Online presence is everything these days. Whether you own a logistics company or a small breakfast joint, boosting your presence on the web is essential.
The fact of this rang true even before enduring a pandemic, but now that most people are sheltering in place at home, it is necessary to have a robust online presence. Even technology is changing insurance and the way insurers give insurance rates.
Businesses that did not have an online presence at the beginning of the pandemic struggled because transitioning from a brick-and-mortar to a digital-based business without an online presence takes time. However, it does not mean it is impossible to do. Here are four tips to get the show on the road.
#1 – Build an Email List
For those who have never heard of an email list before, the basics of one relate directly to the name of it. It is a list of email addresses from customers and potential customers.
Collecting emails is one of the best ways to grow your online presence. This allows you to engage with your customers and potential customers consistently.
So on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, you can keep them up to date with what is happening with the company. Instead of them having to come into your physical store to find out about company news, sales, and new products, all of that information can be provided to them online through emails.
One of the easiest ways to build an email list is by creating desirable content that can only be accessed if the viewer signs up to receive it via email. Another way of soliciting customers and their emails is by including a call to action on your social media or a website for your business.
The call to action should be placed somewhere visible but not too distracting from the other content on your pages. Having a call to action that is distracting and in an annoying position could have the opposite effect of what you want, causing your customer to leave your site without looking at any content or signing up.
Alternatively, a less obnoxious way to get emails from your customers and potential customers is by creating a newsletter.
The newsletter can feature weekly blog posts, information about the company, special discount codes for newsletter recipients, or even weekly shout-outs to loyal customers. The people who sign up for the newsletter will automatically be added to your email list.
#2 – Create a Website
As mentioned above, one of the places that you can put a call to action is on your company’s website. Though you can set the call to action on a social media site, having a website is a great place to host many things. You can sell a product, post a newsletter there, post information about the company and its employees, start a blog, and of course, place your call to action.
Staying active is key to maintaining an online presence. One way to do that is by having a company website that you update regularly.
Creating valuable content is one of many ways to drive in new customers. The best place to share that content is on your website, where you also sell various products that can bring in revenue for your company.
A blog and newsletter are examples of valuable content. Those avenues and social media are great ways to drive traffic to your website.
Here is a list of steps notating how to build a website if you do not have one already:
- Choose the right website builder for you.
- Sign up for a plan that suits your needs and budget.
- Choose a unique and relevant domain name.
- Pick a design template you love.
- Customize your template design.
- Upload and format your own content.
- Install plugins you find useful.
- Double-check everything before publishing.
#3 – Learn What SEO Is and Master It
Now that you have your website up and running, an excellent way to drive traffic to it is by mastering search engine optimization (SEO). This is one of the best tactics to increase your online presence because it is the practice of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic that comes through your website from search engine results.
There are two types of SEO categories. One category is off-site SEO, and it focuses on the technical aspects of your website. Some things you monitor with off-site SEO are checking if your site is set up correctly, using a simple URL, having a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, and using a hosting site that loads quickly.
Another way to use off-site SEO is by marketing and building relationships with other companies in your industry with the hopes of them putting links to your site on their website. These links are called backlinks, and they allow traffic from other websites to drift onto your website.
The other category is on-site SEO, where you focus on everything within your website. You use keywords, include internal and external links, and create informational content that directly relates to your target audience’s searches on the internet.
If this short synopsis of SEO and how to use it left you confused, there are various free courses online that teach you how to master it and show how experts improve their SEO. Aside from online courses, you can find detailed explanations through a simple Google search, through YouTube videos, or by asking someone who has been running their website for a long time.
#4 – Connect with Others
Lastly, staying connected with customers and other business owners in your industry will help you grow your online presence and maintain it. Having an active email list, social media sites, a company website, and SEO running on your site should make staying connected with people online easier.
The most crucial aspect of staying connected with others online is making sure that you communicate with others from time to time. This can be through comments on your website, social media, or other business owners’ website comments.
Automated responses, newsletters, and blogs are okay for management purposes, but connecting with your community personal builds a better rapport.
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