Five Key Ingredients to Improve Your Online Presence
How can you improve your company’s online presence and make sure you are visible to your target market when they are using the internet, and attract them to your business?
1. OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE TO INCREASE YOUR ONLINE VISIBILITY ON GOOGLE AND OTHER SEARCH ENGINES.
When a potential customer searches for the local product or service your company offers, you want to be in the top ten. Use appropriate keywords on your pages, and follow Google’s recommendations for the use of sitemaps and other tools that alert the internet to your site’s presence, content, and updates.
Learn The On-Page SEO Basics
Now, you can go out to Google and type in the search engine optimization guide and you can find that Google has an in-depth guide.
Of course, there are blogs and all the other stuff out there. We’ve even got a report on our site.
SEO simply means search engine optimization. It’s way more than what you need to do on your website.
It has to do with what you’re doing in social and local directories and a whole bunch of other things such as content marketing and videos.
However, learning some SEO will at least help Google at a basic level to understand what your website is about, what your company’s about, what your business is, and what you’re offering to the public.
Develop a (FAQ) Content Strategy
We advise our clients to develop a content strategy based on frequently asked questions. So you should sit back in your business and think about all the questions that your clients ask you, and your prospects ask you. Think about the objections they give you. Think about comparisons that they’re asking you about and develop a blog strategy, or a video strategy.
You can even use screen presentations. There is no shortage of opportunities to create a very nice and well-developed content strategy.
Speed Is Your Best Friend
One of the tips I’d like to give you is to remember that speed is your friend.
Speed simply means developing a schedule and an editorial process that you can commit to regularly.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew and then your schedule doesn’t allow you to create the content.
Over time you’re gonna build up a large, large base of content that is a representative on the web of what you do and how you serve the general public.
Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile Responsive
So, let’s talk about the mobile responsiveness of devices today. I believe I read an article that seventy-something percent of people use more than two devices on the same day. They might use their smartphone and then their regular desktop computer. They may be using their iPad and then their smartphone later in the day.
You want to make sure that whenever someone decides to connect with you that they can actually see your screen, and see your website appropriately no matter what screen thereon. If your website is not mobile responsive yet please make sure that’s a priority now or shortly for your marketing.
Include Social Sharing Options
It does no good to have tons and tons of content if no one is engaging with your content.
When you start with frequently asked questions, the good thing about that is you’re going to know what your audience wants to hear about and what they want to know about. By providing it, you’re going to be drawing more people month by month. Over a long period, you should have a very nice audience.
Now, you also need to make sure that when they find something they like, they can share it with someone they know. Often you come across something and someone comes to your mind that you would like to share it with. You need to make sure you have sharing options on the website.
At the very minimum, you want visitors to have the ability to share with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Depending on your audience you might share on Pinterest. Make sure you’ve got sharing options available so organically people can expand your reach.
2. MAKE YOUR COMPANY INFORMATION CLEAR AND PROMINENT.
Though obvious, it’s surprising how many businesses neglect to make it easy to locate their business information. You should show:
Company name Location, including city and state
Contact information, including phone number, email address, and/or Skype name Overview of products and services
_ Operating hours
Make sure this information is prominent on your website. You never know when a visitor will be ready to do business with you. So don’t make it hard for them to find this valuable information.
3. PROVIDE USEFUL CONTENT ON YOUR PAGES.
To improve your online visibility, you need to stand out from your competitors.
Take the time to create interesting and relevant content. Fill your site’s pages with informative articles on topics that will grab the attention of your readers.
This serves two purposes:
It attracts visitors who are searching for that information even if they aren’t necessarily looking for a product or service to purchase at this time. Although these visitors may never become customers of yours, the more visitors you have and the more time they spend on your site, the higher your Google ranking will be. It demonstrates your expertise in your company’s field.
4. INVEST IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND BE SOCIABLE.
Contemporary, over the internet your company’s online visibility will now be judged by whether your website has a human element to it. Developing a web presence means participating in one or more social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn and getting your connections on social media to interact on your site. A growing number of people are using Facebook or Twitter to find out what companies their friends and colleagues recommend. Also, your participation is a favorable signal that will improve your Google ranking.
5. STAY IN TOUCH WITH VISITORS AFTER-THE-FACT.
When a visitor views your site, that’s only a single exposure. However, what if they aren’t ready to buy from you just yet? Do you have a way to entice your web visitors to leave their email addresses when they visit?
One of the most common strategies a business can use is to send them a newsletter periodically. This keeps potential customers aware of your business and lets you tell them more about your offerings.
When you ask visitors for their information:
Offer something of ‘real value in return. For example, you might send them a discount coupon for a product or service of yours. State clearly how you will use their information. Tell them what your newsletter will contain and how often they will receive it.
_ Clearly, state how you will not use their information. If you can truthfully say that you will never give or sell their information to a third party, give them that reassurance.
The online landscape changes often, but that is no excuse for businesses today to ignore their company’s online presence. You must invest the time and resources to get found by customers online when your potential customers are performing a search or hire a web marketing team to do it for you.
