To be successful in business, it’s essential to have a strong online presence.
Not only will this help you reach more customers, but it can also help you build brand and credibility.
While there are many ways to improve your online presence, we’ve compiled 13 top ways to increase your online presence plus a few of the best free tools that will help you grow your business and get you ahead of the competition. Check them out below!
How do you define online presence?
When it comes to a strong online presence, there’s no one-size-fits-all definition.
However, in general, online presence is the combination of all the digital footprints you leave online. This includes your website, social media profiles, blog, search, etc.
As a business owner, it’s essential to be aware of all your online assets and how they’re performing.
Are they helping you reach your goals? If not, it may be time to make some changes.
And are you taking advantage of all the different ways you can build your brand’s online presence?
Why you need an online presence
A strong online presence is essential for any business in today’s digital age.
Not only will it help you reach more customers, but it can also help you build brand awareness and credibility.
To be successful, it’s important to have a well-rounded online presence that encompasses all of your digital assets.
If something is not working or not helping you reach your goals, don’t be afraid to make changes. Keep growing and evolving your online presence so that you can stay ahead of the competition.
Ok, let’s dig into the ways you can expand your online presence.
#1 – Make use of Google My Business online
Google My Business is a great free way to improve your company’s online presence. It allows you to create a business listing on Google, which will help you get found online by potential customers searching for what your business offers.
It allows you to manage your online reputation & reviews, track how your business is performing online, and connect with customers through your profile.
To create a listing on Google My Business, simply go to the website and follow the instructions.
Once you’ve created your listing, be sure to keep it up-to-date with accurate information and regularly post fresh content.
This will help you attract more customers and improve your online presence with Google.
RESOURCE: Here’s a great in-depth article from Hootsuite, sharing How to Use Google My Business to get more customers in 2022.
#2 – Optimize your website for Search Engines
Another opportunity to increase your company’s online presence is to ensure your website is optimized for search engine results.
This means including keywords and phrases that people are likely to use when searching for your products or services. You can use a tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to find popular keywords and phrases to include in your web presence.
Also, regularly publishing fresh, original content will keep search engines coming back to your site.
This can include blog posts, articles, infographics, or even videos. Not only will this help you attract more visitors to your website, but it will also help you improve your search engine results.
Finally, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. With more and more people using their smartphones and tablets to surf the web, it’s essential that your website can be easily viewed on these devices. If it’s not, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers.
RESOURCE: Always a trusted and reliable tool from @Backlinko. Check out their full guide to SEO in 2022.
#3 – Investigate your competitors and their strategies
As you dig into your competitors’ strategy, here’s where to start:
1. Research your competitors
2. Analyze their strategies
3. Identify what works and what doesn’t
4. Create a strategy that’s right for you
5. Implement your strategy and track results
6. Adjust as needed
Investigating your competitors and their strategies is a great way to learn how to improve your own online presence.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, so take some time to research your competitors and see what they’re doing right. Then, identify how you can improve upon their strategies for your audience.
One of the best ways to research your competitors is to use a tool like Google AdWords. This will allow you to see how your competitors are advertising their businesses online.
It will also give you insight into what keywords they’re targeting and how much they’re spending on their campaigns.
Another great way to research your competitors is to take a look at their social media accounts.
This will give you an idea of how they’re interacting with their customers and what kind of content they’re sharing.
Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to analyze your findings and create a strategy that’s right for you.
Be sure to consider your budget, your target market, and your goals when creating your strategy. Then, implement your plan and track your results. Adjust as needed until you’re happy with the results.
RESOURCE: If you’ve never conducted a competitive analysis for your niche, here’s a great template kit from @Hubspot to get you started.
#4 – Create a strategy for building a qualified email list
Another awesome way to increase online presence is to build a qualified email list. This means collecting the contact information of potential customers who are interested in your products or services.
There are several ways you can go about building a qualified email list. The most common way is to offer a free download or white paper in exchange for an email address. You can also offer a discount or coupon code for signing up for your email list.
Contests or giveaways are another effective way to build a qualified email list. This will give people an incentive to sign up for your email list, and it will also help you generate leads.
Once you have a qualified email list, it’s important to nurture your leads and turn them into customers.
This can be done through a variety of methods, such as email marketing, lead magnets, and social media.
Nurture your customers online and business buyers with email marketing
Aside from developing an email list, your company must maintain the list.
When you nurture subscribers they increase their visibility online, decrease their churn rate with you, and will typically continue to buy.
So think of it this way, a new customer opts into your email. You send them follow-up valuable content and at some point, they purchase from you.
You will want to continue to add value via email to build loyalty, relationships, and repeat sales.
So an example could be. I sell a juicing machine. After a customer buys, my email campaigns would provide special recipes, how-to’s for the machine, etc. to ensure they experience all that the product has to offer.
#5 – Promote your products and services with online paid ads
If you want to boost your online presence, it’s important to consider if investing in online advertising is for you. This includes things like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media advertising.
