Building an Online Presence – Tips + Tricks

Posted on Categories Blogging, Search Engine Optimization
Online digital marketing tips and tricks

Creating and establishing an online presence is an essential key component for success in the digital world we live in. With the significant rise of remote work and the need for consumers to have online access to services and businesses, especially since COVID-19, creating a basic foundation online is necessary and obtainable for companies and businesses. Having a functional website, performing on-site and off-site SEO, as well as social media management, are four important factors to consider for building your online presence – let’s discuss!

Website

Whether you build it yourself or work with a web company to have it built, having a website is imperative to building a strong digital presence. Even if your business provides services and does not have a physical location, having a functional and optimized website helps marketing efforts and build brand recognition. When set up properly, Google Analytics is a fantastic (and free!) tool to have installed on your site. Analytics will be constantly gathering information about who, what and why users are coming to your site, allowing you to make adjustments to content and SEO efforts to properly target the correct demographics and consumers.

In addition to capturing user analytics, a functional website can also be used to help capture potential (and even current) customer information. By offering the opportunity to sign up for a newsletter or inquiring to learn more about your services, you can retain and utilize the users contact information for future marketing efforts. Read more about the additional ways having a website will positively impact your business and online presence.

On-Site SEO

Unique content is super important to establishing a successful online presence. Search engines are responsible for providing the best and most accurate content to users. Having redundant or generic content on your website may cause Google to view your site as ‘spam’, in turn not being useful to users. This can cause a trickle down effect, and eventually lead to search engines not including your site in search results. So how do you provide unique content on your website?

Feature keywords in your content that apply directly to your business or service that you are providing. Having keyword research done also assists in writing useful content and making sure the users are getting the best information. Learn more about how crucial (and beneficial!) keywords are to SEO and best strategies for keyword research.

Page Titles and Meta (or ‘page’) descriptions are also something to keep in mind when creating your website pages. Having a proper page title and meta description helps connect search engines to your site. Titles and meta descriptions should include useful information about the page as well as keywords.

Off-Site SEO

Another incredible resource offered by Google is having a Google My Business listing. Available to brick and mortar businesses as well as companies providing services, having a GMB listing is optimal for getting the correct business information to the consumer. Creating a profile provides the ability to upload photos, add relevant information, share posts, update hours and manage reviews. You are also able to share the GMB review link – this is a great opportunity to build trust and domain authority, resulting in further increasing your online presence.

Having a GMB profile and getting online directory listings is part of an important step to establishing a digital presence. By building domain authority, search engines are more likely to populate search results for your services or business information for users. Online directories, like YP, Bing or FourSquare, directly relate to successful SEO and all rely on being provided the correct information from the business owner. Properly managing these listings are an important part of successful local SEO and can be done either manually, or by working with a listings management company, such as Yext or Moz.

Social Media

Social media is a fantastic option for businesses to connect with consumers. Content and consistency are key to establishing an online presence and brand recognition. As noted by by ICND’s own Social Media Manager, posting 3-5 times a week and interacting with followers is a great strategy – read more about how social media and the various platforms can help further build your business.

The takeaway:

  • Have a functional website – even if it doesn’t have a lot of pages or content, websites are crucial to todays digital world
  • Get your information out there with a Google My Business listing and explore additional other online directories to build domain authority 
  • Create meaningful, well researched content for your business or services and use keywords
  • Connect with consumers on social media platforms

Author: Jackie Dombrowski

Jackie is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Intercoastal Net Designs. She previously handled marketing and events for the event production industry. Now her focus is helping vacation rental companies achieve their digital marketing objectives.