In recent years, with the help of a few certain global events, the online business industry has boomed phenomenally.
Businesses have taken to the masses to get a standing online as they have now started to realise that this is the future of commerce. It’s not just corporations that have capitalised on this realisation, however; many start-ups and sole traders have also set up a foothold in the online market.
Many people believe that the internet works on a first come first serve basis and any new businesses will be lost in the Deep Web but this isn’t the case at all, in fact, due to the location-based search that many popular search engines incorporate – their business may even be the first result people see!
In a commercial sense, it is nigh essential at this point for businesses to have even some sort of online presence. This is where we come in, in this blog we are going to help you begin your journey into the online world of commerce.
Know Your Business
As obvious as it may sound, this vital step is something that people often overlook or ignore as it isn’t directly online or even physical, in fact, it is only a thought – know what you want to do.
Knowing what you want to do may sound simple and in theory, it is but when it comes to the practice many start-ups fall short of their target and end up folding. According to official statistics, 21.5% of start-up businesses fold on their first year of trading and this is largely due to the lack of research and thought put into things before starting out.
It is essential when marketing your business to target the right audience and to do so with a niche concept or offer something none of your competitors does. So before you even think about getting yourself online first think about do you really know your business?
Getting Yourself Out There
Now that you have your plan of action all sorted and ready, it’s time to get into the fun stuff.
Getting yourself online. If alarm bells are already ringing as you worry about your budget for a website and how they’re expensive an unaffordable right now – don’t fret!
Having a website may be one of the best forms of marketing but it’s not the only way you can get online, cheaper options are available and depending on how much free time you have on your hands, so are free options. Just some of the forms of online presences include Websites, Social Media Profiles, Business Directory Listings, Google Maps Locations and Online Adverts.
Naturally, each of these forms of online presence has its benefits and drawbacks, some more than others. We can’t give you the absolute best form of presence for your business without knowing the company but we can assure you we give all our clients our expert advice on what will work best for them.
We would highly recommend you research each of these forms of online presences to determine what ones will work best for your business. Don’t feel you are limited to only one form either, the more places you can promote yourself the more likely your business will receive the traction it needs to take off.
If you would like our expert assistance in getting your business online you can always call us on 01925 563 960 or email us at info@mosaicdigitalmedia.co.uk and kick-start your journey to becoming a successful online business.
Keeping It Up
Once you have picked the online channels that are best for your business and have established the foundations on them, it isn’t over; it’s only just begun.
To keep your business relevant online you need to keep your presence known. This is done by supplying fresh new content to whatever forms of online presence you have chosen. Examples of this would be adding blog posts to your website, writing posts on your social media pages or creating fresh new adverts for every campaign you run.
Believe us when we say we cannot stress the importance of this. Some businesses believe it’s a good way to save money by doing all the content work in house as they don’t realise the real difficulty or importance behind it. Once the content starts to become less and fade away so does your online presence.
What does fresh content do exactly? It benefits your business not only by letting people know you’re still active and trading and not even by letting people know what your business specialises in – although it does do both of these things.
Its main benefit comes from keeping your online presence relevant and known. Every social media post you write for your business is a way to increase your engagement with customers and potential customers which in turn increases how known you are online.
Keeping It Up (Websites)
For websites, the most important factor for increasing your online presence is by using a skilled process known as SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
This is what makes or breaks your online website presence. Though having a website is objectively the best form of an online presence you can have it is also understandably the hardest to maintain.
Search Engines such as Google are a highly competitive market with everybody trying to compete for the number one spot, this means with a website you will especially have to be on your A-game if managing it yourself.
If you are thinking about creating a website, social media business profile or any other form of online presence and would like us to manage it for you then please feel free to contact us on 01925 563 960 or contact us here to utilise our expertise and get yourself the business you deserve.
