As a business owner, it’s hard to ignore the importance of having an online presence. For your business to succeed, you must ensure you have an effective online presence. Your competitors are doing it, why not you? “If you don’t take your business where your customers are, you are denying yourself the potential opportunities that you could get from various online interactions with a broader range of prospects; your customers and potential customers are there, so go there too” – advice from Arnold Steven – a marketing manager at AssignmentHolic.
Whether you have a website, an e-commerce or a social media account or all these three taking your business online can yield more profit to your business than you could imagine. Today’s customers are digital so you must go digital with your business too so that you interact with them easily. Therefore, whatever business you do, ensure that your online presence is maintained and continue to strive for the best of your business. Note that your customers and other potential clients are waiting for you online, if you fail to avail your presence online, you are denying yourself opportunities to broaden your customer reach.
In this post, we are going to share some of the reasons why an online presence is a necessity and not a simple advantage.
Let’s find out!
1. Accessibility
Your business rivalries are doing it, they are online their products and services are being seen by customers and so you should make your products and services seen by your customers too. Note that the internet works 24/7/365 and if a prospect can be able to research your products or services after business hours and in the comfort of their homes then you are more likely to increase your customer base and sales too. Ensuring an online presence for your business makes it more accessible to your customers and potential customers. However, you must strive to ensure your business appears on the top pages of Google search results and this is where SEO comes in.
2. Online presence is a powerful way to showcase your products and services
The World Wide Web is a powerful platform to show your customers and potential customers what you offer. Providing an online presence gives your customers and prospects easy access to your products and services as well as allowing them to check out your business.
You could have a portfolio and customer testimonials to let the world know what your business involves itself in. An online presence is an extension of your business on a 24/7/365 basis.
3. The cost of an online presence
To build an online presence it can cost you much less money than the traditional marketing like TVs, Print ads, and others. In fact, it’s easier and hassle-free to market via social media and other online platforms. What you will be required here to be successful, is to commit yourself time and effort but not money.
How to build a solid online presence for your business
Having seen how beneficial it is to be online especially in this digital world, just imagine how many potential customers you are denying yourself for not having an online presence?
The world is dynamic, every day brings a new thing and so as a business owner you have no reason to remain static. You need to start taking your business online now and ensure to maintain a solid online presence. Let’s see how that can happen.
4. Design a website or create a blog
This is one of the easiest methods to build a solid online presence for your business. You need to create a website or a blog and ensure that your website is helpful, informative and engaging to be able to satisfy the needs of your prospects. In your website/blog, ensure to have an “About Us” page, a “Contact” page and a section where you will list the products and services you offer. Most importantly, your site should be mobile-responsive since many buyers today are using their phones to research and buy products online.
5. Create social media accounts
When first introduced to the World Wide Web, social media was meant for socialization where family members, friends, and colleagues could get connected to each other. However, social media has evolved to be an ideal platform for businesses. Currently, there are tens and thousand social media sites you can use to build your business online presence. You can decide to use either, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ or both, however, it is advisable to find one that is suitable for your business and use it effectively.
Examples of successful online strategies
The internet has revolutionized the way to build and promote businesses. There are more resources to build your business online presence than ever before. Why should you ignore these successful opportunities by not marketing your business?
Lest see examples of successful online strategies
6. Search engine optimization (SEO)
This is the process of ensuring your business appears at the top pages of Google search results. SEO allows you to get more traffic from customers searching for your products and services.
7. Email marketing
Email marketing has a high ROI since you can execute it at no cost. What you do is to gather visitors/subscribers email addresses and create an email list. After you get these email addresses, you can use them to engage your followers.
Conclusion
As seen above, building a business online presence is beneficial. It makes your business accessible, it helps you showcase your products and services and it costs much less than traditional marketing.
Don’t be left out! Get started! Your competitors are doing it!
