Three Steps to Grow an Online Presence that Brings in Business
As you read this, there are thousands of people online, performing searches for local businesses worldwide. There are also thousands of people seeing and clicking on internet adverts. An online presence has become indispensable to grow and market your products and services effectively. Google reported that over 95% of consumers use the Internet to look up local businesses. If you are not appearing in major search engine rankings, you could be missing out on a great deal of revenue.
Where do you start with creating an online presence? Here are some ingredients for a great online presence to bring in some bacon.
1. A well-maintained website
All websites are not created equal. Your site needs to be relevant, optimised, up-to-date, attractive, and submitted to search engines. This is a great start to a significant online presence and doesn’t have to break the bank.
2. Social media
The great thing about social media is that it is generally free to open an account for your business on social media platforms. The most relevant platforms in South Africa today are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Each business needs to investigate how each platform can benefit them. You could survey your customers and get a handle on which social media platforms they are using. It is a great way to begin to engage with your customers. With social media, you can present information to them on an ongoing basis, and attract and excite potential new customers.
3. Blogging
Here’s how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works in a nutshell: when your website is set up correctly, search engines such as Google will pick up on your site and list it as close to the top of the front page of the internet search as possible. You want to have a high “organic” ranking – that is, a site that ranks highly without being a “paid” ranking (in addition to considering paid options, if you have the budget!).
One way to do this is to publish fresh content to your blog on a regular basis. This can generate buzz around your site and encourage users to comment and engage with the site – which Google loves! This is a big help to your online presence.
4. Targeted keywords
As part of your optimisation, the right keywords ought to appear in all the content listed above. For example, you might be in plumbing. If your keywords are working, you can potentially get your site to appear in a search for “plumbing” as well as searches for “fix pipes”, “repair taps”… the list goes on. Keywords need to be carefully selected and used throughout your online content in the right amounts. Overuse of keywords can actually hurt your rankings.
If in doubt about the components of your online presence listed above, contact a reputable company specialising in online marketing, with a good track record of improving the online presence of their clients. You’ll agree it’s worth it when new leads and referrals start coming in.