Making sure you have a website for you business is a great start and I applaud everyone who’s taken that step.
Now it’s time to go further. You don’t just want to be there. You want your online presence to strongly develop a successful and powerful relationship between you and your customers
Okay, let’s get to it, shall we? (this is great stuff!)
Tool No. 1: Your Business Website
The quality of your business’ website is the first and most powerful way to get your message across to your customers.
An EFFECTIVE brand building website will have:
- Impressive design. You only get one chance to make a first impression
- Clean and simple navigation. Make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.
- A blog. The best way to really get your message out there is through consistently producing new valuable content for your site.
Tool No. 2: Content Marketing / Blogging
This is:
- The number one way to truly let your customers know how you can help them.
- It’s the number one way for you to establish yours as a voice of authority in your industry.
- It’s the number one way for you show Google your site is constantly active and,
- Establish your site as an online resource in your industry.
Tool No. 3: Video & YouTube
There are businesses producing video content these days, BUT there are still a lot of businesses NOT producing video content.
Get started with this today. The more video content you can have, the better.
YouTube is the second biggest search engine being used.
People want video answers to their questions. Make sure your answers and your presence is there for them to find.
Tool No. 4: Social Media
Tired of hearing about social media yet? I know, me too.
But you know what? I love that social media levels the playing field and gives everyone an opportunity to stay in touch with their customers, even if they just don’t have a lot of money to throw at marketing.
Not only is it free (with the exception of time commitment) but it’s EFFECTIVE! These sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc., they are where your customers are. They won’t go to your website everyday (most likely), but you know they will spend plenty of time on this social platforms each and every day. Make sure you’re there.
Tool No. 5: Great Website Hosting
Great hosting is crucial. It does matter who is hosting your site.
There are great hosts. There are fine hosts. And there are poor hosting options as well.
Check around. Talk to other business professionals who’s opinions you trust.
My 2cents: I’ve been using Hostgator (affiliate link) for around 10 years now. I use it for all of my sites and most of my client’s sites. As a web designer and developer, great hosting just makes my job easier.
From time to time I will work on a new client’s site that is not hosted on Hostgator and I’ll run into critical problems like:
- Server speed (how fast I it takes for files to load).
- Not running current versions of software. This can create conflicts in your website’s programming that requires the current versions of this software for optimum performance, or it can prevent aspects of your site from functioning at all.
- No cPanel to control things like easy access to email services, database creation and maintenance, site backups.
- Prompt customer support. How long can you afford to wait to have your site up and running again when there’s a problem that needs to be addressed by the host?
They’re not all the same. Do your research and you’ll be very glad you did. BTW, did I mention I absolutely LOVE Hostgator? (affiliate link)
There’s obviously more to having a successful and effective online presence, but these truly are 5 Essential Tools you need to have in your kit.
Okay. Got it?
A lot of this stuff is admittedly not something most people are going to know a lot about. (unless it’s one’s job to spend hours a day studying this stuff)
I’d be happy to talk to you and answer any question you might have. Get in touch!
What are some other helpful tools that you feel are important in building your businesses successful online presence?
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