Commercial Ink - Expand Your Online Presence

Expand Your Online Presence

Your company's online presence is one of the single most important aspects of your marketing. With the internet taking over, it is imperative that you learn how to effectively expand your online presence. To do this takes time and knowing exactly how you want to be branded and perceived by customers. Here are a few key points to help you get started:

1. Be sure your web presence ties into your brand.

A well defined brand is a key factor in differentiating your product from other competitors in your industry. If your only online presence is your website, make sure it accurately portrays you and your company and update it frequently.

2. Reevaluate your keywords.

Think of all the terms potential customers will search when they are looking for services or products like yours. You want to come out on top in the search results for these terms, as this will give you an edge over your competition.

3. Join social media sites.

Although there are many, the three most popular are Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. Evaluate each, and determine which is best for your company and which would be most likely to find new business. These sites give you the ability to connect with your customers or clients on a more personal level, when face to face meetings are not an option. The best advantage of sites like these are when people google your company name, your company profile will show up in the results as well. Remember quality is more important that quantity. It is much more effective to have 1 or 2 well maintained social networking sites than 5 or 6 that leave customers wondering if you're still in business.

4. Participate in a content sharing site.

These include wikis, blogs, and even forums. Content sharing sites allow individuals to contribute their knowledge on a subject. Maintaining a site like this will showcase your expertise, and create trust and loyalty with your customers.

In order to maintain an overall positive image, make sure the information being spread about your company is generally "good". A strong online reputation can be built simply by encouraging satisfied customers to write reviews about their experience. It's a good idea to create a separate site for customers to write reviews, and steer clear of websites like CitySearch and Yelp. Visitors on these sites are bound to taint your reputation eventually with a not-so-good review - keep in mind that your competition has access to writing reviews on these sites!

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