Pay-Per-Click AdsPay-per-click
With PPC, you can target specific keywords and demographics, and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
The most common PPC platform is Google AdWords, but there are many out there.
Social media ads
Social media advertising is another effective way to reach your ideal customer.
With social media ads, you can target specific demographics, interests, and even behaviors.
You can also choose how much you want to spend on your campaign, and you can set a daily or lifetime budget.
There are many online channels you can use to advertise your business, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.
Establish a budget for improving your web presence
When it comes to improving your online presence, it’s important to set a budget and stick to it. There are many ways you can improve your web presence, and the cost will vary depending on what you choose to do.
If you decide to invest in online advertising, such as SEO, PPC, or social media advertising, as I mentioned above, it’s important to track your results. This will help you determine whether or not your investment is paying off.
You can also choose to hire someone to help you improve your online presence.
The cost of this will vary depending on the services you need and the provider you choose.
Finally, don’t forget to factor in the cost of your time. If you’re doing things yourself, it’s important to consider how much time you’re willing to invest in improving your online presence through paid ads.
#6 – Produce useful and informative content regularly
One go-to strategy to improve your online presence is to optimize your content for search engines. This means using keywords and phrases that people are likely to search for when looking for your products or services.
You can find these keywords and phrases using a free tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner.
It’s important to publish high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. This will not only help you attract more visitors to your website, but it will also help you improve your search engine ranking.
Finally, it’s important to promote your content through social media and other channels. This will help you get more exposure for your business and attract more customers.
RESOURCE: Without putting in the effort to get better at marketing online and understanding how to serve your customers, it can be very difficult to grow. Here’s a new article where I discuss ways you can grow your business online.
#7 – Engage and respond to people online
When it comes to engaging and responding online, it’s important to be active online. If you see someone asking a question or making a comment, be sure to respond promptly. This will show that you’re engaged with your audience and that you care about their concerns.
It’s also important to be interactive. If someone leaves a comment on one of your posts, take the time to respond. This will encourage them to keep talking to you and will help build a rapport.
Finally, it’s also important to be responsive. If someone sends you a message or leaves a comment, be sure to respond as soon as possible. This shows that you’re attentive and that you value their input.
Now I know, you won’t be able to respond immediately all the time, and that’s ok, but set proper expectations with your community by telling them how long they can expect to wait or when you typically respond. That way they aren’t frustrated from the initial contact.
#8 – Develop interactive content and tools
Creating interactive content and tools is a great way to improve your online presence.
By engaging your audience, you can keep them interested in what you have to say. Interactive content and tools can also help you achieve your business goals.
One of the best ways to create interactive content is to use a tool like Typeform. It’s a great marketing tool and allows you to create polls and surveys that your audience can participate in.
They offer a free lite plan to get you started.
Polls and surveys have several uses, such as getting to know your current and potential customers or their opinions on your product/service. It can also offer you useful information that is not available through social media analysis.
Polls and surveys have a long history of being effective for many companies. Polls are generally one question, while surveys are in a more comprehensive form.
Polling methods vary from company to company, but you may get real-person data from various ways of using the poll/survey method.
Finally, it’s also important to create content that is interactive itself. This means creating videos, blog posts, and infographics that your audience can comment on and share. By doing this, you can ensure that your audience stays engaged with your content.
#9 – Analyze your digital marketing performance
Analyzing your digital marketing performance is a great way to improve your online presence.
By tracking how well your campaigns are performing, you can make adjustments that will help you achieve better results.
One of the best ways to track your marketing performance is to use tools like Google Analytics or Google Search Console. This will allow you to see how many people are visiting your website, how they’re finding you, and what they’re doing once they’re there.
Besides tracking your website traffic, it’s also important to track your conversion rate. This will give you an idea of how many people are taking the desired action, such as signing up for your email list or making a purchase.
Finally, it’s also important to track your social media engagement. This includes how many people are liking, sharing, and commenting on your posts. By tracking this data, you can get an idea of what content is resonating with your audience and what isn’t.
Once you’ve analyzed your digital marketing performance, you can make adjustments to your campaigns accordingly. This may include changing your target keywords, altering your ad copy, or changing your call to action.
Remember it’s a process. And if you don’t take the time to analyze the data how will you ever know if your efforts are getting you the desired results.
#10 – Build an online experience that’s accessible to everyone
When it comes to building an online experience that’s accessible to everyone, it’s important to make sure that your website is ADA compliant.
This means ensuring that your website is accessible to people with disabilities. By making your website ADA compliant aka the American Disabilities Act, you can ensure that everyone has access to your content.
It’s also important to use alt text and transcripts for your videos and audio files. This will ensure that people with hearing or vision impairments can still access your content.
Finally, make sure to provide captions for your videos. This will guarantee that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can still understand what’s going on in your videos.
By making your website ADA compliant and using alt text, transcripts, and captions, you can ensure that everyone can access your content.
#11 – Schedule time for managing your online presence
As a business owner, it’s important to make time for managing your online presence.
