The internet has an impressive ability to make a person or business popular worldwide. Just look at the impact of TikTok. You must have heard of Charli D'Amelio, who amassed a staggering 122 million followers just by posting short dancing videos on the platform. She has brands lining up for collaborations, and even a Dunkin’ Donuts drink named after her.
While a lucky few gain that kind of virality overnight, the internet still holds a huge potential for your business. Therefore, not paying attention to your online presence is a wasted opportunity. You can leverage your online presence to entice more people, generate leads, and boost revenue.
There are a ton of factors that contribute to building and monetizing your online presence. So in this post, we'll summarize 15 actionable steps to improve your online presence.
A website is essentially a storefront for your business. Your website speaks volumes about the credibility and quality of your business. A poorly designed website is going to create a negative impression on visitors. Therefore, it’s not enough to make a website just for the sake of it.
Ideally, a website should be highly functional as well as aesthetically stunning. Since Google’s algorithm rewards websites with a great user experience, that should be your focus when designing a website. It should be data-driven, fast loading, and visually stable.
More and more users are browsing the internet on their smartphones and other mobile devices. Websites that are not mobile-friendly create a frustrating user experience as visitors may have to scroll or zoom excessively. So don’t make the mistake of neglecting mobile users. Your website should be mobile responsive and look good on screens of all sizes.
When a modern consumer is looking for a product or service, they will typically search for it online. This highlights the importance of showing up on the first page of search results. Even ranking on their second or third page is not enough. That’s because 75% of users don’t go past the first page.
To secure a higher ranking, it’s imperative to follow best SEO practices. Your strategy should include on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and technical SEO.
On-site or on-page SEO involves optimizing the content on your website. For this, you need to conduct keyword research, create high-quality content, and insert relevant keywords in the right places.
Off-site SEO relates to building relationships with other authoritative websites. This includes gaining high-quality backlinks from reputable and trustworthy websites.
Technical SEO concerns optimizing elements other than the content of your website. For this, you need to take measures to improve your website’s speed, ensure mobile-friendliness, indexing, and crawlability.
Since search engine algorithms are constantly changing, you would be better off getting a reputable SEO agency on board.
Creating high-quality content is a reliable way to introduce your brand to the target audience and attract customers.
Useful and relevant content helps establish brand credibility. You should consider adding a blog to your website and start sharing well-researched and optimized posts.
There is no doubt that well-curated blog posts do wonders for your online presence. However, not everyone likes or has the time to go through long-form content. Rather than alienating this section of your audience, you should experiment with different styles of content. Infographics, videos, and podcasts are some great options. You can also repurpose high-performance blogs into other formats.
Guest posting on reputable blogs in the industry allows you to benefit from their loyal following. Getting backlinks from blogs relevant to your niche will help your website rank higher on search engines.
Sharing eBooks, webinars, and virtual courses for free allow people to know more about your business on their own terms. If they find value in your free resources, they will be more inclined to make a purchase.
Similar to old-school yellow pages, online directories make your business easily discoverable. You should optimize your GMB listing by including all the relevant information such as hours of operation, unique offerings, photos, videos. You should also answer customers' questions and request them to leave a review.
Social media is a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal. You have access to platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, and so on, which play a key role in your brand’s online presence. However, you should stick to platforms mostly used by your target audience instead of signing up for everything.
It is also important to note that organic posting is not always effective. You should explore paid social media ads, which can boost your reach.
From writing blogs to posting on social media, consistency is key. You cannot post once a month and expect your following to grow. It would be best to create a well-planned content calendar to keep your followers engaged.
Start interacting with your target audience to add further value. You can answer questions on Quora or participate in discussions on Reddit or Facebook groups. That being said, stick to giving genuine answers instead of just promoting your business.
Sure, email marketing has been around for two decades, but that doesn't mean it no longer works. In fact, in some industries, email marketing tactics have the highest ROI of any marketing channel. The issue is, the majority of companies are doing it wrong!
Instead of sending the same message to your entire audience, you should segment your list of recipients based on things like the product or service they purchased, their lead source, or their demographics, to name a few choices. Once you've done this, develop email content for each segment.
Companies that approach their email marketing like this often see 45%+ open rates and 3x the amount of conversions.
Influencers are relatable, and people trust their opinions. So use this to your advantage by collaborating with influencers. Even if you are working with a tight marketing budget, you can create an impact with micro-influencers.
While there is a lot you can do without spending a penny, there comes a time when paid marketing is necessary to further your reach. From PPC to social media advertising, there are several ways to promote your business online.
If you are working with a tight budget Google Ads is a viable option that you can scale up as required. For a successful campaign, you need to specify the objective. It could be anything from selling a certain number of units to promoting a new product line. Moreover, defining your target audience is key for finding relevant keywords and setting up specific areas for the campaign. We also suggest including long-tail keywords and carefully optimizing your landing page.
Before purchasing a product or heading over to a store, many users tend to go through customer reviews to determine the quality of the product or service. Therefore, you should encourage customers to write reviews.
On the other hand, a slew of negative reviews can be detrimental to your reputation online. If you have received negative reviews or comments, don’t sweep them under the rug. It would be better to address them and offer satisfactory resolutions.
It’s no secret that the internet is constantly evolving. This implies the strategies that have worked before may be no longer as effective. To secure your position in the online world, It’s crucial to stay on top of the latest changes. In addition to the aforementioned tips, we suggest keeping up with Google algorithm updates and embracing new social media platforms.
