepreneur, building wealth and creating opportunity is a 365 days a year pursuit.

We dug in and created a quick checklist for Black-owned businesses to increase online visibility.

If you’re already doing these things, you’re on point. If you’re not quite there yet consider this 3 step checklist a little extra fuel for your fire.

Google My Business is a completely free tool that makes it easy for business owners to create and update their Google Business Profile.

They recently launched a new feature called the “Black-owned business badge.”

It works in a couple of ways:

• Anyone searching on Google can look for Black-owned businesses nearby
• When you search for a specific type of business (say, a restaurant, book shop, or online beauty supply store) the list will include the Black-owned business badge

Both of these features make it easier to find and support Black-owned businesses of all kinds, and adding the badge to your Google Business profile is easy.

Simply visit Google.com/business, look for the “Info” section and then update your profile. You can also note if you are women-led and/or veteran-led, too.

First time setting up Google My Business? The team at Ahrefs has a visual guide to creating and optimizing your listing in 30 minutes.

The Yelp platform also has a similar badge feature and you can create or update a basic profile in minutes.

Another tip is to leverage the search and promotional spotlight features of existing platforms.

Etsy offers anyone who hosts an online store on the platform the ability to join communities, like Black Owned Etsy Shops which has 6,900+ followers and 3,000+ shop owners. Searchable tags like Black-Owned Business also provide visibility to online shoppers.

Amazon has seller badges, allowing sellers to add and display their minority-owned business certification, along with a section showcasing Black-owned small businesses.

Katika is a fast growing marketplace and directory of Black-owned businesses, started by a team of graduates from HBCUs, African Universities, majority schools and of course the School of Life.

Learn: 3 Things To Consider When Selecting An Online Marketplace

These days, a lot of things happen in online communities. They can be a great way to make sure your business is visible but not all are created equal.

Popular venues include Facebook groups, Reddit forums, and Slack groups. Make sure to look for:

• Engagement – are people having a conversation, engaging, sharing and learning together? Groups that are focused mostly on promotion may not be a fit.
• Alignment – is there a core focus or mission (formal or informal) of the group or forum? If so, does it fit with your vision and ethics? It’s always ok to check out a group and decide it’s not a fit.
• Audience – who is posting, sharing, creating conversations? Do they match the customers you already have or the ones you are looking to gain? A smaller community with a more relevant audience is better than a larger one with little interest in what you do.

Pro tip: Joining and interacting in groups and online communities is also a great way to re-share any content you may already be creating for your brand as the right conversations pop up. Plus, make sure to keep tabs on Foundation Marketing as their team is constantly sharing tips and tricks for how to leverage the “art of the remix.”

These are a few starting points to increase your online visibility as a business, but there are lots of others.

The important thing to remember about marketing, and all visibility online, is that it’s an experiment. Your goal should be to find visibility tips that reinforce each other while reaching people who are already out there looking for you, because that’s where the magic happens.