What is online presence and how to boost yours
Online presence is a commonly used phrase and it is crucially important for any brand operating on the internet, but what does it mean?
In short: Online presence represents a brands reach, reputation, participation, and visibility on the web.
Do you want a valuable indicator of your brand’s online presence?
Just google your brand’s name.
Here are a few stats to show you why that simple indicator is important:
- 92% of search traffic happens on Google with 8.5 billion searches per day (https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share)
- Almost 50% of product searches begin on Google
- 0.63% of google users click to see the second page of results (https://www.oberlo.com/blog/google-search-statistics)
Why Visibility Is Important To Online Presence
The stats above show why searching your brand on Google will give good view of your online presence – you are looking at what your potential customers will see when they try to find you online.
If customers cannot find you, then they will not purchase from you.
Okay. So How can you improve your visibility online?
One way to increase visibility is to increase your reach and participation online.
How Can Reach & Participation Affect Visibility & Online Presence?
Reach is essentially how much space or real estate your brand takes up on the web and, as a result, how many potential customers can see your content.
Let’s say, for example, a brand has the following:
- A website with a blog
- Instagram Page
- Youtube videos
- A Yelp page with several reviews
Each of these sites hold links to content created by the brand or about the brand. This effectively expands the brand’s reach on the web because there are more ways to access the brand’s content.
While your content on a website or blog spreads your message, participating with the social networks or listing sites can provide an additional boost to your reach.
The Impact On Reputation & Trust?
Today, there is a new scam, hack, or fake brand promise reported every week. As a result, consumer skepticism is at an all time high. This means that brand trust and good will must be earned.
That said not all visibility is good visibility since reach includes both positive and negative content about a brand.
Review sites and comments on social media can inform potential customer’s decisions to buy from a brand. Reviews exist on sites like Amazon, Google, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, Glassdoor, and app stores. Important social content may be found on Quorra, Reddit, X, or Meta.
Maintaining a positive reputation with customers is a critical part of a brand’s online reputation.
In Conclusion
In conclusion: all of the visibility, reputation, and content about your brand comes together to tell a comprehensive brand story that determine trust and informs buyer decisions.
Potential customers will seek answers to their critical questions before deciding to take the next step with your business. They may ask questions like: “who is this brand”, “what do they value”, “who do they cater to”, “is this the best value to me”, or “how does their service impact customers or the larger communities they are part of”?
Cool Talk. So Why is this important to me?
Creating a strong online presence that build trust can unlock greater organic reach. This organic reach can become a passive stream new customers that love what you do, trust your results, and are ready to buy what you sell.
Before they can buy, customers first need to be able to find you!
Start taking steps to strengthen your online presence today.