The world revolves around the internet and digital activities. Most people spend around eight hours a day on their phones, computers, or tablets. Take a normal sleep schedule into account and those eight hours are more than half of someone's day spent online. People are online to be social, professionals, hobbyists, researchers, and consumers.
If your business is online, service-based, or a storefront, it shouldn’t matter if you should have a strong online presence. Most people that are online are there to shop or find a local business that alleviates pain in their life. As the internet evolves so does the definition of an online presence. It used to be just a website, now there are dozens of ways to interact and increase your online brand strategy through your presence.
What is an Online Presence
Online presence is more than what people originally thought. You can have a website, and social media and be online, but that doesn't mean you are actually creating a presence. You would have to dive deeper than that. First, there is you, a person or company that creates content. Next is the internet, this is where your content is held through search engines and social media algorithms. Last is the public eye, this is how people perceive your business and content online and how they engage with you. So creating your online profiles and website will get you on the digital map, however, your online presence will be what gets you credibility, reputation, and visibility.
Why an Online Presence is Important
Being able to have your business in front of your target audience, and giving a quality experience will allow you more opportunities to build brand awareness and improve your reputation. There are multiple ways to build the online brand strategy of your business.
First is to be discovered, you will need to get people to discover your business even the ones that don’t even know they need you. Next is to verify your credibility, people need to rely on sources of info before making a purchase. If you don’t explain or give credible information then you won’t be seen as reliable and be dismissed. The third is to make sure you are marketing around the clock, the more you post the more people discover your business. Google looks at your website to rank it, so make sure your website is as consistent as you can be.
How to Increase Your Online Presence Through Your Website
People will find your company in several ways, but in the end, they will eventually head to your website. Most people will look at your website before calling, signing up, or purchasing products/services. If your website isn’t appealing, and the business doesn’t provide the right information quickly then consumers won’t consider your business viable. So let’s go over some ways to help your website retain potential customers.
Modern Attractive Website
People nowadays have high expectations so you need to have your website looking in tiptop shape otherwise it will be judged poorly by customers. You should try to have an expert web developer create your website to get the best-looking website. People that choose to DIY their websites run into several problems which can cause more issues for your business as well as countless hours fixing it. So even if you need to splash the cash in the end it will be worth it.
SEO Optimization For Your Website
Most small businesses never pursue SEO like link building, content creation, or keyword research which are all key to making your online presence increase. Having SEO is a way to climb the search list of Google allowing you to get more exposure and it's free, you just need to put in the work.
Increasing Online Presence Through Social Media
Having social media profiles is a great way to increase your online presence. Most people think you need to be on every platform to better your odds of increasing your online presence.
However, quality is better than quantity. It is better to be fully engaged on one or two social media platforms compared to being on several platforms for a short period of time during the day. Here is a list of social media platforms you can try.
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
Pinterest
Snapchat
TikTok
Being active online is one of the biggest ways to create a bigger online presence. So you need to post regularly and respond to any comments from followers, answer direct messages and answer questions from customers.
If you bring your business to the internet you're not restricted just to your storefront. You will be able to reach current and potential customers faster than you ever imagined. The way to do that is by having a strong online presence.