LookupPage Blog | Professional Web Presence and Visibility

Create Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face

Any good politician knows to really get votes they must go out and meet the people; the same is true with creating an online brand presence.  While online chat rooms, webinars and social media sites are great they do not substitute for real face-to-face meetings.  For those with a small business that brings customers into a physical store this online brand presence building strategy is easy.  They have been doing it all along.  For those, though, without the luxury of customers walking into a physical store finding ways to interact in reality can be more challenging.

Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face – Host a Speaker

Hosting an industry leader at a local conference center is a great way to meet one’s customer base and open channels of communication.  Industry leaders often have lecture series and, depending on the industry, can be relatively inexpensive to book.  By offering a reservations-only luncheon with guest speaker any small business can begin to meet their customers and potential customers away from the computer screen yet still build the powerful online brand presence.

Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face – Discussion Groups 

This is, by far, the most inexpensive way to meet customers and others in one’s industry community.  Every industry has news and issues confronting the industry.  Libraries, churches and community centers often are home to industry discussion groups that meet monthly or even bi-weekly.  By engaging customers with discussion face-to-face it is easier to transfer the communication to the online arena which is exactly what one must do to build a strong online brand presence.

Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face – Trade Shows and Booths

For those small businesses unable to bring in a speaker or host a discussion group the booth can become their best friend.  By having booths at all expos and trade shows which remotely relate or appeal to their industry and target customers they can begin to meet customers and answer questions in person.  Especially for those small businesses with a handful of employees getting out and meeting customers and showing them the business is committed to their satisfaction is crucial for getting ahead.  Once a physical connection is made it will be easier to entice them to engage online which in turn builds online brand presence.

These are just a few ideas of how to create and bolster an online brand presence for small businesses.  With many of us confined to computers most of the day it is easy to forget how important human contact is for making great impressions and capturing customers.  Online brand presence is only possible if the customers are interested in one’s business.  Often times building that interest takes work only face-to-face can accomplish.

Schedules Important to Online Brand Presence

Most small businesses now understand the value of social media, blogs and website content when creating and maintaining their online brand presence.  Once all of those components are up and running, however, it is easy to become overwhelmed and begin to fall behind in updates.  Before ever committing to various online strategies an online marketing plan must be created including goals and strategies.  Most important in the plan should be schedules. 

Each individual piece of the online marketing plan runs on a different schedule to maximize online brand presence.  Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter should be updated at least once a day. Blogs should have at least one post per week, preferably three to five.  Websites should be updated as information chances and at least once a month to keep content fresh.  Industry forums should be visited on a regular basis with comments added.

With all these different schedules anyone can see how a small business can quickly lose track and inadvertently lose online brand presence.  That is why setting up concrete schedules for each arm of one’s online marketing campaign is absolutely necessary to meet goals.  As goals are met or are changed schedules must also be reevaluated.

 Businesses should pay close attention to analytics in order to revise schedules as needed.  For instance to keep engagement at its peak and online brand presence at a maximum a business might discover that posting comments on social media three times a day is ideal.  Any more posts and the numbers remain the same; any fewer posts and the numbers drop.  In that case the social media scheduling should be changed to reflect the analytics.

While keeping up with scheduling is crucial to the success of online marketing and building an online brand presence small businesses must not forget their goals.  Social media, blogging and a business website are all great tools at gaining a great online brand presence but are not the same as sales.  The focus of any online marketing plan should always be to gain and retain customers – not get as many ‘subscribers’ on Facebook as possible.

With so much at stake in today’s company and more and more small to mid-size businesses focusing their marketing online all businesses, regardless of their industry, must bring their A-game to truly build an online brand presence.  By starting with the basics of developing a solid marketing plan and realistic schedules reflecting the goals of that plan a true online brand presence can be attained.

Social Media Tools Aid in Building Enhanced Online Visibility

As more and more small businesses begin to realize the benefits of launching an online marketing campaign with social media as the primary strategies to increase their enhanced online visibility a new industry has been created.  Social media tools are now available for a variety of tasks to aid the small to mid-size business owner in streamlining their social media marketing tactics and interpreting analytics.  For a business to truly see an enhanced online visibility taking advantage of these tools would be most beneficial.

Enhanced Online Visibility – Adding Multi-Media

There are a slew of new social media tools aimed at helping account holders integrate music, video, pictures and even voice recordings into their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media accounts.  Research has proven that pages rich with multi-media generate more interest and engagement with the community.  With so much at stake in online marketing businesses would be wise to use every tool at their disposal to help create their enhanced online visibility.

