Building your business presence in the online market has grown from optional to essential. It is now your first step towards making your business known, and you want to make sure that you reach your target market in the fastest and easiest way possible. We want you to keep these things in mind for an effective online business presence:
Create your own website
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Having your own website to direct your customers when they want to look at your products or services – that’s what you want. While having social media accounts to present your product easily is great (we’ll get to this later), getting a dedicated business website will help you establish your brand as your own.
The best thing when it comes to having your website? Being free to explore your options and unleash your creativity when it comes to presenting your products or services. Think of your website as your very own canvas where you can exhibit your work to the world.
Make your website mobile device friendly
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When creating your own website, it is imperative to do it on a desktop or a laptop computer. But oftentimes, what website creators tend to forget is to make it compatible with mobile viewing. So when visitors try to access the sites from a phone or a tablet, the menus look different and the content would, more often than not, be all over the place.
There are website builders that automatically optimise your website’s desktop version for mobile viewing, so make sure to have this activated. If not, then it is important that you take the time for this because the smartphone is the most accessible tool right now for all consumers.
Start-up and establish a customer network
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By now, you must already have an email list of potential customers and patrons. Make sure to let them know of every update that you may have on your platform such as new products, updates on your website interface, and promotional offers, as well.
Aside from your current network, you should also explore potential customers and gather their contact details (through the right methods, of course, so you don’t surprise them with your sudden knowledge of their contact information). Pique their interest with a specialised email with a recommendation of the products that suit their style. Knowing about your customers’ niche, tastes, and pattern gives you the advantage to make them aware that your business is in line with their trends.
Follow through a response timeline
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While you, as a business owner, are not expected to be up 24/7 to respond to customer queries, you must establish a response timeline – and of course, follow through with it. Your response timeline must be something that you are comfortable with, but also will not lose that connection and interest that the potential customer has for your products. The usual timeframe would be 24 hours, but you can work around that as you go along and establish how you want to work your hours, as well.
It also helps to have an associate who can work with you around the clock, at least to help respond to emails, inquiries, and any correspondence that may come in. A customer’s interest can easily be captured in a matter of seconds, and can easily go away in about the same time that they do not receive a response from you. You want to make sure that you secure that from the moment they send you a message or even as soon as they open up your website and browse through your services.
Be active on social media
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We mentioned social media accounts in contrast to creating your own websites, but that doesn’t mean don’t create any at all. Social media presence also helps boost your online exposure, in a way that you can reach potential customers even when they are just casually browsing on different platforms.
Social media accounts are more open for businesses now, and they have messaging options (such as chatbots) where you can create a menu for those who want to send you an inquiry, may it be a generic one or product-specific. This drives legitimacy and authenticity from a consumer’s point of view, in a way that these businesses care enough to present their customers with a variety of options as soon as the first contact is established.
Produce (and continue producing) content
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Once you have your website and social media accounts up, the work doesn’t stop there. Regularly update your platforms with new content such as customer testimonials, blog posts, product recommendations, and basically anything to help boost your online activities.
Have a variety of options, not only in your products but also in the way they are presented. If you have various categories, have them exhibited in a way that is fitting to the product itself. For instance, if it’s cupcakes, a pastel-coloured layout would be great, then have an autumn-inspired layout for maple-flavoured desserts (just an idea!). Share some customer feedback from time to time for your current patrons to know that you value their feedback, and for potential customers to know that your products and services are something to look out for!
Familiarise yourself with SEO, and use it to your advantage
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You may have heard this a lot, and wonder how it works. SEO (search engine optimization), from the name itself, is a method to help your website be visible to potential visitors and customers right away, even if they don’t have any idea yet what your business or website is for. If you are specialising in providing business consultation services, then your target is for your website to come up on one of the first pages when someone looks up “consultation services” on Google.
It takes time to build enough content to go up the ranks, and compete with business websites offering the same products or services. It involves continuous work to make sure that you keep up to date with what gets you to the top pages of searches for your business niche.
Develop your platform as you go
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If it’s the Christmas season, you can change your website layout into a red and green colour scheme. If it’s your business anniversary season, create blasts for promotional discounts and offers on your website and social media accounts. You want to keep up to date with the latest trends and seasons, and incorporate your website content and interface with the current trend.
Having a single website layout all year long would present the impression that you rarely keep your website or your platforms updated. Holiday seasons are major updates you should be prepared for, and other crazes that your customers or market will be watching out for.
