Increasing Your Online Presence
Most Small Business Owners want to know how they can increase their online presence in a simple way.
Having a well recognised and trusted brand presence online allows your Business to reach more potential customers & clients, which obviously leads to increased sales and enquiries if you have everything right!
Below are 10 ways to increase your online presence!
1. Create a Brand and Business Website
To have a successful online presence, you must firstly create a beautiful brand and website.
Ensure your website is mobile responsive. Google indexes the mobile versions first (smartphones / tablets).
It’s best to have quick loading pages for mobile users. It’s also best that your website is mobile responsive with a range of font sizes, colours and images relevant to your business.
2. Search Engine Optimization Strategy (SEO)
SEO is an online strategy that increases your Google Rankings and in turn website traffic. Your aim is to be on the top pages of Google for the keyword searches your customers would be using to find you online.
Website SEO
This is the SEO you do in the backend of your website. It involves optimising your website pages and images to bring in relevant traffic from search engines.
This website ranks on Page 1 for Sydney Business Coach. This is through the SEO I’ve done in the backend of the website. As a result, I receive a large amount of enquiries from my target audience via Google!
It’s also really important that you create high-quality & educational content on your site for specific search key phrases relevant to your business. This ensures the content on your site is relevant and useful for the people that click through to your website.
Using your Blog to write articles using relevant keywords and phrases will help you too, then make sure your articles are optimised for SEO in the backend.
SEO via 3rd party websites
Optimising your content on other websites will also help to bring in traffic and enquiries.
Some suggestions include:
1. If you have a physical location, create a Google My Business Profile and populate this professionally. When done correctly, this can bring in a large source of enquiries / business
2. Reviews via Facebook, LinkedIn, Google My Business and other review platforms relevant to your industry
3. Creating a Podcast / Social Media Accounts that link to your site
4. Writing articles for other websites / Q&A interviews
4. Create Relevant Content
Understand who your target audience is, know how you can help them best; then create online content around this.
Your content needs to answer the questions they are searching online for!
Before you start creating the content, open up Google, then type in some questions you think your audience would be searching. This will then help you determine what to write about and also which keyword phrases to include.
5. Use Social Media to build trust & rapport
Social Media is free for you to use and definitely worth using to grow a brand awareness.
Depending on your type of business and your target market will depend on the platforms you should use and the frequency.
Your aim is connect, educate and humanise your brand. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn.
6. Become Active Online
To increase your online presence, your business needs to be active online.
Choose a frequency that is right for you, and stick to it. Consistency & frequency will always help you build an online presence. It’s just as important to set boundaries, so you’re not online all day…
If you need help with your social media, I can help you through Business Coaching, or if you’d prefer to outsource your social media, Sticky Studio can help you!
7. Networking
Developing contacts and networks with other Business Owners is crucial. Effective networking involves strengthening bonds over mutual interests.
Whether it’s attending events, meeting via social media or mutual contacts - it’s important to continually build a network.
8. Listings on 3rd Party Websites
Your aim is to have other people referring / leading traffic to your business.
Whether you list in online directories or other websites, this can lead to website visits. Do a google search and see where your competitors are listed on other websites. These sites may be a good match for you too.
9. Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is a bit of a minefield - & it’s best to have a good understanding before proceeding.
In some cases, Influencer Marketing can be done as a contra arrangement; and in other cases you’ll need to pay. It comes back to your objective and the results you want to achieve.
Remember that number of followers do not equal sales. Often it’s a brand awareness exercise which will eventually lead to sales. It’s also important to engage with the right influencers who are aligned with your brand and their audience is also aligned with your brand too.
10. Insights
It’s important to look at your insights, as this will help you adjust your marketing for conversions.
Increasing your brand awareness & presence online takes several months of continual work. It’s not an overnight magic potion, however once it starts to work, it’s fabulous. I’ve been working on my online presence since the first year in business and can honestly say it has done absolute wonders for clients being able to find me easily.
Alison Morgan is one of Australia’s leading Business Coaches, specialising in helping small businesses grow & evolve
With over 20 years experience in Marketing and 8+ years Private Business Coaching clients with her company Relauncher, Alison knows how to create successful businesses.
Alison is also founder of Sticky Studio; a branding and digital design studio servicing businesses, brands and people.