We hear the words “online presence” a lot these days, but what does that actually mean, and how do you effectively build one for your business? Let’s break it down.
An online presence is defined as: “all activity and content that an entity—a person or a business—has under their name on the internet. This includes accounts, assets, interactions, and any pieces of information created by or about the person or business.” - FlockBlog
Having a strong online presence can:
Now that we have a better understanding of what an online presence is why we can benefit from having one, let’s dive into HOW you can build a solid online presence yourself. That is what you came here for after all, isn’t it?
Before we start diving into the deeper steps to building a solid online presence, it is extremely important to understand why you feel the need to do it in the first place. This is where having a great understanding of your goals as a business will be super beneficial.
Building a business is a tough thing to do, so we want to make sure we are spending time and money on the initiatives that will bring us closer to our business goals – so don’t forget to take some time at the beginning of this process to dive deep and really get a great understanding of what you want to achieve in the short term.
Here is a goal identifying exercise that we have seen success with in the past:
1. Think big, but start small
Try breaking your yearly goals down into quarterly goals, break down your quarterly goals to monthly goals and get as granular as you need to understand what you need to invest in and when.
2. Focus on the things that need to be done now
It’s easy to get ahead of ourselves sometimes when looking at the big picture, but it’s important to not lose sight of the small frame that we start in. Don’t skip setting up the foundation that will help support your goals in the long term and try your best to identify those foundational items with the process in step 1.
3. Keep yourself accountable
Whichever way works for you, find a way to keep yourself accountable for staying on track. After all, 92% of people who set goals never actually achieve them…
Nowadays, having a website is critical to succeeding online. Websites help give people a one-stop-shop for all things related to your brand. Think of it as your “home base” for your online presence.
The reality is, customers expect businesses to have websites now, and if you don’t it looks odd and seems like you are behind the times (and I promise you don’t want people thinking that).
One thing that people tend to forget about websites, is that you are in control of everything that gets posted on that website, meaning there is really no way for a bad brand image or bad first impression to happen (unless you have a bad website that doesn’t work). My point is, it is rare that we have control over things online these days, so it is so important to capitalize on the platforms that give us that control and allow us to present our brands exactly the way we want them to be conceived.
Additionally, people are much more likely to search for you online before ever engaging with you in person. One study done by Internet Live Stats found that there are 3.5 billion Google searches done per day – 40,000 searches per second on average if we want to break it down. If that isn’t enough to tell you that people are searching online (a lot), then I don’t know what is. So get that website going!
Not sure where to start? Our web development services can help you get the ball rolling. Check us out for a free consultation.
Branding. Is. Everything. Do I need to say it again? Here’s what I mean… How many times have you bought a product because you like the packaging, or went with a service because the logo and images matched the type of vibes that you like? Exactly. I tend to fall for the branding trick most in the alcohol world. I am no wine or beer expert so for me, the packaging is a major player in my decision for the one I am going to buy.
This is the power of branding and we fall for it a lot, most of the time without even knowing. So how do we make a strong brand that resonates with the people we want to talk to? Try asking yourself these questions:
1. What is my brand’s purpose, vision, mission, values?
2. What is my brand’s message, voice, personality, tagline, value proposition?
3. What is my brand’s identity (logo, colors, fonts, etc.)?
From these three simple questions, you should be able to go on a brainstorm rampage and find some cool and unique things that you can tie into your brand that you may not have thought of before.
Here’s a little takeaway quote for you that gives some neat imagery:
“A brand is a voice, and a product is a souvenir” – Lisa Gansky.
Social media has truly taken over the world. It influences the way we communicate with others, how we post on our personal accounts, and how we perceive the world around us. Social media enables people from anywhere to instantaneously communicate with each other on a given topic with no barriers to entry (meaning, you don’t have to be an expert on anything to give an opinion about it! Which can be great, but also yikes sometimes).
Essentially, we know the benefits of social media for brands now. We see it every day – Instagram ads, sponsored YouTube videos, Facebook ads, the list goes on. Brands are more than ever engaging with their audiences on daily basis now and that really is a great thing! So needless to say, if you don’t have social media, I would highly recommend considering it.
