Getting your business to stand out on the internet can seem like a daunting task. Especially when you see all the other established brands online that have been doing it for years and have formulas that they’ve essentially perfected to dominate their web presence.
Then there’s you: a green newbie with lofty ambitions but not entirely sure how to actualize them. It can be a little scary, but Kooni is here to hold your hand in this journey and help you put your best foot forward.
Let’s begin:
1. Create a professional website
A website is your office on the internet. At a basic level, it needs to inform visitors about your business and illustrate what you can do for them. It should also be responsive – so it formats content in a mobile-friendly way. The homepage should inform what you do, and how to get in touch with you. The homepage should have at least the following items:
- A way to contact you: phone number, email address, and a customer service chatbox
- Your location: preferably an embedded map as it contributes to your local SEO
- Links to your social media pages
Your website can also be a powerful sales and marketing tool if you incorporate it into your sales funnel. Certain elements of the website make it stand out/serve you better: copy, media, the offers you present, and how you come across.
Above all, your website needs to be good looking and easy to use and navigate. Remember, since your users aren’t meeting you in person, they will make judgments about you and your business based on the manner you present yourself on the website.
2. SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Like the age-old question poses: If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it fall?
If you create a beautiful website and no one visits it, what purpose is it serving you?
The next step after creating a professional website is to get people to see it. And the cheapest way to do that is by helping search engines find it — a process known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This primarily involves having your website peppered with the terms (called keywords) that people search for when looking for information provided by your website.
As a starter, you should ensure that all the relevant keywords that pertain to your business are present on your website. This can be done by having a focus keyword for every page on your site. Furthermore, you should embed your Google Maps listing on your website, since it contributes to helping people find you when doing location-based searches like “Lawyers in Kiambu” or “Pharmacy near me”.
The benefits of SEO speak for themselves: by implementing a solid SEO strategy, you position your website to rank higher in web searches, which increases the visibility of your brand and positions you as an authority in your field. This all translates to increased traffic, which can lead to massive cost savings from advertising.
3. Paid Ads
SEO is a great way to acquire web traffic over the long term, but it takes significant time and effort (especially if you’re in a competitive industry) to yield results. But what if you want results now? The good news is, you can reach your prospects for a reasonable fee on the internet using advertising platforms. At a basic level, they allow one to target their dream client based on specific criteria such as age, location, gender, interests, and other information that is known by the web platforms about them.
The most powerful online advertising platforms are Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) and Facebook Ads which serves ads on Instagram, too. They are incredibly powerful in that you can describe the people you wish to be served with your ads down to where they live, their likes/dislikes, their affinity for your product, their purchasing power, and even their level of interaction with your business.
Of course, due to the makeup of individual web platforms, certain platforms work better for reaching certain people than others. LinkedIn, for example, is a great platform to run ads for B2B businesses, while TikTok is a great avenue to reach Gen Z and millennials. Other notable ad platforms with massive upsides are Snapchat, Amazon, Reddit, and YouTube.
With online advertising, you can reach thousands of hyper-targeted people daily for a fraction of what you’d pay for TV, radio, and print advertisements. You are in complete control of your budget, and most don’t have a lower ceiling, allowing you to start running ads from as little as $1 per day.
4. Utilize Social Media
Half the world is on social media today. Some of these people are your potential customers, so you need to get in front of them and meet them where they are. Social media is a great (and mostly free) tool to grow your brand and expand your community. By consistently communicating with your fans, you remain top of mind and forge a connection that extends beyond the transfer of goods/services for money. We have written extensively on the impact of good social media strategy on your business in the past, and we suggest you take a look at what we had to say on this matter.
Your primary objective on social media is to connect with your fans on a human level, NOT to sell to them. This means that whatever content you post provides some form of value to them, be it informational or entertainment.
You also need to engage with your fans: follow your most loyal fans back, interact with their posts, interact with those who comment on your posts (hint: avoid corporate speak and instead talk to them like you would a friend), and invite them to celebrate your wins. On occasion, you may even introduce special treats that are to be enjoyed solely by your followers. This creates a lasting effect and makes them much more loyal to your brand.
5. Content Marketing
The undoubtedly best way to boost your SEO is by posting great content – posting blog articles on your website that address issues within your domain of expertise that people are actually looking for. The content can be guided by current affairs, your FAQ, and other factors that we described in this article. On top of that, you can develop relationships with bloggers with high-authority websites who can write about your business and link to your website. This helps with improving one’s SEO rankings, as the number and quality of referring domains are considered when determining a website’s domain score.
