Most important factors for your successful online presence
Nowadays every new business or professional needs an online presence to be successful. So the question comes to your mind what should be the right strategy for you? Let’s go through a few of the major important factors for your successful presence
Website
All of us have heard of the expression “First impression is the last impression”, so in a similar way, your website is your real presence online. It tells the users about your online presence, and all about your business.
There are a few very essential characteristics that a good website should have. Let’s discuss a few
Website load speed
Your website load speed is the first factor that influences the user’s decision to visit your website. If it’s slow, most people don’t bother to wait for a long time and skip your website.
So it’s imperative for you that when you decide to make a website for yourself or your business, please don’t compromise on the designer or developer to save just a few bucks.
Your website is like your house or any building, all the designing and aesthetics come later, but the foundation is the key. These days so many templates and website builders are available that make website designing easier.
However, selecting the right web hosting service & developer makes all the difference.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO also is a major component of your website. It also caters to website speed but besides that, there are many other components of professionally managed SEO.
Experts say that the most loyal & long-term website visitors are the ones who are directed to your platform organically. So what does that means?
By using effective SEO techniques that involve website speed, image & video optimizations, keyword research, managing external & external links, etc. developers can make your website searchable via search engines, like Google, Yahoo & Bing. Google and other search engines value websites that are properly SEO optimized & hence such websites improve their rankings among the search engines.
Usability & Engagement
Everyone likes a website that is easily usable. You should make it easier for your visitors to engage with you via your website. Make sure that all the links & other details are placed clearly & are easily accessible.
In today’s world, approximately 80% of users access the internet via smartphones. So, it is also very important that your website is responsive on all devices i.e. smartphones, tablets & desktops.
Design
Who can ignore a good website design? Well, it’s very important for a website to look good. A beautiful design that is simple & easy to use, and catches your eye, is always heartwarming. However, while designing your website keep in mind that does not make the design too complex.
As a designer or developer, you may be able to understand the complexities but it should be designed keeping in mind a simple user sitting at home having a cup of coffee.
So, to cut short, the website should be easy to use & understand, and responsive, though having an elegant & beautiful design helps, no compromise should be made in the performance area.
Social Media
Social Media these days is your most valuable online existence whether you are an individual, professional or a business
There are multiple social media platforms out of which few are more considerable.
Facebook has 2.7 billion monthly users worldwide
Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide
Twitter has over 315 Million active users worldwide
Linkedin has over 760 Million active users worldwide and the number is growing rapidly
Few more to mention here are Snapchat, Tumblr, Pinterest, Telegram, Reddit & TikTok
Social Media Advertising & Marketing
Well in simple words social media marketing is free and social media advertising is paid
There are multiple social media marketing and advertising techniques and methods
Let’s talk about social media marketing first
The basic goal of social media marketing is to engage your target audience without using paid advertising
So, how can you do that?
Create engaging and creative original content to be posted on social media networks, especially for the four major ones mentioned above
The content can be in the form of images, videos, or text
The most important part is to stay true to your audience. Present yourself, your business, or your product in the most original way possible. In that way, it remains yours and the audience can relate to you
Express your passion and love for your business or your product
Try to engage your audience, involve in their goals, and participate in their endeavors. Congratulate them, sympathize with them, and acknowledge their presence or interactions
Try to help people having problems related to your field or business. Give suitable & useful advises
But remember, ALWAYS STAY ORIGINAL, because that is what you can carry a long time, and that’s what is appreciated
Post regularly, now this is tricky, it’s not that you must post every day, but if you post twice a week, it’s fine, but keep on doing that. But remember, original and engaging content & try not to repeat yourself too much
Try your best to engage & respond to your audience’s comments, keep them engaged, and thank them for the positive comment & yes, don’t delete the negative comments, actually try to respond to them positively, maybe you will be able to eliminate their grievances and make them your most loyal customers
Let’s move to social media advertising now
All social media platforms provide marketing tools and campaign management solutions
In my experience I found Google ads & Facebook ads to be the most effective
However, every social media platform has its own strengths
As Instagram & TikTok allow you to target mostly the younger audience, and if your business is related to such age group then these platforms can be really useful for you
With Linkedin, you can target professionals based on their job descriptions and profile. It gives you a less but more engaging & solid professional customer base
The selection of social media platforms also depends on the type of content you are using. As for videos you may choose YouTube, TikTok, or snap chat
Similarly, Linkedin or Twitter for more precise & serious content
However, I prefer Facebook because, first of all, it has the highest customer base among other platforms. Secondly, there is no binding of what creative format you are using. Either it’s an image or video, sliders or forms.
Facebook allows selecting your audience by their demographics, interests, profile, and previous engagements
However, the most powerful tools for Facebook ads are custom & lookalike audiences.
In this way, you can retrieve the audiences who have previously engaged or have shown interest in your posts & with a lookalike audience, Facebook gives you access to target customers who are similar to your custom audience
Google Ads also provides you with specific targeting capabilities. However, with google ads, you only pay when a user clicks your ads.
Google’s algorithm shows your ads only to the people who are interested in your service or similar services depending on the bidding you have selected.
In short, using social media advertising you can target millions of audiences, engage your customers, collect leads and resultantly achieve maximum conversions leading to elevation in ROI on a regular basis
Can you think of any other methods or techniques that one may use for their online business or that you may use for your successful online presence?
Please let us know in your comments because this will help us in improving our content and at the same time help our visitors as well
Also please check out our article “Winning methods to sell digital products online“
