{"id":166,"date":"2018-07-10T11:40:28","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T11:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/?p=166"},"modified":"2018-07-10T11:41:28","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T11:41:28","slug":"creating-a-strong-online-presence-for-marketing-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/creating-a-strong-online-presence-for-marketing-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Strong Online Presence for Marketing Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creating a Strong Online Presence for Marketing Success<\/strong><\/h4>\n

According to Google,\u00a097% of consumers\u00a0use the web to search for local businesses \u2013\u00a0and if the vast majority of your potential customers are online, you should be, too. Having a strong online presence is a crucial component of your marketing strategy, no matter what size your business is or what industry it belongs to.<\/p>\n

An online presence is important for outbound marketing because it reinforces your brand and what you offer to your target market. Once you\u2019ve communicated with your audience, you\u2019ll need to have a web presence that helps portray why your product or service is so great \u2013 because that\u2019s the next stop for the majority of your potential customers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also vital for inbound marketing, because quality online content will help attract customers even if they haven\u2019t heard of your brand.<\/p>\n

So here are three of the first things you need to look at when building your online marketing efforts.<\/p>\n

1. Your website<\/h2>\n

All businesses, no matter how small, should have a website. It can be extremely basic, but it should contain the fundamental information customers \u2013\u00a0both existing and potential \u2013 need. For example, one frustration I encounter far too often is restaurants that don\u2019t have a website with a current menu, opening hours, location and contact information. I know I\u2019m not alone in that if I can\u2019t find these details, I\u2019m less likely to visit the restaurant \u2013\u00a0but there\u2019s no reason a business should lose potential customers over something that\u2019s so easy to remedy and costs very little.<\/p>\n

A basic website is pretty easy to set up using an application like WordPress. WordPress is a free blogging tool and content management system that gives users the option to pay a little more for the premium version. If it\u2019s relevant to your business, you can even add an online shop \u2013\u00a0after all, in 2013,\u00a070 percent of consumers\u00a0preferred to do their\u00a0retail shopping online.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not sure where to start, there\u2019s a great guide to\u00a0WordPress for small businesses\u00a0on Social Media today. It\u2019s easy to understand and runs through the factors you need to consider and steps you need to take when setting up your small business website.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re starting from scratch and not sure what your website should include, survey your existing customers. Whether you send out an email asking for their input, or mention it casually while making their coffee, it\u2019s the best way to get the insight you need \u2013\u00a0people love to be involved and share their opinions.<\/p>\n

2. Search engine optimization<\/h2>\n

Once you have a website, it\u2019s vital that it can actually be found by search engines. After all,\u00a089 percent of consumers\u00a0use search engines to research a product, service or business before making a decision. To take advantage of this, you need to make sure to look at search engine optimization (SEO) for your website.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re not completely sure what SEO means, how it works, or why it\u2019s important, here\u2019s a quick rundown:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • What<\/strong>: The purpose of SEO is to make it easy for search engines to find your website and list it in their \u2018organic\u2019 (as opposed to \u2018paid\u2019) results.<\/li>\n
  • Why<\/strong>: People tend to trust search engines, so websites that appear high in results pages are more likely to receive traffic.<\/li>\n
  • How<\/strong>: Using search-engine friendly methods to improve your website.<\/li>\n
  • Who<\/strong>: Everyone \u2013\u00a0anyone who has information that people want to find on the internet should be using SEO techniques.<\/li>\n
  • When<\/strong>: All the time \u2013\u00a0SEO is an ongoing process. It\u2019s important to monitor the information on your website and make sure it\u2019s current and correct. Search engines also love new content, which is why starting a blog can do wonders for your SEO.<\/li>\n
  • Where<\/strong>: Major search engines include Google, Yahoo and Bing. They connect people all over the world to the content they desire, from products to services to information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The Beginner\u2019s Guide to SEO\u00a0by Moz and Google\u2019s\u00a0Search Engine Optimization Starter Guideboth give a fantastic overview of the basics and will help you optimize your website.<\/p>\n

    3. Social media<\/h2>\n

    Social media is an important part of your online presence that improves your chances of generating additional revenue and building customer loyalty. It allows customers, potential customers and other interested parties to engage easily via a channel that plays an important role in their everyday lives.<\/p>\n

    Although not every social media channel will be relevant to each business, it\u2019s definitely worth looking into your options. For example, Facebook and Twitter will serve a purpose for almost any business \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s a great place to post news, tips, photos and videos and ask and answer questions.<\/p>\n

    In addition to Facebook and Twitter, you might find Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, FourSquare helpful. Make sure to research available channels and find out if they will work for you. Instagram, for example, is a photo-sharing network, so it works wonderfully for businesses selling \u2018beautiful\u2019 products such as jewelry, food or housewares. It\u2019s important to consider your target demographic \u2013 Instagram has around\u00a0130\u2013150 million users, over two-thirds of which are women between the ages of 18 and 35. With Instagram, you\u2019ll also need to keep a smartphone handy to properly access your account and engage with your audience.<\/p>\n

    Once you\u2019ve decided which social media channels to use, get a clear idea of the kind of content you can share. The more compelling and engaging your material is, the more likely your followers will like, comment and share your posts. Engagement is key to promoting your brand \u2013\u00a0not only will it make you more appealing to existing customers, the more positive social activity that goes on, the higher the chance is that their friends will be exposed to your brand and intrigued by what you have to offer.<\/p>\n

    When they do this, they\u2019re engaging with your brand and their networks (friends, family, colleagues) are seeing that engagement and may be prompted to check you out for their own needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Creating a Strong Online Presence for Marketing Success According to Google,\u00a097% of consumers\u00a0use the web to search for local businesses \u2013\u00a0and if the vast majority of your potential customers are online, you should be, too. Having a strong online presence is a crucial component of your marketing strategy, no matter what size your business is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[14,16,17,15,18],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business","tag-search-engine-optimization","tag-social-media","tag-website","tag-your-website"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webbizsolutions.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}