Content marketing extends beyond blogs, though. Content is also captured through video, podcasts, pictures, infographics, and animations. Like the case of blogs, you can partner with different content creators to present your brand to their audience and tap into the benefits of that affiliation.
Every person has the medium with which they communicate best, so it is imperative to figure out what works for you. Even better yet, be present and accessible through all forms of content. However, we understand that this is not feasible for everyone. You can hire a social media marketing agency to help you develop the relevant content for your brand. This way, they ensure that you have your best foot forward on the internet, and it leaves you to focus on your core business.
6. Join and Contribute to Forums
The beauty of the internet is that it allows people with similar interests from all over the world to “meet” and discuss these interests. A lot of these forums exist within the major search engine platforms, but some have established dedicated websites and wikis for their purposes, ranging from DIY projects to gardening and fandoms for fans of anime, Harry Potter, and even slime.
What these forums do is create the opportunity to establish yourself as an authority within your domain. Take Quora, for instance: after setting up your profile and detailing your topics of interest, one can browse questions that have been posted on these topics and respond to them. Reddit also has some incredible subreddits for all manner of interests and possesses tools to label the authority contributors on a particular subreddit.
By giving advice for free on these platforms, you demonstrate your knowledgeability in the topic and if you consistently provide reliable advice, this creates the impression of trust, and can easily convert to paying opportunities since you have already demonstrated your competence.
7. Promote yourself in an industry directory
A lot of industries have trade associations and various directories exclusively for that industry like the International Association of Movers and clutch.io. Oftentimes, knowledgeable prospective clients will scour these directories first when looking for a provider of your goods/services. It is therefore paramount that you are present in these directories, for multiple reasons:
Firstly, they are authorities in their fields and have a vested interest in providing high-quality information. Trade associations for instance tend to rigorously vet their members on certain aspects like quality and standard operating procedures.
Your listing on these directories details all your contact information, making it easier to reach you.
Since they tend to have rather high domain scores, your listing on such a website will typically include a link to your website, which contributes to your SEO ranking.
Serious clients want to work with professionals, and your presence on such a directory indicates that you’re a serious company.
Trade associations usually organize training and networking opportunities for their members, which enable them to meet other players within the industry, develop ties, exchange ideas, and get business.
Lobbying – a trade association can be able to collectively push for reforms in certain matters that affect their members.
You should consider joining at least one trade association in your industry if you haven’t – the benefits are immense. If no such trade association exists in your country, consider joining a global one, or your local Chamber of Commerce.
8. Email marketing
Everyone on the internet has at least one email address. This is a direct way to reach them without jumping through hoops or doing much guesswork
While your social media pages may get hacked or banned, your email list is an asset that you possess in perpetuity and is within your control. Remember, you must play by the rules of any platform that you use, but you have a lot more control with email.
Here are a few fun facts about email marketing courtesy of oberlo.com:
- 9 billion people used email in 2019. This is expected to increase to 4.3 billion in 2023 – half the world’s population
- For every $1 spent on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42.
- 49% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from their favourite brands on a weekly basis.
- 81% of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel, and 80% for retention.
- Nearly 9 out of every 10 marketers use email marketing to distribute content organically
- Welcome emails have astronomical open rates: 82% on average compared to 21% for all other emails.
- Emails with personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates.
- Sending 3 abandoned cart emails results in 69% more orders than a single email.
- Adding interactive content (eg videos) can increase click rates by 300%.
9. Analyze and Optimize for Improvement
Digital marketing work is seldom ever completely done. A lot of it involves testing ideas to find which ones reap the highest return on investment. There will always be something new, an overlooked idea, room for improvement, or some other factor that can be improved.
From advertising to content creation, you need to set time to review the performance of your activities and identify the ones that help you reach your goals, and which ones should be discontinued. Even when you finally design a killer campaign that reaps you gains for months, it only works for so long before your audience gets tired of seeing the same thing repeatedly, or your competition can reverse engineer your winning strategy.
It is therefore imperative that you are always creating, testing, analyzing, and optimizing to avail the best opportunities possible. Your best marketing campaign is only a few iterations away.
This list is in no way conclusive. Increasing your web presence/SEO rankings is an ongoing process with no clear end date. You will have to keep your eyes open for new opportunities and exercise your creativity. Furthermore, you have to keep abreast of new developments in web technology and active use of your website so as to take advantage of new opportunities, avoid undesirable outcomes, and present your business in the best light.
Should you need help crafting a social media marketing strategy, developing a website, crafting your next advertising campaign, or creating content for your website, social media, Kooni Collective is available to enable you to reach your goals by implementing disruptive and out-of-the-box ideas.