Tips to better your online presence
Now more than ever how you appear online is critical to create a good first impression, to separate you from your competition, and to jumpstart the know, like and trust factor with your audience. So just what needs to be factored into a good solid online presence? In this video we break down a few elements you'll want to consider to ensure your online presence represents your business and brand accurately and effectively. Here’s a recap and be sure to download the checklist below:
Identification - be sure your online presence, social media profiles as well as your website, explain who you are and what you do in a clear and easy-to-understand fashion. When you get wordy or use industry jargon, your audience may not be able to connect the dots. Don’t make your audience work for it. They won’t … and they’ll scroll on by or click on over to another site.
Imagery - Photos of you and your team are some of the best ways to connect with an online audience. However, if those photos are blurry or taken from too far back it can do more harm than good. You want to be sure that online photos of you and your team are clear so that customers and clients can see your face, make eye contact with you and see a friendly smile.
Consistency - This is key! Your online presence needs to be consistent from one thing to the next. That not only means what you say (think bios and profiles), but how you say it. It also means the types of fonts you use, the colors, images, and logos. While it’s fun to be creative and come up with cool images, your audience is bombarded with images and brands all day… especially online. If they can’t quickly see or read something from you and know it’s you, they are lost and confused. Keep it consistent.
SEO - Search engine optimization will help your online presence show up in Google searches. So be sure to get some basic SEO setup in place. We like this SEO checklist from our site design partners at Squarespace.
Contact Info - Please publish your contact information! From someone who works with businesses all day, every day… we are tired of trying to search for your contact information! Get your phone number, email, and mailing address into your social media profiles and onto your website! If you operate out of a residential space, get a PO Box and utilize that as a mailing address. Potential customers and clients will not search for contact info. They need it to be at their fingertips. Be sure this is added to all platforms you appear on.
Links & Buttons - At least two times a year, make time to check your site’s links and buttons. Be sure they all work and go where you need them to go. When links break down or buttons stop working, Google searches pick up on error messages that display on broken links. This makes Google think that your site isn’t functioning and can hurt your SEO efforts. Also, don’t forget to double check those links and connections on your social media platforms.
Testimonials - When someone raves about you and your company, it’s gold, baby! So encourage your customers and client to offer their reviews on social media and Google. You can even capture them and place them on your website.
As always we stand at the ready to help your small business or nonprofit organization show up consistently and effectively online, in print, and in person. If you feel you might need some direction in any of these areas, let's brainstorm some ideas! We LOVE talking about marketing strategy. You can click here to schedule a consultation to chat more.
