If you have a business idea and you just started your business or you are new to the entrepreneurial world, then building a credible online business and having a strong online presence can be time-consuming and frustrating.
But it’s also very important because a lot of people spend more time on the internet these days
It takes a lot of time and effort to build a credible online business, a successful online business is not something that happens overnight: it might seem so but it is not so, building a successful online business requires patience, strategy, and hard work.
Yet it is very important and necessary for your business to have an online presence as it brings your business presence to the wider world at large which will make your potential audience get to know you, trust and want to buy from you.
Also building a credible online business can be less time-consuming and less frustrating if you have a strategy and knows how and when to start.
What is an “online presence”?
An online presence can be defined as the totality of all the online identities you’ve created (personal and business-driven inclusive) and the engagements those identities have helped created and participated in online.
Online digital presence has a wider reach, and when built successfully it can give your business awareness and make you gain a lot of loyal fans, followers, leads, customers, and anything else you ever wanted for your business.
How to start building your Business Online Presence
Are you confused about how to start your business online presence? You’re not alone.
A business that wants to build a credible online presence has a lot of work to do, starting from the establishment of your business goals, to the creation of different social media profiles and accounts, to building a website (your online office/shop), all the way to Identifying how best to create engaging content and interact with your customers.
To not get you overwhelmed, let’s break down the ways you can start building your business online presence;
1. Strategize: What are your business goals, and how will you track your progress?
The First and foremost to think about is your business strategy, it’s important that you understand what your business goals are; is it a long-term business goal or short-term?
The moment you have started building your online presence, you should ask yourself frequently how each of your online efforts is beneficial to your business and will help you accomplish your goals.
As a dedicated businessman that wants success, it is necessary you write down your goal.
Writing down your goal makes it easier for you to track and measure your business progress at every point necessary.
You have to be sure that what you are doing online is taking you a step closer to what you want to achieve.
An online monthly report is also necessary to make sure you are always on the right track with your strategy.
This will prevent you from failing completely and will let you make an adjustment where necessary.
Google Calendar will help you to schedule these progress checks so you don’t forget.
To be visible online is not enough; you are supposed to build your online presence strategically so that it can help your overall business goals!
2. Build a solid platform
For any business to be successful in this current generation you will need a website that will represent you all over the world.
Your website is your online office or store, it is a hub people who like your product offering will first learn about you so make sure it is properly optimized with a clear and valuable message about all that your business is about.
A good website will be easy to navigate
SEO is also an important piece of the puzzle; it will make you generate organic website visitors who are interested in your business product offering by typing in queries related to your business on the search engine.
Not an SEO professional? That’s okay. You can schedule a strategy session with me for free.
You can also ask for help from those around you who have enough knowledge to help you get started.
Part of SEO is to let you write blog posts on the keywords you want your website to rank for.
You can start with Google Keyword Planner to find low and high keywords you will like your business website to rank for on the search engine.
3. Always optimize and improve your website
Nobody starts as a champion, start small and improve, don’t get stuck thinking that you can’t do something until it’s perfect – it’s never going to be perfect.
Be like Nike, Just do it, and know that you will improve on your content and product offering as time goes by.
Website content optimization is a lot better than having a website without valuable content in it.
Write quality content that your target customers will love and optimize it, it will take you one step closer to visibility by your potential customers.
Writing valuable content about your industry is better than not writing at all.
4. Provide consistent, valuable content
Your ability to create valuable content gives your potential customer the impression that you are knowledgeable in your field and it makes you stand as an authority against your competitors which will make people follow and have trust in you.
Create valuable and educational content consistently and distribute it across the entire channel your business has on the World Wide Web (www)
What type of content are you providing to your audience?
Your content can be in form of a blog post, an ebook, a podcast, or videos e.t.c. whatever method you are using you have to make sure you are consistent and you have to be sure that you are passing across to your potential customers valuable content.
A solid content creation plan will help your business in both online growth and visibility.
Any business that wants to be successful in the online space will first and foremost create value that will make their potential customers believe in them and trust them.
If you are at any time confused as to what type of content to create and share, ask yourself;
What type of content or knowledge can I share with my followers that might not be my own content, but that will still be of value to them?
You can also share the content of other companies you are both in the same niche if you don’t have any content ideas you want to share with your customers
On your social media channels, you can share 70% of your content and share 30% of other people’s content.
5. Be social and engaging
Internet marketing allows you to be everywhere at the same time, it allows you to be present in different locations of the world at the same time.
But in getting the best result out of your effort you will need to put more energy into the social media channel that works best for you.
Not all social media channel will work best for your business, you will have to do research on the social media channel that drive you huge potential customers and put more energy into it.
More energy in terms of putting out more valuable content and being consistent in what you do.
Consistency is the key to any business growth online, if you are able to post consistently you will have a huge amount of fans and followers that will trust you and want to buy from you later in the future.
6. Connect with existing brands for guest posting and podcasting
To gain more online visibility you will need to build a beneficial relationship with existing businesses you are both in the same niche and businesses outside your niche that is valuable to your business.
You will also need to be a guest on their podcast and request for guest blogging which will also give your website credibility on the search engine.
These methods will help your brand to quickly become a household name and it will bring you new potential customers who are interested in what your business offers.
For you to be successful you will need to be strategic about how you guest blog or how you co-host on other business podcasts.
Value comes first; provide value to other businesses before bringing in your own business interest.
Guest Blogging: It is a great method to get your website to become visible to potential customers online.
For you to guest blog, you have to first build relationships with other bloggers in your niche market and those outside your niche market that will bring you sales.
Guest blogging if done correctly will result in increased website visitors; it will also give your website a strong backlink, and a lot of social media shares and love.
Being a Guest on Others Podcast: It is a strategic method of reaching out to your potential customers who like podcasts to know your name and trust you.
To be successful in co-hosting a podcast show you will have to first build relationships with other podcast hosts.
After building a relationship the next thing for you to do is to share value with their audience after which you can talk about your business and your product offerings.
Guest blogging is also a cool method of increasing website visitors
7. You Will Need to Exercise Lots of Patience
When you have started your online business before you know which online channel is working you have to test different methods and figure out the one that works best for your business.
Getting started is getting ahead, you might have the best digital knowledge and strategies on how to increase online sales but until you get started you would not know which method works best for you.
The online presence of your business has a huge advantage and the potential of getting more people to know you.
You will be known across multiple web channels that are likely to bring in more potential customers for you.
My advice to you is to create consistent and valuable content if you want to have a strong online presence and if you want people to trust you.
Key Note: Your business online presence and interaction with customers will help you expand your business reach to a wider audience