You’ve got it all set up – your Facebook ads or PPC search ads campaign is ready to go. Or maybe you’ve got an email marketing campaign ready to go out and sell to your prospects. But if this is where your digital marketing plan starts, you’re beginning at what should be the end. As it turns out, your digital marketing needs to start with your digital presence.
So, we’ll cover all of this in today’s blog post – what your business’s digital presence is, and how to perfect it.
What is Digital Presence?
Your digital presence is the face your business presents to the online world. While in traditional marketing, that presence might have been a storefront, now it’s typically a website.
A well-designed, well-written website might seem like just a box to check off when you’re building your digital marketing strategy. But it’s really the way most of your prospects will be welcomed to your business for the first time, and where they will do research and make their purchases.
Much like you wouldn’t want to purchase from a brick-and-mortar store that was dusty, poorly organized, and badly lit, you can easily turn off potential customers if your website and overall digital presence aren’t up to the task.
Key Elements of Digital Presence
Your website is the most important part of your digital presence – it should be up to date, professional, welcoming, and easy to navigate. This doesn’t have to take a big budget to build a website with all the latest bells and whistles. Those can actually slow down your site or make to too complicated to navigate.
Instead, focus on building a site that functions smoothly and quickly, and gets your viewers where you want them to go quickly.
First step
Your homepage is the critical place to start – this is the front door your customers walk through to get to the rest of the shop.
For a primer, read up on the five things your homepage must have.
Your tone should be clear and friendly, you should highlight what’s most important, and you should keep the information up to date.
Second step
Next, you should build out a complete website. It needs to include a page about who you and your business are, pages describing and products or services, and a way to get in contact with your company.
As you establish your website, it can expand to include upcoming events, additional information on what you offer, video content, and blog posts.
Third Step
Once your website is squared away, you should also focus on the rest of your digital presence. Your social media profiles are also an extension of your online presence, and can help you build your brand.
Your content on the social media platforms that speak best to your target audience should look, sound, and feel similar to your website. And doing so builds brand awareness across platforms.
And remember
In addition, don’t ignore online review sites as part of your digital presence. Most consumers these days go to sites like Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor to do research before they make purchase decisions. Hence, your presence there is also critical.
You can claim your Google My Business profile for free to add content you want to showcase, like photos. This also allows you to manage reviews and your online reputation.
You can learn more about what digital presence is in this video.
Digital Presence and Digital Marketing
A solid digital marketing strategy involves many different pieces, working together to convert customers and bring growth to your business. Your strategy many only involve a few pieces if you own a small business or are just starting to create a marketing plan. Or for an established, mid-sized company, you may be engaged in most of the available options in digital marketing.
But wherever you currently are in your digital marketing journey, you need to get those pieces to work together to create a successful digital experience.
As such, your digital presence is the hub that brings them all together. Your email marketing brings prospects to your website, your SEO efforts bring in website traffic, and your paid ads on social media or search sites bring potential customers to your product pages.
Thus, this centrality is why your website is such a key part of your digital marketing. If you write perfect emails or have a flawless ad strategy but your website isn’t on the same level, you’ll lose those potential customers.
Avoid Common Mistakes
Too many business owners make the mistake of having a team of web designers write their website copy, because it’s easy. But the copy on your website needs to be every bit as compelling as your ads and emails. Getting the expertise of a skilled copywriter and content marketers can pay off quickly on the investment.
Building a website yourself is easy with all the available tools these days – but it can be too easy to add on lots of flashy but unnecessary features. That can be distracting for your visitors – you want them to glide smoothly through the desired sequence to make a purchase, not get them annoyed and lost. And too many fancy features can slow your website down, leading to a poorer user experience.
Rely on repetition to raise your brand awareness. Your potential customers will probably not make a purchase the first time they see your ad or visit your site – they’ll be drawn in over time by your various digital marketing campaigns. A consistent color scheme and font across all your platforms builds a stronger brand association in their minds, meaning they recall your brand more quickly each time.
Bring All the Pieces of Digital Presence Together in Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Coming up with a complete digital marketing strategy that includes a thoughtful digital presence isn’t easy – it’s a lot of moving parts. But you can’t afford to miss out on the benefits to your business, by appearing near the top of search results.
Looking for an agency that gets you real, measurable results with attractive functional websites, great writing and a strong digital marketing strategy? We can help with your digital presence and much more.
Schedule a free business review here to find out how we help businesses grow. You can use these insights for inspiration, and let us do the marketing for you.
