Your business needs a digital footprint. No matter how hard you shy away from it, everything is online these days. We shop, pay our bills, and even make travel arrangements. If your business is not online, you are losing money.
How can entrepreneurs take full advantage of this online revolution? There are many ways to do this, however, three essential tools – your business blog, business website and social media – can help build a digital footprint for your business.
Build a Digital Footprint for Your Business
Business Blog
A blog is a fantastic way to engage with your audience and drive traffic to your website or store. You can also use it for marketing, public relations and customer service. But what makes a great business blog? Here are a few things to consider.
Choosing the right hosting platform
Like any website, a blog needs a hosting platform to ensure that it loads and functions. That’s why it is important to choose the right one. If you already have a hosting package for your website, use it for your blog.
Cost, security and ease of use are other factors to consider when selecting a host. This extensive guide on my site can help you decide on the best hosting platform for your business blog.
Promotion is key
A blog isn’t going to serve you well if you don’t promote the content. When promoting, be sure to add links to your posts to drive traffic back to your site. If you include the right keywords in your posts, they may be picked up by search engines.
You can also promote your current content to your social media audience or send a newsletter to your email list on a regular schedule. For both of these tools, link to the latest articles and relevant news about your business.
Quality over quantity
When it comes to your business blog, quality will always win over quantity. Share quality and relevant information that adds value to your customers. This will help build your credibility, as well as the trust and loyalty of your prospects and customers.
Business Website
If you own a business, you should have a company website. But there is a difference between just having a website and making that website work for your business. Following are ways you can make your site stand out from the crowd.
Ensuring your branding fits
Branding is a key part of any business, and it is important to ensure that your current branding can be translated into the digital world. Think about the colors you use; the logo you create; and the keywords you use to optimize your site for search engines.
Whether you are an individual or a multi-million dollar company, you only get one chance to make a good first impression, and branding can do that for you. There are many tutorials online to help you develop the right brand for your business empire.
Having relevant and current content online
Just like your business blog needs to have quality content, your website needs to follow suit. All company information, descriptions and best practices should be relevant and current.
A fast and responsive site
These days we want information fast, and if a website is taking too long to load, then we swiftly move on to the next search engine result. This is a good way to lose customers.
Slow page loading times can be due to problems with your web host or main servers; large files or images on your home page; or internet connections and broadband speeds. Invest in IT support to help keep your business and digital interfaces running smoothly.
Social Media
People with social media accounts tend to use them at least once a day. They may post status updates, browse through their newsfeed, or view images on websites like Instagram and Pinterest. So, it’s vital to establish your business on at least one social network. To be successful on social media, you have to be consistent and engage with your audience.
Consistency is key
Social media is one of the easiest and cheapest ways of getting your business in front of prospects and customers but you have to be consistent. You have to be consistent in presence, messaging and tone.
You should also develop a social media strategy to deliver messages to your target audience at optimal times. Here’s a guide to help create an effective social media marketing plan.
Engage with your audience
Another key to social media success is being social. Some companies have a presence; that’s it. You have to engage with your audience, reply to comments or direct messages and start conversations. Many larger corporations are seeing the magic behind humanizing their businesses through social media. It gives a business the voice of the people, which helps improves their brand.
As you’ve read, your business needs a digital footprint. You can use three essential tools – a business blog, website and social media – to build it.
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