Building your online presence in 5 easy steps

A robust online presence is essential for any business today. With 97% of consumers using the internet to find brands, if you’re not in it then you’re not going to win it online. An online presence is about reinforcing relationships with existing customers but also allowing new customers to find your brand before they are even aware of it. This is by far the best way to expand an audience and reach new customers wherever in the world they are. So, how do you do it?

Grow an email list for your business

This effectively provides you with a captive audience that you can engage with, sell to and get feedback from on a regular basis. Getting people on to an email list could be via content they sign up to receive, a CTA and email form on your website or via social media pages. A content management system and tools that enable you to create newsletters are a great way to help build visibility and engagement for your brand through email.

Focus on SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is something that many people find intimidating but it’s a crucial part of building your online presence. Remember that there are two key elements to SEO – on-site SEO, which is about your content, keywords etc and off-site SEO, which is the technical side of things, such as using backlinks to build credibility.

Use your online presence to deliver value

If you want to attract more people to your business online then offering genuine value is going to be a real incentive. This is essentially what comes before any other elements of selling and making money. When you’re providing educational, free content that really adds value to your customers’ lives and experience then they are much more likely to return to your site and to share it with friends. The simplest way to get started with this is to make a list of all your customers’ most common pain points and then create content around solving them. You can also provide advice online, whether that’s responding to social media comments or via something like a podcast.

Show up and be active regularly

An online presence is not something you can just create and leave, it requires regular activity. That often means regularly updating your website with fresh, authentic blog content and ensuring that this is original. Social media is another key place to show up regularly to build your online presence. Don’t ignore comments or questions and make it a priority to engage with others’ accounts.

Get into analysis from the start

When you’ve established ways you want to build your presence online it’s important to make sure that these are working. The best way to do that is via analysis. What metrics are you going to use as a benchmark, how are you going to track these and what analytics tools are you going to need to use?

If you’re keen to build an online presence for your brand then these are the first steps you need to take. To find out more about Iconic Digital’s award-winning digital marketing services get in contact today on 020 7100 0726.