Social media presence is crucial for businesses and budding entrepreneurs. It’s a way to stay connected and relevant to target audiences. Through effective audience engagement, businesses thrive.
But the social media presence isn’t the only way to gain online visibility. To gain more digital presence, companies and brands have websites, employ SEO services, and create online communities. Whatever it is, the goal is to be more accessible to consumers and communicate with them effectively.
What is online visibility?
Online visibility is an individual or organisation’s overall presence in the consumer environment. Having a website does not necessarily guarantee online visibility; SEO tools must be used to direct people to the website. Forbes also lists other ways to drive traffic to a website.
Traffic does not directly affect a business’ profit, but it helps turn visitors into buyers of a product or service. Other reasons digital presence is vital for companies are the following:
- Users or consumers looking for a product or service can directly go to your website.
- New website visitors are potential new customers.
- Online visibility shows that the brand or company is up-to-date; it helps boost its reputation.
- An excellent brand reputation is an edge against competitors.
Because online visibility is crucial, it can be a factor is a business succeeds or not. As almost everybody is online, press releases and PR campaigns are now often done digitally. These campaigns reach more consumers, and companies get to have real-time feedback once it’s out online.
How online visibility can make or break a brand
Brand loyalty is built on trust. Nowadays, consumers develop trust in a brand based on what they see and read online. Online visibility, therefore, can be a great advantage but also has potential risks.
When a company does not have a digital presence, consumers will not find it. But when a company is highly visible, it must be cautious because it cannot hide any mistake among consumers. Hence, it is essential to have a presence — the kind that customers would be attracted to. A business can make an outstanding online presence through reviews and websites.
Reviews
Online reviews are critical because this is what customers are looking for before they purchase a product or avail of a service. If a company has a rating other than five stars, chances are, there is lesser consumer trust. No consumer will take a chance of buying a product that has poor ratings and a lot of negative reviews.
This is why companies need to display positive reviews on their website and social media pages: to let consumers know that you are a trustworthy brand. If no people post online to give their reviews, it is okay to solicit reviews from previous customers through text or email.
Website
A company or brand website must not only look good, but it must be functional, too. Part of its functionality is having the right content that helps inform consumers about your brand. Another aspect of it is having a website that loads fast on mobile devices; a slow loading may give your potential customers time to look for other websites.
For the content of your website, it’s always good to include a landing page that will catch audience interest, positive reviews from customers, and a copy of how your services or products can provide solutions for your customers’ needs.
Other ways to improve online visibility
Keyword research
Knowing the right keywords to use for your website content can increase online visibility. To determine the right keywords, you can use several digital tools such as Google Trends; it’s free of charge and user-friendly. If you found the popular keyword, it’s time to work your content around the keyword.
It’s important not to overload the content with the keyword; otherwise, it will look forced. The most strategic place to put the keyword is at the beginning of the text and sprinkle throughout the entire article. Additionally, use keywords that your potential clients will potentially search for in the Google search bar.
Link with other websites
Backlinks help a website receive more traffic; it happens when a user clicks on a link in one website and is directed to another website. A backlink can be likened to earning a vote for a brand’s website; the more backlinks a brand gets, the higher its ranking and search visibility becomes.
To gain backlinks, one must produce great content and post it on other blogs or websites. The more authoritative site a brand posts in, the better its impact on online visibility and search ranking. The result is more traffic and, hopefully, impact business revenue positively.
Aside from these, there are many ways to attract customers digitally; the key is strategic content. Knowing the right keywords to use, using the proper tags, and using analytics to determine traffic are just some ways to improve online visibility. Additionally, as technology evolves continuously, businesses must remain updated to keep up with new ways to increase online visibility.
