According to Statista, around 307 million Americans are internet users in 2022. Of these, over 268 million are digital buyers. These numbers are only expected to grow in the future. Considering this, a robust digital presence is vital for growing your business if you don’t want to limit your customer base to local. This applies whether you run a traditional brick-and-mortar store or an e-commerce business. And when it comes to building a robust online business presence, digital PR or public relations is a must.
This blog will guide you on the importance of building an online presence for modern businesses. What’s more, we’ll also tell you how you can build yours by leveraging online PR.
Below are the steps to build and grow your internet presence from ground zero:
Create Your Business Website
This might sound obvious, but that’s because of its importance. A website is at the core of building an online presence. However, this does not mean you can create a basic website and get done with it. While building your company’s website, consider the following factors:
- Your niche: The website should represent your niche. Anyone who visits your website should know what industry you serve immediately.
- Your target audience: If they are young and enthusiastic, make your website colorful. If they are seniors, keep it basic and straightforward.
- Design of the website: Your website’s design, theme, and color play a vital role in developing an opinion about your brand. According to a report on PRNewswire, half of the consumers form an opinion about your brand through the website.
- User-friendliness and interactivity: Your website should have a simple user interface that allows seamless navigation. A recent survey shows that slow loading (88.5%) and lack of responsiveness (73.1%) are the top reasons visitors leave a website.
A website will benefit your business even if you already have a name in the offline market. Consider an example of a restaurant. Suppose you are an Italian restaurant operating near a popular tourist destination, let’s say, Yosemite National Park. Your restaurant may already be quite popular among locals, but you’d also want tourists to dine there. Tourists visiting the park will naturally search online for restaurants nearby.
Having an optimized website will make your restaurant appear in the search result, bringing in a lot of potential diners. Similarly, having a website also enables self-service, which most customers love. For instance, they can book reservations or order food online.
Drive Traffic to Your Website
A website is only as good as the number of visitors visiting it. There are many ways to drive traffic to your website, such as:
Organic SEO
Organic SEO refers to creating keyword-rich content around things or questions people are searching for. For example, if you have a tattoo shop and the search term “best arm tattoo designs” is trending, you can create a blog post targeting the search term and answering the question in the best possible way.
Digital PR
Digital or online PR is an excellent way to present yourself as a reliable business in the market. One of the goals of a digital PR campaign is to feature your business in famous publications. When your story appears in such publications having millions of readers, they come to know about your brand.
Moreover, they will likely give your website a visit when they read about you in their favorite media outlet. This is more beneficial than other marketing methods because the promotion comes from a reputed publication. You are not getting promoted just because you are paying for the marketing. A reputed digital PR agency like Digital Nod can help you with your PR and marketing efforts.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is another crucial strategy for building an online presence and diverting traffic to your website. Around 4.48 billion people use social media worldwide. You can use this existing audience base and lure them into visiting your website through well-planned social media posts and promotions.
Convert Traffic to Sales
You have a professional website, and your website has good traffic. Now, you need to convert this traffic to sales. Once the visitors arrive, you need a perfectly optimized landing page to pitch your products or services. Ensure the pitch is clear and concise yet engaging and informative. It should convince the visitor to buy from you.
Having a solid digital presence is also crucial in converting traffic to sales. Most shoppers these days research the brand and its products before making a purchase. According to Think With Google, 53% of customers research before buying.
Once again, digital PR can help you with this. The right PR strategy will ensure that the customers researching your company have only good things to read about you. Additionally, since these good things will come from reputed publications, it will establish your brand as reliable and trustworthy.
Conclusion
Therefore, it’s clear that a strong digital presence is vital for getting an edge over your competitors and generating more revenue. And when it comes to growing your online presence, digital PR lies at the heart of it.
If you don’t have experience in digital PR, it is best to seek help from a professional online PR agency. Digital Nod is America’s #1 digital PR agency, having delivered guaranteed results for thousands of clients. Contact us today and leverage our digital PR services to build an impeccable online presence!
