Easy And Best Tips to Optimize Online Presence.
The user experience of your competitors’ websites may or may not go hand in hand with the overall design and layout, but that does not mean you can or would make the same mistake. As discussed in my post Online Business Success Strategies, it is important that you take an expert’s help in studying how the competitor’s on-site navigation works, how clearly labelled sub-categories are, whether menus are simple to find and whether they offer a mobile site or responsive design and then incorporate what’s best for your business. As for on-site optimization, poke around a bit and see if the keywords and search terms they’re using are appropriate and gather insight on best practices. When you use new keywords, cross-reference how successful they are at ranking by conducting simple Google searches.
Today I am going to share some more easy tips to help you grow your online presence and benefit from online groups and communities.
Website Building
I have discussed in my previous post how you can look at some of your competitors’ websites to get an idea about building your own website. The next step is to build your own website. This is your home base and all of your internet endeavours will run to and from it. As a starting point, you can contact an online media consultant to help set-up the website per your requirement. Selecting a domain and figuring out a quality hosting plan to get off the ground, the design and layout of your site, all of these can be taken care of by HyperEffects. You may also use the insights you gleaned from your competitive research and select something that’s clean, engaging and simple.
Claiming Social Media Profiles
Once your home base is ready, turn your attention towards expansion. As much internet spaces as you can claim, better the chances of your expansion. Start with the major social networking sites and add as much detail as possible while filling your profile on each site. The more information you add, the more effective these pages will be. Don’t think “who’s going to look at this section”. You never know what others are looking for. After all, you are there to capture as many like and followers as possible. So, just share!
Now that’s not all or enough! The aim is to increase visibility of your brand; which means developing a thorough web of links connecting back to your website. While I strongly recommend making profiles on all social networking sites, I would also recommend taking it slow. Create a profile on a site only if you can manage to and are willing to take the time to thoroughly establish it. I would highly discourage keeping an empty or incomplete profile, as it portrays a lazy and unprofessional attitude.
Creating Brand Voice
Next, you can turn your attention towards establishing a brand voice through blogging. This includes both creating your own on-site blog, as well as establishing relationships with other websites and blogs. Each opportunity you get to produce original content allows you to further establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. Furthermore, it has the SEO benefit of increasing the number of backlinks pointing to your website.
Optimizing Pages
The next important step is to optimize your pages so they’re visible and searchable. Using Google’s Keyword Planner, you can discover exactly what keywords your customers are using and how they’re searching for you. A little bit of online research will help you do that. The information you put on your website or social media profile should contain the keywords that, when searched by people on google, lead to your page. This will maximize your visibility in the search engines and increase your chances of being discovered.
Maintaining Presence
The final step is to maintain the presence that you have built online. Building your brand’s internet presence is not a one-time job. It demands constant time, attention and updates. As you may have noticed, when trying to find a product online, you wouldn’t like to buy from a website that has old products and would rather switch to a site that keeps updating and adding products every day, or rather, every minute. That is how much the competition is. As customer preferences change, new social networking sites have a tendency to appear out of nowhere. While these tips will allow you to set up your presence, it is up to you to maintain and expand it.
Keep these steps in mind and be ever mindful of major shifts and changes. be prepared for whatever comes your way. In the years to come, internet will be your strongest ally.
