Nowadays, an online presence is essential for modern businesses. You need to be visible in the online world and consumers need to be aware of your existence if you want to have any chances of succeeding as a business. The fact of the matter is that the online market is already over saturated and highly competitive, which means you need a way to stand out in such a crowd.
That said, building an online presence can be challenging and oftentimes daunting even. You need to dedicate resources, time and a lot of effort into building your presence. However, all that effort will be well worth it once you manage to position your business on the market the right way. With that in mind, here are a few of the top ways to effectively boost your online presence.
Optimize your website
Even though we live in the digital age where businesses operate mostly online, it’s surprising that only 51% of businesses actually have a website. When you look at modern consumers, 97% of them are searching for products and services online. The fact of the matter is that you simply need to have a website these days and a well-optimized one at that. Consumers tend to judge their experience while browsing websites very strictly.
If they don’t like something, they’ll leave for good. On the other hand, if they enjoy a seamless experience on your website, they’re more likely to come back and even recommend your website to others. However, in order to provide consumers with such an experience, your website needs to be fast, responsive, secure, user-friendly, easy to navigate and so on. A well-optimized website is one of the key factors in boosting your online presence.
Provide an exceptional customer experience
Customer experience plays a vital role in business success and it’s essential for good visibility and presence in the online world as well. Consumers who are satisfied with your business are more likely to provide referrals, word-of-mouth recommendations and positive reviews for your business that all contribute to your presence. However, in order to achieve that, you must first be able to provide consumers with an exceptional customer experience.
There are many ways you can do that, such as providing seamless customer service and support, ensuring that your website is highly functional and so on. One of the best ways though is to ask customers directly. You can leverage a customer feedback app to gather relevant information about your customers’ needs and make improvements based on that feedback. Your customers will appreciate the fact that you ask them and listen to them, and they’ll be generally much more satisfied with your efforts.
Engage in SEO
As mentioned before, website optimization is vital for your online presence but there’s another strategy that can boost that presence even further and that’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is a cost-effective and highly efficient marketing strategy that will not just boost your presence but also your overall visibility, awareness, credibility and exposure in the online world.
SEO consists of technical, on-page and off-page activities that will further improve your online presence. However, many businesses give up on SEO before it can show viable results because it takes time for SEO to start having an impact on your presence. That’s why it’s important to be patient and continuously invest in your SEO efforts. In the end, you’ll be able to enjoy a presence you’ve always wanted.
Be active on social media
Social media platforms have become essential for the online presence businesses are trying to achieve. The main reason is that the majority of consumers these days are, in fact, present on one or more social media networks. This presents a unique opportunity for businesses to present themselves to their target audience and establish their presence on social platforms.
It’s safe to say that social media presence is a foundation for your overall online presence. In addition, the more effort you place in engaging your audience through content marketing, consistent messaging, building a community and other activities, the more visible your business becomes. That’s why it’s very important to be active on social media, in order to give your online presence a much-needed boost.
Building and boosting your online presence can be quite difficult. However, difficult doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. With the right strategy in place, as well as a bit of planning, you can vastly improve your online presence.
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.