Enhanced Online Visibility – Time Savers

As a small business gets more fluent in social media and their audience grows they will quickly find themselves devoting a large amount of time to the websites.  Best practice dictates that to have a successful social media marketing campaign a business must be constantly available to respond to comments and post comments regularly.  If successful this will require a lot of time especially if several sites are being utilized.  There are many new and exciting social media tools on the market now aimed at this time issue.  They streamline the updating and monitoring process by funneling all activity from multiple websites into one, easy to understand dashboard.

Enhanced Online Visibility – Analytics

After all the hard work small businesses put into their marketing some form of analytics must be available for review.  This could not be truer for those wishing to affect enhanced online visibility through an online marketing campaign.  Several social media tools provide customizable analytics ideal for the small business.  With information presented in easy to understand formats one doesn’t have to an expert to make sense of the information. 

After a company becomes comfortable with social media (one site at a time, please) they should investigate social media tools and determine which could benefit their business and make social marketing goals more attainable.  With so many tools available now and the number increasing regularly there is a social media tool available to help any business in any stage of growth build their enhanced online visibility.

Building Online Brand Presence through Social Media, Part 2

In part 1 of this post we looked at three very basic rules to remember when building online brand presence through social media accounts.  These rules apply to businesses of all sizes in all stages of their social media development.  Online brand presence is carefully cultivated over time and with thorough plans, not just appearing overnight to a few lucky chosen. 

With that in mind we can jump right back into some basic rules all businesses must follow if they hope to reap an increased online brand presence through social media use.  Today focuses on three rules that are unique for social media marketing but no less important.

Be Active

Online brand presence is such a finicky thing as are one’s customer base.  If one were to study the companies with the largest, most influential, online brand presences they would find they were constantly doing something.  Of course a small business can’t compete with the likes of Coca-Cola or Playstation but they can make themselves available to their customers by responding quickly to comments and posting interesting comments which leads to the next rule.

Initiate Conversations

Facebook and Twitter are vehicles for conversations, not an arena for sales pitches.  Customers can turn to a business’s website if they want to learn about how wonderful a product or service is.  Online brand presence is, also, not directly about sales.  It is simply getting the word out about one’s business.  By posing thought-provoking questions and posting intelligent, interesting questions customers will respect and admire one’s Facebook or Twitter page resulting in the highly coveted online brand presence.

Take the Time

This cannot be stressed enough.  When businesses complain that their social media accounts are not building the online brand presence they were expecting time is usually the reason why.  Businesses need to post a comment at least once a day and respond to comments within a maximum of twenty-four hours.  There are a variety of online solutions for being notified when a comment is posted.  If a business cannot make the time to do social media correctly then perhaps they should explore other ways of building online brand presence.

The rules set forth in this two part post are very rudimentary yet still highly accurate in creating an online brand presence using social media.  It’s easy to get distracted with all the applications and customizations Facebook and Twitter offer a business, but at the end of the day if the goals aren’t met and online brand presence isn’t gained the job just wasn’t done right. 

 

 

Enhanced Online Visibility Developed through Social Media Content

After setting up a company blog to build an enhanced online visibility it can become difficult to find quality content to post especially if posting daily. The same situation can occur in social media posts like on Facebook and Twitter.  While creativity is a wonderful virtue to possess in the world of social media and blogging and goes a long way in achieving an enhanced online visibility there are certain rules for content that should always be adhered to.  Below is a list of some of the most common rules every company should obey at all times when posting a blog or social media comment.

1)    Enhanced online visibility should be a positive thing.  That means that all of a company’s posts need to stay on the sunny side of the street.  While times may be hard and the economy sinking one’s posts should always focus on the positive.  No matter what the topic there are ways to see the glass half full.  This is one of those times to let that creativity fly.

2)    Companies should avoid foul language, crude humor and trash talk at all times to create an enhanced online visibility.  There are, of course, a few exceptions – companies specializing in the vile and vulgar – but it is safe to say most companies’ target audience will not appreciate crass humor and profanity.

3)    Posts are not for selling products. Rather they are for selling solutions.  In fact, they are not for selling at all.  Social media is such a wonderful tool at building enhanced online visibility because it allows companies an ongoing and intimate conversation with their customers and potential customers.  That conversation is about sharing idea not pitching a product or service.

