To Be or Not To Be Online?

Unless your business is extremely exclusive for a very restricted audience, if it has no online presence, it simply does not exist!

There is no discussion about whether or not being online is important for growing your business. Try to remember the last time you have flipped through the yellow pages to find a restaurant, a nearby car repair, or a specialty doctor. By the way, do yellow pages still exist?

It doesn’t matter if you are working with products or services, your target market will surely be somewhere behind a screen, big or small, and that is where you need to be also. But exactly where and how?

Before dealing with the where and how, you need to ask yourself why.

Not why you need to be online, because we just answered that, but think about why you do what you do. What drives you in your field beyond the income? Why did you start this business in the first place? Answering those questions will help you define and drive your brand and market approach.

And THAT is attractive to your audience.

This type of thinking before defining your personal brand will get you noticed and is critical to long-term success. Consider the following as you’re preparing to launch your business online.

Yes, you should have your own website.

For a relatively low investment with lots of benefits, you can have your own exclusive online space. In addition to showcasing your business, or virtual shop, it provides you credibility and builds trust with your prospects and customers. 

The first step in this process is to purchase your selected company domain name with a domain name registrar, like GoDaddy. We are fans of sending our clients to GoDaddy as their support team is top-notch. Whether you’re building the site on your own with a WordPress template or having someone like us design and develop it for you, it’s important to communicate with GoDaddy your vision so they will set you up with the proper products and services to best fit your needs.

If you’re tackling the website mission on your own, you have lots of options and templates out there to choose from depending on how much time, money, and effort you are open to spending. 

If you’re hiring a professional to build your website, it’s critical to clearly communicate your vision and goals. There is so much to consider so you will need to plan your work then work your plan! 

• Consider the following that needs to be carefully thought out: 
• Customer experience when navigating the site
• Consistent visual branding with deliberately positioned images 
• Carefully added SEO keywords 
• Call to action buttons at strategic locations
• Creative fonts that match the brand

The assignment is to not only build you a website that is technically strong but also conveys your heart and vision for the future.  

Got your website live? Good job! But now it’s continuous work; you must keep it updated! Remember the credibility and trust that a website can give to your business? An obsolete website can do just the opposite. 

When it comes to websites, the above is just the tip of the iceberg. Look for upcoming iSellSocial posts for more website-building tips and insights. 

Getting started on social media

Most people spend quite some time online and on social networks. Take advantage of the opportunity and display your business on social media so you may build relationships with your targeted audience.

Should you be on all social networks? And what about content? Is it the same for all of them? Definitely not.

You must know who your target audience is and what social network they use. Younger people use TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter while middle-aged and older individuals mostly frequent Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Social Media Rule of Thumb

• If your business caters to other businesses, you need to focus on LinkedIn. 
• If you target the retail audience, the platforms to concentrate on are Facebook and Instagram.

Other platforms may provide benefits dependent on your offerings.

When you create a business profile on a social media platform, you have access to insights and data analysis that are key to understanding your public and define new strategies to reach the right people. You have the option to invest money to target prospects more accurately.

Be sure to encourage your clients to evaluate your business which is so important to building credibility.

Whether your business caters directly to the consumer or other businesses, I recommend one of the first social media profiles you create to be on Google Business. There you can register your company name, select the category, map your address, include your website, phone number, and people will be able to find and contact you.