Build Your Online Presence with These Proven and Effective Tactics

Approximately 97% of consumers search online to find a business. Therefore, having a well-established online presence is essential. It helps searchers find your brand or business before they even know you exist. It also helps them learn more about your brand reputation before making a purchase. All this eventually affects the purchasing decision someone makes.

If you don’t have an online presence or if yours isn’t as positive as you would like, now is the time to make some changes.

Build an Email List

Creating an email list is one of the most effective ways to build your online presence. Email lists allow you to engage with current and potential customers on a set basis (i.e., weekly, daily, or monthly). To create this list, publish gated content users must sign-up to get. You can also add CTAs on your social media pages and website to promote an email newsletter. This allows you to collect emails from anyone interested. Once you have a list, you have a captivated audience who is interested in what you have to say.

Become an SEO Master

Google (and other search engines) change ranking algorithms on an almost daily basis. Even though things are always changing, SEO (search engine optimization) is still an effective method to build your online presence.

The first step to show up online when someone is searching for what you offer is to master SEO. There are two basic categories of SEO:

• On-site SEO
• Off-site SEO

On-site SEO is focused on content. You will use keyword research, external and internal links, and create quality and educational content that will match search queries from your target audience. Off-site SEO is focused on more technical factors. For example, make sure your website is set up correctly, loads quickly, and has simple URL structuring. Off-site SEO includes building your credibility with backlinks, too. Sometimes seeking help with SEO from a professional like Advisor SEO can help you achieve the desired results.

Create Value

The goal of your brand or business is to make money. Before you make money, you must create value and remain customer-centric. One option for creating value is by offering free, educational content online. This is helpful for your customers and can help improve your online presence.

When getting started, create a list of customer motivations and pain points. With this list, brainstorm content you can create to answer these questions. What information would your customers find most beneficial? This will be the foundation of your content strategy. Another option for creating value online is by giving advice. Guest posting, appearing on a podcast, or responding to comments can help you do this. If you have customers with questions, be there to answer them.

Stay Active Online

To show up online, you must be active online. This includes posting to owned properties, such as social media pages and your website. Don’t stop there. Engage with subscribers and followers on social media, too. If there’s a hot topic being discussed in your industry, take part in the conversation.

Test Your Results

After you have tried a few tactics found above to build your online presence, analyze your results. Try testing your strategies to see what works best and what falls flat. To test results, determine a set of metrics. For example, if you are evaluating SEO efforts, consider tracking the search engine results achieved on Google. If you are building an email list, track the number of subscribers, open rates, and click-through rates.

Building Your Online Presence

Remember, these are long-term strategies. Also, some tactics are harder to track than others, such as brand awareness. Even though it is hard to track, it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time and effort. When done properly, brand awareness will increase your customers, sales, and profits.

Make sure you don’t rush things by taking shortcuts or using black-hat techniques. This will eventually lead to penalties and more problems for your brand or business.