This means setting aside time each day or week to do the following:
- Check your accounts to ensure you have a strong social media presence
- Respond to comments and messages
- Analyze your digital marketing performance
- Make adjustments to your campaigns
This will guarantee that your internet presence is always up to date and that you’re getting the most out of your digital marketing efforts.
#12 – How can you use listings to better your online presence?
There is a slew of websites that help firms get recognized by promoting their services on the internet.
Links from well-known directories might provide your website with citations, which will be taken into account when ranking a website.
The ‘Top 10’ list from popular directories may dominate SERPs.
Fill in every field, meticulously
The method through which listings are decided is similar to that of the search results page.
This also implies you’ll be in charge of keeping an accurate list. Make sure that each page on your website contains all relevant content, both visible and hidden. The reason for this is that when Google evaluates a website’s authority and ranking it checks data consistency across
Begin with the most powerful sites
Smaller directories aggregate data from the big ones. Make sure to edit your listing on google.com/business.
Your Google profile may become the most important website for your company. On Google search and map pages, you can find all of the information you’ll need for your business.
As an example, Yelp receives 178 million monthly views. Yelp customers also appear in Apple Map apps. Alexa also uses Yelp data to provide answers, particularly local search queries.
Maintain and track your listings
Many directory sites aggregate information from one another, are jam-packed with irrelevant material and could contain mistakes.
When consumers can’t discover a certain firm’s identity, 85% of them have an unpleasant experience.
You don’t have control over these profiles, but you do need to keep track of the ones you do have.
Another alternative is to let a listing firm handle your entire listing. This website’s review is also important to monitor.
Have a proactive method for reviewing your online presence
It’s important to get feedback on your search results, particularly when it comes to how they appear.
Not only that, but they perform exceptionally well in local searches. Providing reviews is just not enough for the position. It must also be implemented for evaluations to remain consistent.
What can you do if you want a review?
- Look for reviews regularly
- Respond to all reviews, positive or negative
- Encourage customers to leave reviews
Make sure you’re monitoring your online presence and taking the necessary steps to improve it. These small changes can have a big impact on how people perceive and interact with your business online.
#13 – How to increase online presence with social media?
Social media has a large user population that allows for easy amplification and this tool has a huge shareability component to it.
Let’s take a look at a few ways to use to expand your social media presence.
Post with emotion for shareability
Quality and engagement are important for social algorithms displaying your post to a user’s feed. But quality can be a little bit more difficult than that.
You want your followers to feel something when they are consuming your content.
- Describe emotions with captions
- Use emoji
- Share powerful facts or vivid images
- Add free links so your community can follow
Think outside of the box. How can you create emotion with your social media posts?
It’s critical to build a strong follow-up and increase your presence in the community.
As a result, you’ll find that if you concentrate on developing a small niche audience that is interested in your product or service you’ll get much better and quicker results.
Here’s a great article from @Buffer that shares the importance of social media engagement and why it matters.
When it comes to social media SEO, it’s important to optimize your social media profiles for search engines.
This means including keywords in your profile titles and descriptions.
You should also make sure to link your social media profiles to your website.
Another great way to improve your social media SEO is to use keywords in your content. This means using keywords in your blog posts, infographics, and videos that you share on your social media profiles.
Without a social media presence, you’ll miss several great opportunities to grow your business. It enables you to reach out to millions of people and spread the word about your business quickly and easily.
By doing this, you can ensure that your content is more likely to be found by people who are searching for it.
Be active (duh)
You have heard it dozens of times now that you post regularly and interact with your audience.
Social media platforms are for sharing your content and adding value to the people that may be looking for the product or service you are selling.
It’s also important to use your social media posts to build relationships with your audience. By interacting with them regularly, you can ensure that they stay engaged with your business.
Finally, it’s also a great place to use social media to promote your events and live interviews. By doing this, you can reach a wider audience that may have not known about you.
Limit the number of platforms to only what you can handle
When it comes to social media, it’s important to limit the number of platforms that you use.
This will ensure that you’re able to manage your social media accounts effectively and that you’re not spread too thin.
It’s also important to choose the right platforms for your business. Not all platforms are the right fit for every business.
For example, if you’re a B2B company, LinkedIn would be a better platform for you than Snapchat.
The goal should be on one platform, connecting, engaging, and growing with your ideal customers. Once you’ve mastered one, then you can branch out and add others to the mix.
Remember, effective marketing is about quality… not quantity.
Audra Carpenter
Conclusion:
Managing your online presence can be a lot of work, but it’s important to make time for it if you want your business to succeed.
By using the tips we’ve provided in this article, you can ensure that your online presence is always up to date and that you’re getting the most out of your digital marketing efforts.
Don’t forget to schedule time for managing your online presence, and to use social media and content marketing to improve your online visibility.
These tips will help you grow your business and get ahead of the competition. Thanks for reading!
And if you want to learn more things like this, head over and join our Community at zindolabs.com where we talk marketing/sales/entrepreneurship 24/7.
