Nearly Every Business Must Have An Online Presence.
Get found online today!
Everyone is online, the exception being the few businesses that have too many customers or too much cash flow to care. For everyone else, if you want to be found online this post is for you. Even if you don’t have a website.
There are many ways to have an online presence.
Here is a short list in the order of importance.
Company Website
For most companies, a website is a necessity. A well-designed website will organically (naturally) drive customers to your site. I prefer a WordPress site for easy content management and automatic search engine submission. WordPress ranks well in search engines making this the best way to get found online. More about WordPress.
Online Directories
Online directories are very important for off page SEO and can be the fastest way to be found online. The biggest directories are Google Business and Bing Places because your listing shows up independent of your website. In many cases these can drive more traffic than your website.
Social Media
Social media has made it into the mainstream now for some time. Each social media site has its own demographics and you must find the ones that work best for your needs. Facebook is a good place to start. LinkedIn applications are more geared for business to business. Sites like Pinterest and Instagram highlight pictures and images.
Google and other search engines now include in their ranking algorithm likes and recommendations from many social media sources More on Social Media.
Blog
A Blog is important to create fresh content on your website. Search engines love fresh content. However, be sure to make regular posts on a consistent schedule. In fact, make them very predictable. This will encourage your readers to come back and make it easier for search engines to see a pattern and crawl your site at the best times. More about blogs.
Non-owned websites
This category includes any website where you can include your content but do not have total control over the whole site. Guest posts and articles are the best way to get your content on others sites. Be sure to have links to your website or other online content.
Review Sites
Don’t forget to claim your business on review sites. Whether you want to be on these or not, you will. First, go after the ones most related to your industry. Fill in as much information as you can and be sure to use an email that you check regularly. If you get a negative review, it is important to respond quickly.
Pay Per Click Ads
Pay per click ads are a great way to get instant traffic. However, you do pay for that traffic. Online ads vary in price from a nickel to over fifty dollars per click. Most display ads are based on impressions. Online ads like Google AdWords can link to your website or any online site like Facebook or an affiliate page. Keep in mind Google has always claim that paying for Google AdWords will not improve your websites ranking. Free Bing offer below.
For more information click on any of the links on this page or visit my tips page.
