In the age of the internet, managing your online presence can be more important than ever. Your business’s online presence is often the first way that a customer will interact with your business, and is also how they develop their initial impression of your company. Because of this, cultivating a strong presence that accurately represents your business is essential. Not only that, but how strong your presence is online can make a big difference in your company’s ability to grow. If you’re looking for some effective ways to help your business grow a solid online presence, here are some things to consider.
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Have a Professional and Easy To Use Website
One of the best things you can do for your business is have a website that is professional looking and easy to use. A professional appearance will instill confidence in customers about the kind of business that they’re dealing with, and ultimately make them more likely to choose your business over one with a less put-together appearance. There can be many ways to make sure that your website is easy to use from using things like DevOps Tools to hiring a professional website designer. No matter how you choose to do it, making sure that your website not only has a professional appearance but is also easy for customers to navigate can make a big difference for your bottom line.
Take Advantage of Social Media for Marketing
Another way to build your online presence is to take advantage of social media and use it for marketing as much as possible. Social media is a great marketing tool because it is free, and will cost you nothing besides a little time and effort. Yet another benefit of social media is that you have total control over what you post, so it can be a great way to take control of your brand and ensure that your business is being portrayed in a way that truly represents what your business is all about.
When using social media, the key to getting potential customers engaged is to have quality content. Good content can take different forms, depending on what you offer. For some businesses, it may make more sense to upload videos about their products, while for others it may be more beneficial to write informative blog posts. Whatever you’re posting, it should either be entertaining, informational, or helpful in some way. Boring or repetitive content can be one of the quickest ways to turn off potential customers and lose their engagement.
Additionally, finding ways to get your customers engaged with your social media is another important component of a healthy social media presence. Customers love to feel heard. By replying to their comments on your posts in a timely manner, you can help make them feel heard and ensure that they will keep engaging with you in a meaningful way.
Tap Into Your Analytics for Answers
While many businesses may be aware of their analytics and may even check them from time to time, there are many businesses that aren’t taking full advantage of everything that their analytics have to offer. Analytics can not only be a great way to see your website’s traffic or how much income you’re making, but it can also provide valuable information about who your customers are, and how to market to them. Not only that, but your analytics can help you measure your business’s growth, as well as set meaningful goals for yourself, and plan out where you want your business to be within the next six months to year.
Work On Your SEO
Making sure that you understand SEO and what it can do for your business is another key part of growing your presence on the internet. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and refers to where your listings or website rank in internet searches. If your SEO is being managed properly, your website will often pop up at the top of search results when keywords related to your business are used. However, if you don’t have a good understanding of your SEO and aren’t making good use of it, then your website may not appear at all, or may appear several pages back in a search, even if the keywords used were directly related to your business and what you offer.
Mold Your Online Persona
Because the internet is the first place, and in some cases the only place that customers may get to know your business making sure that you are putting out the right kind of image can be essential. You not only want customers to have a positive impression of your business, but also one that is accurate. To do this, it can be helpful to take some time to evaluate what your business’s principles truly are. The more that you consider the ultimate goals of your business and who you really are at the core, the better able you will be to mold a consistent persona. Consistency is important, not only because it shows a certain level of trustworthiness, but also because it makes your business more definable to customers and easier to remember.
Quality Email Marketing
Your email marketing can also play an important role in your internet presence. With email marketing, you have typically been dealing with a customer that has already shown some interest in your business, even if they haven’t actually become a customer yet. Your email marketing is a great opportunity to turn a a potential customer into an actual customer. The key to quality email marketing is to send emails that are informative, interesting or entertaining, so that the recipient will be more likely to engage with your emails and become interested in your company. Also, making sure that you don’t send emails too frequently can be essential, as sending them too often will be more likely to annoy a potential customer, rather than gain their interest.
PRO Tip
Besides content, what is the first thing you look at in an email from a stranger? Email address domain. Correct! No matter how aesthetically pleasing and functional your website is, the likelihood that your prospects will take your email content seriously is much lower than someone with a professional email address. Think of all the lost opportunities to drive traffic to your page.
Sales and marketing are numbers games. Don’t risk losing potential clients by following these steps to make your email business-ready and, in effect, establish your credibility and increase your unique visitors :
- Secure a hosting provider that includes a custom email address in your web hosting package
- Create a custom email addressing using your own domain name
- Send and receive emails using your custom email with Gmail
See the tutorial for Creating Your Own Email with Gmail + Any Domain Name at Digital.com.
The Bottom Line
Your business’s online presence can play a huge role not only in customer’s first impressions of your business, but ultimately your bottom line as well. While improving or expanding your business’s presence on the internet may seem daunting to some, the reality there are many simple ways to accomplish this, from having a professional website to creating the right kind of persona.