Establishing Your Online Presence: 12 Helpful Tips

Growing your presence online is a long term commitment. It takes time to grow your SALES FUNNEL. I wish there was a quick and easy way, but there are no short cuts when it comes to building a strong foundation for your online business. If someone appears to be an “overnight” success, remember, that “night” was, most likely, quite a few months in the making.

Keep in Mind…

There are many things that go into building a successful online presence. This list is just to get you started:

1. Invest in a good website.

This is SO Important!!! Design a site that is clear, easy to maneuver and grabs your customer’s attention. I’m not saying you need to pay a web designer thousands of dollars to do this.

I've had different products and have use 2 different platforms. 

For this blog, I am on WordPress.org with BlueHost as my host. Remember, as a blogger who is monetizing your site, you must use the ‘.org‘ version of WordPress. You have a wide variety of plugins to ensure your blog/business is successful. To learn more about WordPress, checkout my post here.

When I was selling  jewelry, I have built my site on Shopify.

With Shopify, you can build a nice site within a day or two. The length of time depends on the amount of product, content and pictures you’re adding.

You can read more about this in my post, “Build Your Shopify Store“.  

2. Speaking of pictures…

It’s ALL about your images. You’ve heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure you have Clear, Closeup Images, not only for your site but for social media. Include multiple images. Your customer relies on these when choosing to make a purchase.

3. Set up your email list.

Grow your email list. You own it! It's yours! No one can take it from you!!! If, for any reason, your social media platform changes and is no longer sending traffic to your site (changing algorithms, being shut down, etc) you are still able to connect with your audience.

There are a number of email service providers. I use Convertkit for it's many forms and landing page options.  

4. Be as detailed in your description as possible.

Don’t overlook SEO. Check out Neil Patel’s UberSuggest  for his list of keyword rankings. Use longtail keywords. Yes, I know the mere mention of SEO can cause your eyes to roll to the back of your head! Once you get the hang of it though, it’s not so difficult. If this is something you just don't want to do, hire a virtual assistant who specializes in SEO to take on this task. Just. DON'T. Skip this!!!.

5. Social Media

It's all about getting known by potential customers and you getting to know them. When it comes to online marketing, customers very often need to see you a few times and “feel” some sort of connection before they decide to make a purchase.

Choose 1 or 2 platforms where you know your customers are hanging out and master those platforms before you try more or you’ll end up just spreading yourself too thin and accomplish nothing.

6. Post Extras

DO NOT make it all about the sale. Give your audience tidbits of information about you and your business. Add things such as quotes, motivational material, freebies etc. in your posts on social media. People like things like that.

7. Be consistent with posting

Consistency is the key for social media success. To help with this, set up a posting schedule. Tailwind is a great scheduling tool for Instagram and you can then set it for Facebook. Set it and forget it.

8.Set up a Content Calendar

This gives you the ability to plan and lay out content well in advance. You can then visualize how your content strategy will look over time. You can vary your topics or group them, etc. It will keep you organized when choosing images, designing pins and posting across all platforms.

9. Pinterest!!!

This is not a social media platform. It’s a powerful search engine. Use It!!! Create a Business Pinterest account and keep it separate from your private account. Pin consistently. Sign up for Tailwind to make scheduling easier.

If you need some help setting up your Pinterest &  Tailwind accounts, or you'd like someone to manage your account, visit my Pinterest Management Services page.

10. #Hashtags

Take advantage of #hashtags on Intagram to target your audience. Take sometime to research these, create a few lists and interchange from post to post. You are allowed 30 hashtags per post.

11. The Ways of Selling Have Changed

Online sales are sooooo much different than the Arts and Crafts shows where I am used to selling my work. The promoter (if they’re a good promoter) has already created the sales funnel for the vendors. All we had to do was set up to sell and sell we did. But that is changing with more people choosing to shop online. Therefore – Get Social on Facebook and Instagram or whatever social media platform you prefer! It’s all part of the new way of selling. 

12. Build Another Business Within Your Business

Use your website to setup one or more Side Hustles that relate to your product or service. You can create additional streams of income by doing this. Create different pages on your site that will feature each individual business.

~Products to consider:

• Online and email courses. Teach what you know. Set up your course through Teachable. Offer things such as supplies, books, etc that go along with the course.
• eBooks. Again, teach what you know.
• Design printables.
• Affiliate Marketing
• Offer services such as a Virtual Assistant, Freelance Writing, and Proofreading, to name a few.

Think Outside the Box!

Things have changed. Get creative. Research how to make it work. No throwing hands up in the air and declaring it won’t work. That’s not an option. Other people are doing it – SO CAN YOU!