4)    Companies should keep a close eye on what trends their customers are following.  By allowing the customers to determine the topics they will be much more likely to participate in online conversations. Enhanced online visibility is deemed achieved by engagement of customers not the number of sales.

These are just a few tips for developing the much desired enhanced online visibility that companies so desperately desire.  It is possible through social media to create and maintain an enhanced online visibility while increase sales numbers but it takes hard work.  Companies utilizing social media and blogging should educate themselves on all aspects, not just content, before committing to this new and revolutionary enhanced online visibility tool.

Jump into Social Media for Online Brand Presence

For small businesses wishing to build an online brand presence participation in social media is a great way to do it while keeping the costs low.  In fact, the only cost involved with social media as an online brand presence building strategy is the time it will take.  Anyone who has ever been involved in a small business understands just how valuable that time can be which is why there are some simple guidelines to remember when taking that leap into social media with marketing as the goal.

1)    Start Small and Slow – Before biting off more than one can chew in regards to social media marketing for online brand presence they should commit to one website.  It doesn’t matter if the person updating has personal experience with the website or not when starting a page for a small business all the rules change.   We’ve talked in other posts about what should be included in social media posts and how to best attract and keep fans.  Learning to look at social media through those lenses takes some time to get the hang of.

2)    Update Often and Concisely – The often part of this tip is simple.  People want instant gratification and they love fast. Honestly, a small business should be posting at least once a day for maximum online brand presence growth.  The concise part of this tip is a little more difficult.  Communication is a skill that comes naturally to some and not so naturally to others.  One would hope that the designated ‘poster’ in a small business would have stellar communication skills but that cannot always be accomplished.  No one wants to take the time to read a rambling post.  Say what you mean and say it in as few words as possible to build online brand presence.

3)    Keep It In-House – It may be tempting to immediately contract out the work of building and maintaining an online brand presence to another company specializing in online marketing.  While there are plenty of successful and highly qualified companies one can turn to for these services it’s recommended that small businesses try to do it themselves first.  Social media is a very intimate means of marketing and customers and target customers want authenticity that can only be given by one of the team.  An essential part of online brand presence is authenticity.

These are only three tips to help small businesses kick-start their online marketing campaigns in an effort to further increase online brand presence.  The most important tip of all is to remember that social media is only one aspect of marketing.  It is a communication medium that helps the business connect with customers and future customers.  It does not make sales happen.  If social media is viewed as an opportunity to build online brand presence and not as a one-stop-shop of marketing it can be a success for any small business.

Take a Second Look at the Company Website for Online Brand Presence Hindrances

Creating an online brand presence is no easy task just as maintaining that same online brand presence requires devotion and time.  Many companies contract out their website design or have an in-house team take charge of the process and don’t give it much more thought.  Unless one has hired a leader in website design with a proven track record in brand building, particularly online brand presence, they should not assume that their website is good enough.

Unfortunately the look and feel of a website associated with a brand plays as much an influence in determining online brand presence as social media presence, blogs and web content.  A website’s aesthetics should match the brand’s goals, beliefs and overall theme.  All too often website designers get caught up in using a successful website design as a one-size-fits-all template when the truth is that each brand should be looked at with fresh eyes.

Sometimes the remedy is simple.  A company can greatly increase their online brand presence by changing some colors, fonts, and adding a few pictures.  Other times it takes a complete overhaul of the website.  If one is not happy with their company’s online brand presence hiring a professional specializing in branding isn’t such a bad idea.  The trained eye can pick up many subtle components of a website that others never consciously notice but react to emotionally nonetheless.

One tiny adjustment that everyone can do to their website that has been proven to increase online brand presence is add photographs of people.  If one questions the validity of this marketing tool they should look at highly regarded national and international brands’ websites.  Photographs of people are splashed all over the place.  The same holds true for social media sites and blogs.  People like to look at other people, plain and simple.

So before blaming web content or small budgets for one’s lack of online brand presence try looking at the website for a change.  If it was designed by someone without the training and experience working with creating and building online brands it probably is flawed.  Flashy graphics are cute but they won’t keep customers coming back for more.  By focusing on the website as a whole representation of one’s brand – color, fonts and all – an online brand presence can really begin to form. 

This is not dismissing web content by any means.  That is still the meat and potatoes of any website.  Customers and potential customers don’t visit websites for the graphics or catchy slogans.  Successful websites with the goal of increasing online brand presence understand that all the components of the website must work in harmony to create on overall brand image.  That is the only way online brand presence is achieved.

