The Importance of an Online Presence
November 14th, 2021
"What?" This question may have been raised by a number of people when they first came across the term. An online presence is simply any activity on the web that involves you, your company, business, or product.
From a one-page website to a fully-fledged eCommerce store (such as Amazon), an online presence can be as simple as some photos and information about yourself on Flickr, through to having your own custom-built website with products for sale. Equally, it can include small things such as blogs which you update regularly and leave some way for interested parties to contact you; right up to more intricate activities such as running 'groups' and forums on sites like Facebook and Twitter (the latter of which is often used by celebrities to engage with their fans).
It is worth mentioning that not all of your online presence has to be on 'closed' sites, i.e. those which are limited in who may view the content within them (such as Facebook or Twitter). You can also have open profiles on these social networks, so for instance you could have an account on LinkedIn but allow people to search and find you more easily on Google+, even if they don't have a profile there. The possibilities are endless when it comes to how much information about yourself you reveal online.
The Internet provides many opportunities for business owners and entrepreneurs these days, from selling goods through websites such as eBay and Amazon to promoting your services using such as Craigslist. In this article, we are going to focus on establishing an online presence using free tools and services.
Many of us already have some sort of Internet presence without even realizing it. For example, you may find photos of yourself all over Facebook or Twitter if you've ever made them public. You can also be found on Google through things like blogs, personal websites, and so forth. All these would count as your Internet presence because they all include information about you that is available for others to view (and depending on how active you are on social media sites, many people will see that content quite often).
The same goes for more traditional business needs too, such as company profiles on directories such as Yelp or FourSquare; formal profile pages on industry-specific websites such as CrunchBase and Mattermark; or even your company's website. All of these can contribute to what people see when they type your name into a search engine and therefore fall under the "Internet presence" umbrella.
And although many of these tools and services are perfectly suited for end-users like us who want to simply get themselves established on the web without too much hassle, there is also an increasing number of resources available for businesses and entrepreneurs who wish to let potential customers find them online through more sophisticated means than just typing in their names and hoping for the best (such as Google).
For example, if you are running an eCommerce store on your own website, you could sign up with a service such as Google Analytics to have access to all sorts of detailed information about your visitors. Or if you are selling things through eBay and Amazon (or even GumTree), there is the opportunity to link up these sites with services such as PriceSpider so that people can quickly compare what everything costs at any given time across multiple stores.
The point is this: although it might take some work and/or money to create a high-quality Internet presence, there's no doubt that doing so will provide many benefits for both businesses and individuals alike. For business owners in particular, we would recommend establishing yourself online sooner rather than later - because quite these approaches may not be the most effective or thorough, but they will get your online presence off to a good start.
The following is an outline of the type of things that could constitute your Internet presence (or efforts towards establishing one). I've divided this up into free and paid options because not everyone has (or wants) their own website, but it may still be beneficial for you to establish some sort of public profile on websites that other people frequent regularly.
Freeways to build your internet presence:
1) Make sure all your profiles are accurate
2) Include links/buttons on sites where relevant
3) Update regularly
4) Don't wait until everything is perfect
5) Continue work overtime
6) Use multiple methods
7a) Be patient
8a) Be creative
Other Strategies include content marketing, enabling your customers to promote you, online advertising, Offline advertising
1. Make sure all your profiles are accurate
Whether you're creating a LinkedIn account for the first time or updating your Facebook profile, it's important to make sure that all information is 100% correct and up-to-date. You don't need to share every single piece of personal information on the Internet with everyone - but at least try to ensure that what you do post is true so people can get in touch if they need to.
2. Include links/buttons on sites where relevant
We've already touched upon this in some ways when we discussed building up an online presence by using services such as Google Analytics and PriceSpider (and others). However, there may also be other avenues for linking back to your site, such as:
- if you run a business and have your own website, try getting links from other relevant websites. For example, you could contact an industry blog or magazine and suggest they mention you in one of their articles (and maybe add a link to your website). Or if you're running an online store it could be helpful to get links from popular eCommerce stores or shopping comparison sites; this way people looking for products like yours can find their way back to you. - having relevant links on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can also help direct people towards your website, especially if the link is displayed prominently (e.g., "Click here for 10% off" or "Check out our new product").
3. Update regularly
This is probably the most obvious one on this list, but it's easy to forget when you're busy with other things. Think about your business or website and what needs to be updated/changed/improved in order for it to run more smoothly in the long term - especially if there are any financial benefits for doing so (for example, regular blog posts can bring in lots of extra traffic which may convert into sales). But even something simple like setting up an email newsletter and updating your contact details can make a big difference if done properly and consistently!
4. Don't wait until everything is perfect
Although eventually, we'd all like everything we produce to be of a very high standard, whether it's a blog post, a product description, or a logo, it's not always possible to achieve that level of quality straight away - especially if you're working on your own. It's important to remember that everyone makes mistakes, but the key thing is how quickly you fix them. So instead of letting problems build-up/the quality decrease over time, take action as soon as possible so you can put things right and keep moving forward!
5. Continue work over time
Another one that needs to be considered carefully depending on what your website or business is about, but making regular changes over an extended period of time will help to keep your website looking interesting and up-to-date. If you're only going to make a couple of updates each year then it may seem like not much has changed when people return after that time - but if you continue to develop your site/brand/products over the course of many months then it won't seem so static.
6. Use multiple methods
As well as just using one website or online service, consider also doing things in other ways (e.g., making use of social media, emailing newsletters, setting up an RSS feed) which will help direct more traffic towards your site(s). This way you can improve awareness about your products/website in different ways rather than relying on just one method - or even worse, having to rely on none at all!
7. Listen carefully to what people say
It's very easy to become over-reliant on the information you find online (or otherwise) about your business, but it's important to remember that if nothing else this is a good opportunity for you to hear feedback from potential customers directly. Before making any major decisions based on what you've learned, always consider the opinions of real people and see if there are things they think you could improve or do better - as well as looking for compliments too!
8. Keep track of your competition
Although it's fine to have a little friendly competition, you must never forget that some people will want to do things slightly differently from you so they can get more customers (or keep the ones they already have). By learning about the online presence of other businesses in your industry (e.g., through Twitter or Google Alerts) you can find out how their websites are doing and what methods might be worth trying for yourself - but make sure to always look at why something is successful before copying it!
If you need any help with setting anything up feel free to contact us today
