7 Things You Must Be Doing to Build a Strong Digital Presence

Jun 23, 2022

A smiling man sat at his desk with one hand on his laptop and another one holding a document

In our modern world, we turn to the internet to solve our problems and give us solutions we can buy. In fact, 81% of consumers head online when they’re looking to buy. That means that if you don’t have a strong online presence, you’re going to miss out on a huge percentage of your potential customers who will simply choose your competitor with the stronger presence.

So, how can you strengthen your online presence? Let’s take a closer look at 6 things you are essential in order to have a strong online presence.

1. Your SEO Must Be A Priority

There’s one key thing that is going to get you to appear for your ideal search terms, and that’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Without SEO, your site will be buried under all the results of your competitors who have at least given some thought to their SEO strategy, and a good SEO strategy can get you on the first page. SEO does take time, and it’s definitely something you need to have a long-term view of, but without it, you’ll have almost no online presence at all. (By the way, it’s never too late to start your SEO strategy – find out why here.)

2. Make Sure You Have at Least One Active Social Media Profile

Over 3.6 billion people are currently using social media, and that number is estimated to increase to 5.44 billion by 2025. Not only does not having an active social media profile mean you’re missing out on connecting with your customers, but you’re also missing out on building essential trust. When someone searches for your brand to decide to work or buy from you, they don’t just want to see your website. They want to see proof that you’re active and can be contacted in a public way, through social media.

3. Build Your Email List

A newsletter can feel like just another thing to add to your to-do list, but building an email list is essential for every business when it comes to gaining and retaining customers. When you have your customer’s email (and their permission to contact them via it), you have a direct point of contact with them. You can reach out to them with news, send them offers to entice them to do business with them again. Having a simple enquiry form on your product pages can be an effective way to start growing an email list of interested consumers.

4. Offer Your Audience Value

No one becomes a customer without first receiving (or at least seeing) the value you offer. There are a few ways you can do this:

Give them free entertaining or educational content to show them you know what you’re talking about
Offer a first-time customer discount
Offer a bonus with their purchase (this could be a great way to upsell)
Offer something for free (such as a report or product sample)

5. Never Underestimate the Power of Content Marketing

You should never underestimate the power of (good)content marketing. When you offer your potential customers knowledge or content they find valuable for free, you build trust, rapport, and authority. This is also your opportunity to increase your online presence and get in front of your potential customer as early in the purchase journey as possible.

6. Research Where Your Ideal Customer’s Online Habits

Remember that your ideal customer is not just anyone who may need what you offer. It is important to work out if there are certain types of customers who would respond better to different online channels or have different online buying habits (will they actually make a purchase online?).Once you have worked out your customer segments then you can build a digital strategy that is focussed on getting you the optimum conversion rate.

7. Have a Digital Marketing Strategy (Not a Spaghetti Strategy)

The spaghetti strategy: throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, without any overarching plan for what you’re doing or what you’ll do when you find something that does.

Many small business owners have one problem: they’re strapped for time, and digital marketing can be done in just a few minutes. At least – the bare minimum can. You can throw up a post here, set up an ad there, and maybe show up on a forum for a day or two.

Do you see the problem? When you try to squeeze your digital marketing strategy into the random white space in your day, you miss out on the consistency that is necessary to build a strong online presence.

You must have a strategy. It doesn’t have to be complex; it just needs to be consistent. If you’re handling the marketing on your own or perhaps have just one employee handling it all, you should set aside a day at the beginning of each quarter to map out what you’re going to do that quarter, why, what results you want to see, and what results you saw last quarter.

Building a strong online presence takes time, and starting from the beginning is daunting. Don’t be tempted to bite off more than you can chew; simply break down what you need to do and what you can do in the time you have available, and carry out that plan.

If you need help planning your digital strategy or simply don’t have the time to dedicate to building the necessary foundation, we’re here to help. We help businesses on every step of creating their online presence, from building their brand to SEO and content. To find out more about how we can help you, click here or get in touch below.