The Internet has had a revolutionary impact on how business is conducted in the current era. Small companies are now competing with larger corporations for business. Opportunities to succeed are greater than ever before.
To benefit from this change, being good at what you do is not enough. You must reach out to your potential clients and maintain a robust online presence. The online presence includes a solid website, social media presence, and good rankings in search results.
To achieve these goals, you need discipline, dedication, and some expert resources. Let’s learn more about how you can benefit from an online presence below.
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Begin with a Website
Building an attractive website is the first step in having an online presence. The website must offer all the pertinent information and facilitate the visitors. Keep the theme of the website relatively simple and make it easy to navigate.
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Handheld Devices Friendly
Your website must be friendly for all kinds of devices including handheld devices such as tablets and cellular phones. Google now ranks websites higher based on the friendliness across different devices, not just the desktop version.
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Add Social Handles
We will discuss the importance of social media presence a little later in this piece. However, you must add all your social media handles to your website to reach most clients. Even if the audience does not regularly visit the website for updates, they can catch them through social media.
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Work on SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical factor in whether people can see your website easily or not. It is simply how high your website ranks in search engine results. Ranking at the top of Google is obviously the main idea. But it’s also important to have your visitors keep coming back for more by creating engaging content.
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Get Professional Help
SEO is a complete science, and you need professional help to rank on the top page of Google. There are numerous techniques involved that can take years to master. It is an additional expense, but it does offer you a lot more exposure at the same time, and drives in more business.
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Content is King
No matter how the genius of an SEO resource you have, quality content is still imperative. If you do not have well-written content, you will not get a good ranking on Google. Ensure that the content is written in the highest quality to achieve your preferred rankings in search engines.
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Build an Email List
Building an email list might sound a bit old-fashioned, but they are effective in increasing your online presence. You must add the option of signing up when somebody visits your site. You can also offer them a proper registration with the website in exchange for a small discount. You can prepare b2b email lists to reach out to your customers.
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Newsletter
People that register on your website can receive your newsletter. You can send out helpful information such as special offers, new blogs entries, and other allied information regarding your field of work. People tend to share information with their peers, which can help you get a more targeted audience for the website.
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Dig into Social Media
A strong online presence is nearly impossible without a social media presence. On average, people spend a couple of hours a day on these platforms. They may be searching for a professional opportunity, or simply browsing through the lives of their favorite celebrities.
It is essential to find which social media platforms that benefit you the most. For businesses and professionals, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter work well. You can select the ones that you find most suitable.
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YouTube is a Must
So many businesses and professionals think of a YouTube presence as a bad idea. However, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine after Google. People search for everything, and it can help you expand your business faster than you expected. The key is that whatever video material you add offers some value to your potential clients.
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And Instagram
Instagram accounts are a good idea for professionals or businesses with wider public dealings. People love to know about your personal life and having an account that offers a glimpse into that, helps. You don’t need to post every personal detail on Instagram just enough to keep people engaged.
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Maintain a Calculated Social Media Presence
Social media is vital, but it must be used smartly. A couple of posts a day are generally enough to stay in the thoughts of your potential clients. However, anything more than that starts feeling like an annoyance.
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Quality content
Make sure that your posts carry some value for your audience. You promote your own services or products and add content that also offers general insight in your field of work. High-quality content shows the clients that you are more interested in providing them value rather than pushing your products only.
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High-Quality Images Matter
High-quality images are crucial for your posts to get noticed. You may hire a professional photographer for a couple of days, but it will cost you a lot. Besides, it’s hard to get all the pictures you want within a short period.
You can benefit from various websites that offer stock photos. Some of these offer stock photos free, while others charge for the images on offer. You can always find pictures as per your requirements.
Stock images can save you both time and money that you would otherwise spend on hiring a professional photographer and getting fresh clicks.
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Engage Influencers
Influencers have a lot of say on various social media platforms. These are people with expertise in specific fields, and the larger audiences look towards them for updates. Some of them may enjoy a celebrity status on Instagram or Facebook.
Hiring their services will help you reach out to your target market segment. An endorsement from someone the audience trusts is helpful—influencers, of course, charge for promoting any product or service. The bigger the following, the more an influencer will charge, so keep a separate budget for them.
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Write Blogs
Writing blogs can help improve your online presence. The best way to write blogs is to create quality content and post it on your website. Once you have an audience reading your blog, they share them with friends and colleagues. The newsletter also helps in getting the word out.
Guest posts are also an excellent way to reach out to a larger crowd. We can add value to someone else’s blog by writing a meaningful please on a given subject. You can receive a backlink to your website, which helps people visit your website and see what you offer.
Conclusion
Boosting your online presence is not a difficult task, but it requires effort, dedication, and some finances. Just be sure to have a decent website and have it optimized for search engines. At the same time, ensure that your social media presence has an impact on potential clients.
With the right mix of organic and paid outreach, you can get the desired results within a reasonable period. These results will be long-lasting and will bring you a lot of clientele in the longer run.
