Are you confused by everything you need to do to get an online presence for your business? A website, Google my business registration, social media channels etc. Here is a step-by-step guide to creating your online presence and gaining new customers.
1. Know Your Brand
Create a brand strategy so there is consistency wherever you are found online.
A brand strategy:
provides clear direction for all your marketing communication activities
helps with building consistency of communication
builds trust and confidence in your brand
helps to better understand the place that your brand has in your customer’s lives - better than your competitors
Action:
Conduct a brand review/audit.
Write a brand strategy to include:
market insights
competitive environment
brand vision, drivers, and values
brand personality
key messages
brand voice
Create a logo based on these insights.
Produce a brand style guide that includes colours, logos, fonts, images, keywords, messages and brand usage.
2. Google my Business
It is important to have a Google account and listing for your business. This is used as a physical location (it may be a shopfront or an area e.g. Queensland) and contact information when someone is searching for you online as well as for your website analytics and webmaster tools (known as Google Search Console).
Action:
Create a Google account for your business
Create a ‘Google my Business’ listing
3. Build a Website
Your website should represent your brand, product, and services in the best possible way. It should be fast to load, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate.
What to consider when creating a new website:
Domain – if you don’t have one, you need to register a domain. Here are a few options for registering your domain name: Crazy Domains, Go Daddy, Cheap Domains.
Hosting – there are many hosting options available in the market so shop around. It is worth checking that the hosting is in Australia and not based offshore for the speed of loading of your site. It is also important to check the securities offered. If you are planning on a WordPress website, this is a great hosting option: Site Ground
Website build – this is where you start to see a lot of variation in cost depending on the sophistication you are looking for. You may want a simple template design or a purpose-built site. Both options can work equally well in Google searches.
What platform to choose
Cost-effective template options include: WIX, Squarespace, Crazy Domains, Weebly
WordPress – is the most used website platform worldwide. You can use website themes or have a developer create one from scratch.
Bespoke website development and design.
Design and build – You can use a separate graphic design studio to work on a style guide including web design or many of the web developers have their own design arm.
Content – This is crucial in standing out from competitors but also to be found by Google. The content will evolve from your brand strategy where you have identified key messages and your brand voice. Using a professional to write content is often an advantage.
SEO – is the process of optimising your website for Search Engines. This means:
making sure that search engines can access and index your website without any problems
having high-quality content that matches the intent of the searcher
giving search engines crawlers the right signals to understand the structure of your website
helping search engine spiders understand the meaning (context) of your content or giving search engine algorithms reasons to trust your website and rank it higher than other websites
This short article provides an overview of SEO.
Once you do all the above correctly, your website will be SEO friendly and a candidate to appear in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for many searches (related to your content).
Google AdWords - Google Ads is a paid advertising platform also known as pay-per-click, where the advertiser pays per click (PPC) or per impression (CPM) on an ad which then directs someone to your website. The better your ad campaign, the more clicks you generate. It is important to understand it is not just about clicks but the results of this interaction. Here is a guide to understanding Google Adwords.
Action:
Create your website or engage a professional to build one for you. 4. Social Media
Social media is one of the best ways to connect with current and potential customers. If you don’t have a presence on the main platforms, you’re missing out on an audience that are ready and willing to connect with your brand. It is also a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader in the industry.
Here is a guide to start:
Start with a plan – don’t just set up channels and not know what you are going to do with them
Decide which platforms are right for the business
Know your audience
Build relationships
Share compelling visuals whenever possible
Focus on quality over quantity
Monitor and respond to social media conversations around your industry
Track and refine your performance
As much as possible have links back to your website
Here are some social media channels and how to set each up:
Action:
Using your brand style guide and your brand strategy, create your social media channels using the steps above. 5. Analytics
A great digital marketing strategy relies on analysing the data generated from the website, social media, and e-communications. Don’t just set and forget and hope it is working. Analyse your results and refine your strategy for maximum outcomes.
Set up your Google Analytics to track traffic to your website. You are also able to monitor Adwords campaigns through Google Analytics by linking your Google Analytics to your Adwords accounts.
Check the following analytics for your social media pages:
Action:
Set up your Google Analytics and connect with Google Adwords. Familiarise yourself with social media analytics pages.
Build your online presence today and tap into a whole new world of potential customers.
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