 

Key Words and Phrases Important in Social Media for Online Brand Presence Building

By now everyone understands the importance of social media for companies and their marketing campaigns if online brand presence in any way is desired.  No matter how big or small a company may be their presence in social media is a must.  But just designing a Facebook page is not enough to increase online brand presence.  Devotion to a brand’s page requires the same amount of effort as one’s personal page.  There are several ways to constantly improve one’s brand Facebook page, one of which being keyword optimization within the confines of Facebook.

Now that Google recognizes Facebook posts in its algorithms many marketing experts focus on using the social media giant to improve Google rank and therefore increase online brand presence.  While there is no hard in doing that companies should devote as much energy into improving their rankings within Facebook.  Keywords are also used for search on the website and companies maximizing keywords related to their industry will invariably create a stronger online brand presence.

When using social media companies have been told to keep it fresh, update daily, and find ways to keep their fans engaged to increase online brand presence.  This is great advice and is definitely the way to keep fans coming back, but how do companies get fans in the first place.  Part of building an online brand presence is roping in new target customers.  Not every customer is going to search for one’s company by name.  For them keywords are how they land on one’s Facebook page. 

Just like when writing original web content for one’s website social media comments must have keywords and phrases that will rank them higher in the internal search results thus building online brand presence.  Obviously the same rules apply as with web content – don’t overdo it.   The more natural one works key words and phrases into their comments the more effective it will be.  If one is a veterinarian in Peoria they would need to use phrases like ‘Peoria vet’ rather than ‘our office’ in comments. 

Thinking about what customers and potential customers will use as key words and phrases is only the first step to utilizing search engines for the maintenance of online brand presence whether they be Google or Facebook.  A lot of time and study goes into such processes and it is often in a company’s best interest to contact a professional in the industry of online marketing and development of online brand presence to get the ball rolling.

Quality over Quantity Is the New Game in Building an Enhanced Online Visibility

Now that we are squarely in 2012 everyone must begin to look to the year ahead and how to better their enhanced online visibility.  New reports of what to expect in every industry are coming out by the bucket loads.  After reviewing the predicted trends in industries related to enhanced online visibility we’ve pulled a view that are worth mentioning.  The biggest prediction we have noticed has to do with Google and the changes predicted in its algorithms used to determine rank. 

Google is going to battle in 2012 with those who manipulate the algorithms to get ahead.  They are focusing on the quality of web content rather than the quality.  Up until this point to raise one’s rank and enhanced online visibility in the process more pages needed to be added to a website.  Google interpreted that as good because obviously a company who has many pages has a lot to say.  Well, we all know that necessarily isn’t the truth.

There is a fine line between manipulating search rank algorithms and using guidelines to increase one’s likelihood of receiving a higher rank creating a more vibrant enhanced online visibility.  We have tried within the posts of this blog to feature tried and true ways of competing in the brave new world of online marketing by building an online brand presence and enriching enhanced online visibility.  These trends noted in the 2012 predictions (not the end of the world predictions) are in concurrence with our advice.  In short, to achieve an enhanced online visibility companies must devote the time and experience necessary to get the job done right.

Now that the Google Panda is onboard with this ideology we expect some big changes in 2012.  First of all, things are going to get more competitive.  As Smartphone activations are growing exponentially more and more people are utilizing search engines making those top ranks even more coveted than ever.  As Google and other search engines are realizing the underhanded schemes to improve rank through less than honest methods and begin cracking down on such practices new less than honest practices will emerge confusing companies even more.

Again, we fall back on do the job right.  There are no shortcuts to creating an enhanced online visibility.  There is no magic trick that one can do to become an overnight search engine sensation.  Creating a viable enhanced online visibility is possible for any company if they stick to the tried and true methods and heed advice given by the experts in the field.

There is Truth to Our Tips and Suggestions for Building Online Brand Presence

This entire blog is devoted to helping companies and individual business owners develop and maintain an online brand presence.  Contained within pages and pages helpful articles are all kinds of tips and strategies gathered from some of the best marketing and SEO marketing firms and specialists in the world.  Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis has by this point recognized themes – advice we repackage and reword time and time again in an effort to stress their importance in building an online brand presence.

