When a buyer is keen on purchasing a product online, they are most likely to go and gather more information on it from various sources on the internet hoping to discover the right website/brand to buy it from. For a business, this means being available at every touchpoint that the user might access.
In 2022, marketplaces were the primary source to search for products online worldwide with 36 percent of online shoppers searching for products through this channel. Search engines ranked second, with 30 percent of respondents using them.
The internet is replete with channels such as social media, content platforms, ads, marketplaces and so on that offer a business the opportunity to reach more and more people.
But by what means can a business ensure that a potential buyer locates them every time? This article explains how a powerful online presence is the answer and talks about the ways to build it.
What exactly is online presence?
An online presence is the ease with which a business can be found by a consumer on the internet.
Building an online presence is a consistent effort of leveraging the available platforms to create strong perceptions among buyers about a brand. It plays an important role in establishing the identity of a business online in addition to other benefits.
Here’s what a strong online presence can result in, eventually leading to a business’s success and growth.
Discovery: Users are able to easily find a business and in many instances discover a brand even when they may not be intentionally searching for it
Availability: Users are able to engage with a business at any time of the day and from any location of their convenience
Legitimacy: The availability of Information about a business on multiple channels establishes a strong credibility and helps in building trust among consumers
Buyer journey: A powerful online presence ensures that you are visible at multiple touch points during the buyer’s journey
Conversions: Being present across channels leads to higher awareness and traffic, thus higher possibility of conversions
How can a business improve its online presence?
If you have newly launched your business online, here are ways to ensure that you are visible to more and more people on the internet.
1. Invest in a website
The first step to an online presence is to build a e-commerce website that establishes your existence. It is also the first place users are likely to visit after finding you online.
Moreover, a website communicates who you are as a brand including your persona, features, offerings and more. It offers you a platform to talk about more than just the product and present your story to the consumers.
Many small businesses rely on social media alone to create an online presence while entirely skipping an app or website resulting in the lack of a comprehensive online presence.
2. Optimise for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is a long-term yet crucial process in ensuring an impressive online presence for your business. It is about cleverly making yourself visible through content when people are looking up on the internet.
SEO is usually divided into on-site SEO and off-site SEO. On-site SEO focuses on content and uses keyword research, internal and external links, suitable headings & titles, etc to match the queries that are searched online.
Off-site SEO pays more attention to building your site’s domain authority through link building, content marketing, site building, etc. The key to a good SEO is not creating content consistently and optimising it for search engines.
3. Focus on the right social media channels
There are 4.59 billion social media users worldwide in 2022 – and this number is only going to grow over the next few years. As it stands today, that equates to about 57.5% of the current world population.
Most businesses are aware of the impact of social media and ensure their presence on most channels, however, depending on your product, only certain platforms may best fit your business or help you target the right audience.
One of the advantages of social media is that it helps you engage your audience better and understand what they are interested in. Many users also visit social media pages to check the reputation of a brand or read what other buyers are saying about it.
4. Emphasise on good content
Online presence cannot be established without the presence of substantial and quality content whose relevance should help you show up anywhere and everywhere people browse. It is also crucial for brand awareness.
Blogs have always been the core of a content strategy but as tech and times change, newer formats are seeing a huge traction. Content today includes videos, podcasts, webinars, reels and more.
A business should actively and consistently create content on platforms where its audience is present and also collaborate with other brands to further increase its online presence.
5. Join online marketplaces
Online marketplaces have their own advantages and disadvantages but they certainly are of help for a business to reach a large number of audience quicker.
Buyers may not easily notice your brand on these platforms but will be aware of your product and a good experience can potentially turn them into loyal customers.
Online marketplaces also invest heavily in promotions which are very useful for an upcoming business that is new in the online space.
6. Invest in advertising
An online business cannot completely depend on organic content and expect the audience to find them through search engines, particularly for faster visibility. Advertising significantly increases the chances of users locating you faster.
Advertising on the internet is flexible, can be managed with a limited budget and most importantly can be measured to understand the impact.
Social media ads, pay-per-click advertising, native ads and paid partnerships are some of the most popular and effective techniques used by e-commerce businesses.
7. Create an email list
While most techniques of creating an online presence point towards ensuring visibility for new users, it is also crucial to stay relevant for the existing buyers to be able to retain them. And email marketing is an effective way to do that.
Offering gated content such as white papers, e-books, videos etc is also an efficient way to get more users to sign up and create an email database of people who are interested in your product.
Newsletters, product launches, informational mails and promotional emails keep your existing buyers up to date with the business.
Conclusion
Managing and maintaining a good online presence has to be a part of business strategy right from the start. It also needs evaluation at regular intervals to check if the business is reaching the right target audience.
Additionally, tech advancements, internet evolution and customer behaviour are opening newer and better avenues of online presence. Businesses must keep up with the changes to analyse and decide what are the most impactful ways to reach people online.
