Spin a Strong Web Presence in 5 Easy Ways

We all know that maintaining a presence on the web is more than just putting up a website and signing up for Facebook. Like a spider building a web, expanding your web presence takes considerable time and skill, but it doesn’t have to be painful. Here are 5 easy ways to get your web presence on the right track.

1. Design a responsive and simple website

Your website is the forefront of your web presence, and having a visibly appealing site with clear navigation is key to retaining visitors. And with the growing use of smartphones and mobile devices, it is extremely important to make sure your website can scale for various devices and screens. Keeping it simple makes it easy for visitors to scan valuable information about you and your brand, and encourages them to recommend or show others your website when it’s clear and helpful. In addition, having a simple layout without fancy thrills can improve your load speed, which improves the relationship between the visitor and your website.

Some key components to a well-designed website include: a simple navigation bar at the top, bold colors used sparingly for aesthetics, photos to grab attention and interest, and easily scannable content. Less is truly more, especially when it comes to website design.

2. Develop quality content

Content is king when it comes to developing an engaging web presence, and with it comes great freedom and creativity. Your content should include diverse types of media, such as how-to videos, infographics, opinion pieces, webinars, commentary on trends or new products, ebooks, or even podcasts. Get creative, and make it entertaining! Also, cut out the self-promotion: when content only becomes self-serving, you’ll come off as shallow and unreliable. Publishing advice or guidance will help you stand out as a personable leader and expert in your industry when you can share your knowledge on industry trends, without sounding like a dry corporate executive, or a car dealer trying to make a sale by any means necessary.

To boost your readership, create options for RSS feeds, add social media share buttons or widgets, create email notifications or subscriptions for information, and provide contact information clearly. Creating avenues for your resources to be shared will build your web presence organically. The more content you create that is helpful, accessible, and informative, the more you reinforce a positive web presence to potential and current clients or visitors.

3. Engage and listen on social media

From supporting SEO to responding to conversations, social media is a tool that should not be underutilized by any business. And as more clients and customers use social media as a way to address support issues or concerns, utilizing your media platforms are a great way to personalize your brand and cultivate leads. Social media becomes a key asset to inbound marketing, as those conversations can lead naturally to your website (where more helpful content is located) or to an email subscription for further information. Make sure you’re quick at responding to requests on social media, as responsiveness is key to building brand confidence amongst customers.

The key to a social media strategy to correct target your market and use various networks appropriately. For example, Facebook is great for sharing content, making announcements, and starting conversations, but over-sharing throughout the day can lead to users unfollowing your page. On the other hand, Twitter is great for streamlined conversation in real-time, and for sharing a higher volume of materials. Researching your target audience for best times to post and how frequently you should will help you maintain a healthy relationship with those followers.

4. Have a strategic, email marketing campaign

Email campaigns are still important for engagement, as long as they have strict goals and guidelines in mind. Like blog posts, the more informative the email is, the more likely your subscribers will want to keep or share your emails. Having responsive, concise emails are great for those checking their email on their smartphones, so keep that in mind when designing your emails. In addition, make sure your emails are not sent out too frequently, as they can easily become marked by subscribers as spam.

5. Expand your presence creatively

Overall, you don’t have to work on just your website or your social media networks–branch out! Look for potential partnerships online to help build your reputation. Become a guest speaker for a webinar, chat on Reddit or an industry podcast, and blog for other websites to garner attention for your business. Keep it social by being a good, virtual neighbor, and those relationships will lead back to you.

So own your web presence and create a positive scene! Your efforts will definitely pay off.