6 Steps to a Winning Web Presence
It doesn’t have to be hard. Doing simple things will give you a major advantage in your target markets. In this presentation we'll walk through a step by step process to put you on even footing with established businesses in your niche/ industry.
Step 0: Start with what You have
These days we all have some kind of online presence. We use social media, search, shop etc so at base you have a personal presence. But how does that aid with our business ventures?
Understanding what you have will allow you to form your business persona and establish its presence. Here's the basics;
Local directories-Google my business and others
Website-on page/off page SEO
Social media profile(s)-I still recommend Facebook as the big banger or LinkedIn as a close second for business purposes
Review sites-yelp/GMB
Marketing/advertising campaigns (any/all assets)
You'll audit these to get your null/base. If you have nothing we build out that list.
Step 1: Google My Business and other Local Directories
Google my business and other online directories are some of the easiest ways to increase your web presence. Even without a website, once established, you'll begin showing up in search results. Some are free and some are paid. All will add value to your online presence but some more than others.
All you have to do is make account profiles and list your business name, address and phone number in your profile. This in the industry is known as your NAP. The following list link will help you get started. Select the directories that best suit your business goals.
Step 2: Your Business Website
You need a website. It's not an option if you truly want to establish an online presence. When potential clients Google "X service near me" your social profiles will not be listed in the first page and that's the one that matters.
Starting out you can get away with a free platform and subdomain but you'll eventually want to switch. Google does rank on legitimacy so although free sites can and will eventually move up they will never be at the top.
The easiest way is to have a basic blog built on WordPress total cost around $3k for the build. You can go to fiver or other sites and pay less but that's your call. Building your own WordPress site is relatively easy but you'll spend 40-80 hours doing so.
Step 3:Social Media Profiles
No matter the industry Facebook continues to be the big banger. I recommend choosing one social platform to focus on in the beginning. B2B/ more professional use LinkedIn. If your industry relies on visuals instagram or pinterest may be better for you. Youtube is still the top video platform and video content continues to rise in popularity.
You can set up, and should, on all of them but only focus on your chosen one for three months or so. When you're ready add another in the mix.
Step 4: Get Reviews
Getting reviews is a process in and of itself. The following article goes over it in detail. The long short is get reviews from your customers and respond to them to improve your business.
Step 5: Focus on Marketing/Advertising Campaigns
Marketing campaigns are efforts to promote a specific company goal. Raising awareness of a new product or capturing customer feedback are a couple of example goals. They focus on reaching consumers in a variety of ways.
Most commonly the use of content marketing, email marketing, SEO/SEM, and social media marketing make up these campaigns.
You'll need to plan your individual goals and campaigns tailored to your business.
Step 6: Review Your Efforts
Once you have everything set up and are tracking progress you should reevaluate your online presence. All this is just another audit. As a general rule audit yourself or have someone audit you quarterly.
Look for areas of success and areas you can remove or reallocate resources.
Bonus Resources
Building and establishing your business web presence is actually easy its just time consuming. The advantage to having a good one will be increased visibility in Google search of your business.
Especially as technology moves more towards end user satisfaction and mobility, having a strong web presence will not only be advantageous but crucial to your business success.
Comments
Post a Comment