Well, we feel vindicated.  Recently PRWeb reported in an article the top SEO tips and trends for 2012 as predicted from some of the world’s best companies.  Within the list are topics we just can’t discuss enough in this blog aimed at helping create an online brand presence.  Here is a simplified summation:

1)    Keyword Optimization and Research – companies must do thorough research into what keywords customers and potential customers are sticking into search engines when looking for services and products.

2)    Linking – There is simply no easier way to build an online brand presence than to link, link, link. 

3)    Social Media – Companies expecting to compete in this day and age must develop a strong online brand presence through social media.

4)    Forum Commenting – Perhaps one of the easiest and most affordable ways to promote an online brand presence is through participating in online communities by commenting on forums and other blogs. 

5)    Review Submissions – Providing well-written, thought provoking reviews of products or services in one’s industry is a great way to link.  Most of the time the reviews will be posted with a link back to one’s company.  Online brand presence is built and rankings are raised.

These are just five of the recommended best practices for companies wanting to improve their rankings on popular search engines and in turn increase their online brand presence.  Although all of these tips seem relatively simple they do require time and dedication, something many companies honestly do not have available.  To get the job done right hiring a professional may be the best decision.  After all a strong online brand presence will bring in far more revenue than the cost of any SEO or marketing expert.

Build Online Brand Presence through Expertise

During the last five years or so a big trend in marketing has been creating and maintaining an online brand presence.  In fact, so many companies (across all industries) are so focused on building their online brand presence that an entire industry has popped up as a result dedicated to making that online brand presence a reality.  While there are definitely many paths a company can choose to create an online brand presence some have proven results while some are a gamble. 

Any company ready to commit to the creation and ongoing maintenance of their online brand presence can begin by turning to professionals who know the necessary steps to establish a productive online brand presence. For those companies with an established brand and ready to move to the next level, there are several seemingly small tricks to follow that will reap major results.

As the internet continues to grow there are more and more websites devoted to questions and answers.  This is a great way to spread the word about one’s company.  Every company should commit to being an expert in their field.  Part of the responsibility of being an expert is answering questions.  By visiting such sites as Yahoo! Answers frequently one can give thoughtful answers to industry questions while furthering their online brand presence.

Frequenting question and answer sites accomplishes more than just increasing online brand presence.  It keeps the proverbial ear to the ground.  By reading common questions and common answers to issues linked with one’s industry one can begin to see trends in information and misinformation.  This can be useful for one’s own marketing campaigns.  Also, if one is in the business of selling products question and answer sites provide valuable reviews.  There are a number of ways a smart company can use such information to their advantage.

Cruising the internet looking for questions about one’s industry seems like a relatively simple way to build an online brand presence.  The truth is, though, that it takes time and dedication.  Companies unable to dedicate the appropriate amount of time necessary to maintain an online brand presence should not be ashamed to admit as much and leave it to a professional specializing in online marketing and search engine optimization.  As with anything else  to create an online brand presence of substance time will have to be devoted to have it done right.

Use Reviews to Create Enhanced Online Visibility

Companies dedicated to creating an enhanced online visibility are always looking for interesting and unique ways to do so.  One way that helps one’s own company as well as makes friends with other companies is to write a positive review of a product and allow the company being reviewed the freedom to use it as they please.  This creates friendly relations as well as increases one’s enhanced online visibility.

The idea is simple, really.  Within one’s industry an expert in a company finds products or services that are good, novel or compliment their own products and services and rights a glowing review.  Then, the review is posted on the company website for all to see (and is used to build an enhanced online visibility).  A link to the post is sent to the company (of the reviewed product) with a note giving permission for them to link back to the review as they please. 

The important part to remember in all this is that the review must be sincere to truly help a company’s enhanced online visibility.  The only thing worse than a bad review is a generic review of no real substance.  If a product or service being considered isn’t worth much or one’s company sees no substantial value in it they shouldn’t write about it.  This falls under the old adage of ‘if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all’.

If, on the other hand, there is a product or service that has really wowed a company they should explain to the masses why they believe in that product – even if it is a competitor’s product. Yes, that is right.  If a competitor is really doing something right and one’s company writes up a review saying as much the competition will undoubtedly post the review (and the link back) everywhere possible helping create an enhanced online visibility for the company writing the review. 

Many companies feel that they have their hands full already trying to maintain a blog, a website and other marketing materials.  Between advertising online and through traditional methods companies may not see the benefit writing reviews would have considering the time required for completing.  The benefit is very real, despite many beliefs, and will surely help build an enhanced online visibility if done honestly and thoughtfully.