However, please don’t put effort into being on a social media platform that your audience does not use! This is something I see brands do a lot. We have this pressure to be on every platform all the time to reach the most amount of people we can and although that is true to an extent, we don’t want to be talking to people who aren’t listening to begin with.
To help you identify which platforms might be a good option for you, I’ve broken down what some of them tends to be best for:
1. Instagram: best for a visual representation of your brand. Consider this if your brand relies heavily on portfolio items, product shots, etc. to get people’s buy-in. Instagram has the largest use rates from the 18 – 30-year-old demographic. See more Instagram stats here.
2. YouTube: good for addressing customer questions, showing product demonstrations, showing behind the scenes of the brand, etc. YouTube is great for reaching individuals in a wide age range of 18 – 64-year-olds. See more YouTube stats here.
3. Facebook: good as an additional place to host business information online. Facebook business pages allow you to host all key information and has the potential for building a community. Similar to YouTube, Facebook generally speaks to individuals in the 18 – 64-year-old age range. See more Facebook stats here.
4. Twitter: great for communicating “on the fly” news updates about your business. This is helpful when you are in the service industry and may have wait times, delays, or important updates. Twitter mainly reaches 18 – 30-year-olds. See more Twitter stats here.
5. LinkedIn: great for building credibility, creating a meaningful professional network, and learn more about your industry. LinkedIn is good for speaking and engaging with the 25 – 49-year-old age group. See more LinkedIn stats here.
SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the most important initiatives when it comes to building a solid online presence. Like we say here at Web Drool, the second page of Google is the best place to hide a dead body (too dark? Nah.).
SEO allows businesses to rank high for terms and search queries that are relevant to the products and services they offer. This all helps drive traffic to websites and improve online authority over time. We now know this is important because of the 40,000 searches on average that are made per second on Google we spoke about earlier.
I know it sounds complicated, so here are some quick tips for improving your SEO:
1. Identify keywords that you’d like to rank for and write some good content that speaks on those topics. I highly recommend including a blog on your website if possible
2. Improve the user experience across your entire site
3. Design for mobile-first (Google indexes the mobile versions of websites, so you want to make sure your mobile version is awesome)
4. Build backlinks to your website – from credible, relevant sources
5. Work on improving your technical SEO
6. Target local searches with local citations (if location dependent)
7. Measure and improve
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build that online authority (and I mean like 6 months to a year), but I promise that with consistency and a good strategy, you will see some rewarding returns from this investment.
If SEO seems to be a big task to tackle on your own, our SEO consultants can help guide you through this process and give you the tools, guidance, and support to get some real SEO success on your site. Get in touch for a free consultation.
Once you have an online presence set up that you want to share, consider reaching out to other companies that have like-minded interests. Building these relationships can help get your business featured on different platforms across the web (which you won’t have control over, so be careful with what you share and how it will be interpreted).
Here are a few ways you can build an online network organically:
1. Reach out to companies for guest posts/podcasting opportunities
2. Join online groups with like-minded individuals (ex: Reddit)
3. Network through social media (follow/engage with like-minded accounts)
4. Provide valuable resources to those who you think may be interested
Having a solid online network can not only get you featured on different websites but helps raise brand awareness.
And now, with all of the work you put in with the steps you took above, brand awareness is something you strive to achieve because you are proud of your brand’s presence and are ready to show it off and share it with the world.
How can we improve it if we don’t know what to do with it? That’s where the data comes in. Data paves the way for a smooth ride to making educated decisions for improving your brand’s overall online presence.
Depending on the area for improvement, the key performance indicators (KPI’s) might be different (for example: for SEO, your KPI might be organic traffic). Whatever it is, please don’t forget to look at the data – you might be surprised at what trends, insights, patterns, and new behaviors you can find.
There is no reason why you can’t build a beautiful online presence for your business. There are so many resources out there that can help guide you on your journey (yes, we know we aren’t the only ones).
If you are seeking help on that journey, contact us for a free consultation and we will see how we can help build you a beautiful and unique online presence.