We live in the digital age, whether we like it or not. Although it has many advantages, it is often quite hard for businesses to become (more) visible online. A great tool in helping you stand out more in the online waters is digital marketing. Today, we are sharing with you some simple ways where digital marketing can help to increase your online visibility.
Let Your Brand Do The Talking
We will assume that you already have a website. In the digital age, it is a must. The chance of somebody not only finding, but knowing more about your company is close to zero if you don’t have a website. One of the most important things to focus on right away is your brand. A brand is a broad term, but at least initially you need to pay attention to:
- Your logo
- Your brand color scheme ( choose colors that align with your brand’s voice and that are not too tacky for the eyes. You need visitors to stay on your site and not leave).
- About Us section: it is the best place to set your brand’s voice, show your mission and get the visitors to know you. It is also a great place to show what sets you apart from your competitors and what your value proposition is.
- Relevant information such as contact details, working hours, and services you offer
- Real customer testimonials because they make you more credible and trustworthy. If visitors to your site see that you managed to solve an issue that they can relate to, the chance is higher that they will turn to you.
Your website is your company’s face and it is your greatest representative. Make sure that you don’t overload your website with unnecessary information. And as we said, it needs to be visually appealing. There are many online resources about web designs, graphic design, etc. where you can get inspiration. Having your personal brand is one of the greatest assets to your business and it will definitely make you more visible.
In a nutshell, a clear, consistent brand is a must.
Blogging
Blogs are essential marketing tools. Why? Not only do they provide useful and valuable content for your audience, but they also give you space to showcase your expertise and knowledge. This way, you can reach your target audience much more efficiently. The more quality content you put, the more visible you would be to your audience. The emphasis here is on quality, not quantity. It is better to have fewer high-quality, SEO-optimized blogs that will hit the target audience than tons of them that are empty in terms of value. Additionally, if you can create so-called “evergreen content”, you’d be positioning yourself quite high. Evergreen content is content you create only once, but the one that you use across multiple channels. You just need to repurpose it a bit, depending on the channel.
You can even think of blogs as web pages on their own. Care about them just as you care about your webpage. By doing proper SEO ( we’ll talk about it a bit later), you will have more opportunities to rank higher on search engines. Higher, in this case, equals more visible. Blogs are also a great communication tool between you and your ( future) clients; they enable you to have an ongoing conversation with them and see what is relevant to them.
Sharing Is Caring
Apart from providing your own content, you can promote it, too. On average, you should post approx 80% of your own content and 20% of third-party content. If you can connect your content to your social media, you are already a long way ahead.
As well as sharing your own content, don’t be shy about sharing other people’s content, too. This is so important. By sharing relevant posts from relevant people or companies, you increase your visibility because you “get” their followers as well. It goes without saying that you should attribute the shared content to the original author. Sharing the content of others has multiple benefits. Apart from expanding your community, you also build important business relationships with influential third parties. How is that for visibility?
SEO
SEO is an absolute necessity if we speak about online visibility. It is a complex and constantly changing aspect due to constant changes in search engines. You will need to hire an SEO expert along the way who will take care of this process. However, in the beginning, you can learn some SEO basics to help you get started. We’ve already mentioned high-quality content, but let’s also add keyword research to the game. Luckily for you, there are many platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, etc. that can help you initially. You will get help in finding the best keyword, and learn more about meta description and alt texts, too.
Social Media
If you ask us, this one is quite self-explanatory. Social media are everywhere. You probably know the saying that if something isn’t on social media, then it probably didn’t happen at all. Expecting to become visible online without being present on social media is pretty much mission impossible. However, you shouldn’t frantically post on every single social media platform that is out there. Choose the one or two that make the most sense to your business, make a strategy for them and be consistent. Same as with blogs, it is about quality and not quantity. It isn’t about how many followers you have, but the way they connect and interact with your business. Furthermore, how much they contribute to your business.
By being active on social platforms you are killing two birds with one stone: You connect, you get visible, and you build new relationships. That is why it is so important that you know your buyer persona so you can adjust and adapt your social media strategy.
The above-mentioned items are just some of the ways you can start implementing to increase your online visibility. And although these are client-oriented, don’t forget that their delivery and their success depend on the internal relationships in your company. If there is miscommunication, if it isn’t clear what needs to be done, if your employees don’t feel recognized or heard, you can’t expect to have a great delivery and your audience will feel it, too.
Never underestimate how much internal communication can impede the success of your company. There are great intranet solutions that can help you improve in this area and keep both your employees and your clients satisfied. Ultimately, that is the goal, right?
