One of the main prerequisites for a successful and profitable company is having a high-quality Internet presence. The Internet is a place where most people are looking for information on the services and goods they need, and it offers business owners a number of ways to promote themselves and find clients. Here are some guidelines to improve your Internet presence.
Use business search engines – Lots of people use business search engines to find companies, trades or businesses which provide services they need. For a business owner, it’s an easy way to promote their work and gain new customers; entering information in a search engine database is generally free, and all users of that search engine can provide feedback on the company or business they dealt with. In other words, if you’re good at what you do, your former clients will grade you high and thus your reputation will flourish.
Use keywords – Think of words that are commonly used in your area of business, that is, words that users will type into Google to find a company like yours. Once you come up with a list of such words, use them on your website frequently and include them into the title of the site (into the so called title tag). This will improve your status on social networks and people will find you more easily.
Use a reliable web hosting – It’s important to have a website which is easily accessible and fast. If your site loads slowly or is often down, people will think you don’t care about its maintenance, which is bad for your image in general. So, put some effort in finding a good web hosting service.
Take advantage of social networks – Today, almost everyone has Facebook or Twitter profiles. Thus, creating an official Facebook site or a Twitter profile of your company is one of the fastest ways to improve your online presence. Try to get some advertising from one of the popular FB pages that have thousands of followers in order to create your own base of readers.
Keep your social network profiles updated – Having a page on Facebook is not enough if you don’t dedicate a few minutes of your time every day for a post or two. Be sure to include information on your working hours, the services you provide, and always be quick and courteous when communicating with your readers.
Off topic is okay – Don’t be too formal when communicating via social networks. Sometimes it’s okay to post a funny video or a picture even though it has nothing to do with your business. People tend to like that material, which means it will appear on their friends’ news feeds. That way, more and more people will learn about your page and the number of comments will rise.
Authorize on Google – Google’s authorization will give your website some prestige. All you need is to go to your Google+ profile, write some information about yourself (experience, other websites on which you worked), followed by Google’s verification. This way you’ll highlight your credibility and seriousness, and people will know you’re not a scam of any kind.
See what the competition is doing – There’s no shame in keeping an eye on the competition. In fact, google the first five words that you think describe your company; review the top results. Analyze those web sites and see in what way are they better than you: think about their content and design, recognize their strong points and apply the similar principles to your own web site.
Google Places – Google Places is a free service that allows companies to enroll in Google Maps. It requires registration: you’ll have to enter the address of your company, some basic information (opening hours, phone, and short description) and, if you wish, a few pictures. After that the company will be registered into Google Maps, which means people will be able to find you via certain keywords and geographical location.
Be persistent – Your Internet presence cannot improve in a day. Google and other search engines will need some time to register all the innovations that you made in your efforts to improve your ranking. Your social network profiles require hours of work to gain followers and commentators. Thus, the most important tip is – be persistent and the fruits of your labor will come.