An effective digital presence is a must-have for businesses of all shapes and sizes. The digital space is a land of opportunity, but making a name for yourself takes work and dedication. Here are the basics to help you establish your brand online.
1. Build an effective website
Every digital presence is underpinned by a website. This should represent your business with clear branding, engaging content and simple navigation. Using free analytics programmes, it is possible to track website performance, assessing the number of visits, time spent on site as well as where visitors are finding you. As a place where many people will form their first impressions of your business, it is well worth investing in your digital profile. Ensure your website works perfectly on mobile devices; this way, your customers can enjoy the same experience, no matter how they find you.
2. Get involved with social media
One of the best ways to reach your customers is to interact with them. Choose the most appropriate channels to target your audience and take time to set up your pages. While your social pages can look different to your website, do apply consistent branding rules to link digital channels. Be sure to complete all the information available to build your page profile and hyperlink visitors to your website whenever possible. Ensure you reply to customer queries, just as you would (if not more promptly) with email and telephone requests.
3. Be search engine friendly
To be discovered online it is important to do everything you can to be search engine friendly. Having an understanding of what your customers are looking for is an essential starting point for search engine optimisation, or SEO. Once you understand what type of keywords relate best to what your audience is searching for, you can include them in your online content. Seek to be the answer to relevant questions. For example, if you have a gardening business and a search is made for ‘how to grow tomatoes’, you could solve this through some useful ‘how-to’ guides on your website. If the search engine has crawled your site and found useful content regarding tomatoes, it will display it.