What is a web presence?
A web presence, or an online presence, is all activity or content that a person or business carries out on the internet. This includes websites, social media accounts, reviews, articles or any other information created about someone on the internet. An online presence can also be defined by how easy it is to find a business on the net.
By creating a website and a social media account, many believe that their web presence is taken care of, but a web presence is so much more than that.
Your online presence can be divided into two categories:
- Owned Online Presence: everything that you have control over and that has been created by you, like your website and social media accounts.
- Earned Online Presence: what people say about you; whether in a tweet, a fleeting mention on reddit, an explanation on quora, or on google reviews. This is a significant portion of your online presence and it’s created by other people.
The ultimate objective of having an online presence is to be found on the internet.
Why is it necessary?
In today’s busy day and age, most people do not have time to go out into the market to look for products. Studies have shown that a large percentage of consumers make their decisions through online channels before walking into any store or business. This is the most important reason for you to have a robust web presence.
As more and more consumers are becoming accustomed to finding what they want online, businesses have had to pivot and make sure that a consumer can find them. By having an online presence, businesses get an opportunity to communicate directly with their consumers, foster trust, and set themselves apart from the competition.
Your web presence can be broken down into 4 steps:
- Listing – can they find you?
- Reviews – can they trust you?
- Social – will they like you?
- Website – can they convert?
What are the benefits of a web presence?
- The customer is online: A significant portion of the target audience is online and by enhancing your digital presence, you are easily accessible and available to a consumer 24×7.
- Increase your reach: You no longer have the geographical limitations that come from offline tactics, and you can reach a much larger audience for a lower cost.
- Improved knowledge of your audience: Through various web tools, you can learn what your audience likes and dislikes and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
- Engage with consumers: Connect with your consumers and answer their questions in real time, helping you build a loyal consumer base.
- Brand awareness: An online presence will help people become familiar with your brand and more people will be able to recognise it when they see things associated with it.
How to grow your web presence?
- Build a website: Your website must be aesthetically pleasing, user friendly, convey relevant information, and optimised to be as visible as possible on search engines and can be accessed via both mobile and desktop.
- Google your business: Does your website show up easily? And the contact information is easy to find? Understand where on the web you show up and what websites are people using to talk about your business.
- Analyse your web traffic: Analyse the traffic you get on your website and social media accounts to identify where the main traffic is coming from and craft a strategy based on these insights.
- Increase activity on social media: This helps you stay relevant to your audience and can help you build relationships with consumers.
An online presence isn’t something that you can take for granted, it is the basis of all digital marketing efforts and is something that you must revisit often and make sure that your presence is enough. If you need help with building a robust web presence, get in touch with us and we will be happy to help!