Everything You Need to Know About Growing Your Online Business Presence

It’s not a question of when; it’s a question of how.  In today’s digital age, entrepreneurs and small businesses must have a strong online presence.  With the vast majority of the population using the Internet to locate businesses and products, those just starting out need to think seriously about their online presence so they can reach their target audience quickly and efficiently and grow their brands.  Many entrepreneurs want to be more active on the Internet but they tend to struggle with how to get started and define a voice of their own that is unique.  Here are some tips to help you get up and moving.

First off, having a great website does not always lead to a high volume of traffic.  Search engine optimization, commonly referred to as SEO is a collection of techniques that help sites achieve strong search engine success.  With most people relying on Google, getting recognized and having your website be one of the top ones to populate when people are searching for the type of product you are selling is key.  It is reported that nearly half of online consumers uses search engines to find products so make sure you attain first page positioning on search engines.

Another great tool is article marketing and is actually a particularly fast-growing online marketing mechanism that offers some SEO benefits as well as increased virtual communication with your target audience.  Many companies are actually writing or hiring SEO writers to write compelling articles that offer top-notch information and search engine benefits based on the use of keywords that consumers search on.  There’s a variety of ways to share such articles.  For example, through blogs or for those that aren’t aware, there are even free online article sites to which you can submit.

Additionally, there’s pay-per-click or sponsored-link advertising.  While there are definitely vast opportunities for free online promotion, the most common rule of advertising is actually paying for it.  In fact, Google, Microsoft and many other companies offer pay-per-click or sponsored listed opportunities.  While you might not want to shell out the money, spend what you can as this is a sensational resource for reaching your audience.  If you’re not aware, this is where businesses pay to achieve high positions in the “sponsored” link sections of consumer searches.  Costs for placements do vary so don’t be discouraged if you are tight on start-up funds.  You can usually bid on a per-click cost to achieve higher positions so in essence, you pay to generate visitors to your sites as they search.  “The key to success with [pay-per-click] is to have effective ‘landing pages.’”  For those that are unaware, these are pages on your site where users “land.”  While pay-per-click can be solely a short-term way to generate traffic to your site, it can most definitely be used until you’re able to fully afford SEOs.

There’s always good old social media as well which is free of cost.  To grow your online presence holistically and incur no monetary charge, use sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  You can also use Pinterest and YouTube for visual marketing.  This is a great way for your company to network with consumers for free and capitalize on word-of-mouth marketing.

As I do every week for Emerge212, blog!  There are vast advantages to blogging, not just self-promotion but as a way to engage your customer base and start a conversation and dialogue flow with them.  I’ve said it before: a blog is today’s online “diary.”  You can build your blog directly into your website or link it to popular blogging sites such as WordPress or Blogspot (which, as you can see, is what we use).  Don’t be scared off by some of the back-work HTML code that goes into creating a visually pleasing blog.  With a simple online search or purchase of an easy to follow instructional book, you can create a beautiful blog quickly.  A blog is also a great way to drive traffic back to your website.  I highly suggest jumping on the blogging train and posting at least once a week.  It’s a chance to give your consumers information that is of interest to them beyond just promoting the products and services you sell.  Approach your blog with vision and foresight.  Think of it as your most creative tool to help increase your online presence.

Try exchanging links.  This is actually a very common tool that small businesses use.  It’s simple really.  You find partner sites that are willing to provide a link to your site in exchange for you doing the same.  This is a great, and. of course, free way to help flow traffic to your website.  If you partner with a well-established site that has a high amount of daily traffic, you’re doing yourself quite a service and can eventually help you reach your desired search engine positioning.

Use RSS feeds.  If you’re unfamiliar with them, these are a great way for your website visitors to stay in touch with what’s going on with your site.  Some popular feeds are Google Reader or Google Alerts.  By adding an RSS button on your home page, readers can subscribe to an ongoing feed that updates them as new items are added to your site.  It’s quite simple actually, just add an RSS widget to your site and I guarantee it will help drive repeat traffic.  RSS feeds enable sites to syndicate data automatically.  When users subscribe to your feed, they no longer have to manually check your site for updates instead they are directly informed as content changes or new content is added.  In fact, their browser constantly monitors your site and informs your users of updates.

Lastly and maybe most importantly, learn how to “mobilize.”  As the iPhone, iPad and Android devices have begun to take over, most users tend to access the Internet via these devices.  Having an app is a great way to maximize your contact with consumers.  You can also use text message and mobile site updating as a way to increase activity between your site and mobile user which will help you grow and retain website traffic.

So what have you learned here today?  Have you tried some of these techniques for growing your online business presence or are there others you’ve used that you’ve found more effective?  Leave a comment and let me know.  Your feedback is always welcome!

Here are some helpful and insightful articles you might want to check out about growing your online business presence:

“The 4 Building Blocks of a Strong Digital Presence”: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230680

“Three Tips for Growing an Online Presence for Your Business”: http://www.yola.com/blog/three-tips-for-growing-an-online-presence-for-your-business/

“8 Specific Tactics to Establish and Grow Your Company’s Online Presence”: http://socialmediatoday.com/thenetworkchefs/1934106/8-tactics-to-grow-your-online-presence

“A 7-Step Process for Expanding Your Online Presence”: http://blog.wiredadvisor.com/build-your-online-presence/

For more information about Emerge212 and the real estate services we provide, please visit our official website at: http://www.emerge212.com

Until next time…