How To Sell More With A Web Presence?

A web presence can give you an edge over the competition and is the first thing people check online when buying a product. These super-smart shoppers use search engines to research products and services, read customer reviews, post shopping experiences and discuss them online with their friends.

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As a savvy marketer, you can capitalize on this trend by developing your internet presence and knowing what the discussion is about you. Here are some key ingredients to improve your company's online presence and make sure you are visible to the target market using the internet.

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1) Start a business blog to help your customers

Are you ready to discover the power of blogging? Check out these statistics

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• Around 7 million blog posts are published each day

• 77% of internet users regularly read blogs

• 70% of consumers prefer blog posts to ads

• 54% of Fortune 500 companies have public-facing blogs

• Having a blog can increase your ranking potential by 434%

• Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors

• 69% of businesses attribute their lead generation success to blogging

• 92% of content marketers use blog posts as a part of their marketing statistics

• 60% of consumers say blog posts are valuable in the early stages of the buying process

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Blogging is one secret ingredient to consistently grow your website traffic, get new customers, build your email list, and become a leader in your space.

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How to write a blog post in easy steps?

Step 1: Create a plan for your blog post by selecting a topic, writing an outline, completing research, evaluating the competition, and double-checking the facts.

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Step 2: Select a headline that is both informative and appealing to readers.

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Step 3: Write your post in a single session or progressively work on sections of it.

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Step 4: Use images to improve the flow of your text, add humor, quotes and explain complex topics.

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Step 5: Share impressive brand examples with your statements  

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Step 6: Don’t forget to include the benefits, advantages, or disadvantages associated with the blog title

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Step 7: Read the blog post to check its flow, have someone read it, provide feedback and edit it if needed.

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Tips for writing a successful blog that promotes your business

Here are some top tips for writing and building a successful business blog:

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Write for your customers: Focus on researching the type of queries customers search on the search engine. The blog should aim at solving the customer's problem or provide fresh insight into the industry.

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Research the competition: Use Google keyword planner to research the keywords used by the competition. Plan content around them after identifying the keywords with good search volume. Then you can check the competition on the first page of the search engine for a particular keyword and observe their impactful points around it. 

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Create valuable content: The key to a successful business blog is giving your readers valuable content. Start with writing the introduction part of the blog. It has to be followed by statements, statistics, and case studies justifying the blog title. Then you can add more value to the blog by adding features, benefits, and the conclusion.

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Update your blog: A content-rich blog should be updated once or twice a year with the latest trends and changes in the market.

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Develop a blogging style: Always keep the sales pitch down. Please remember you are writing a blog to help people solve their problems. 

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Make your blog sharable: Research from Moz suggests that long-form content of over 1,000 words consistently receives more shares and links than shorter form content. You can start from smaller blogs and increase word count significantly over time.

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Measure the blog performance: Use Google Analytics tools to measure the blog's performance like page views, average time on page, average pages per session, returning visitors, goal conversion rate. Remember! more blogs on the website mean more coverage of competitive keywords, which attract more on-site traffic, thereby boosting website visibility online.

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2) Send out a press release

If you believe that you can attract organic traffic to your website by publishing more blogs, it is a huge mistake that can waste time. You can have the best product on the website, but it will not do well if no one knows about it or has seen it. It is where the power and effectiveness of a well-crafted press release come into play.

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How to write a press release?

Here is the proper format for writing an effective press release:

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Step 1: Write a headline highlighting the main news point

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Step 2: Write the introduction – try to answer as many as five W’s – Who, What, Why, When, Where in your first sentence

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Step 3: Answer the question – How do I know? It helps provide credibility

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Step 4: Essentials – This includes why the story is significant? Here you answer the question “So what?” and “How?”

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Step 5: Be sure to include:

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• Your brand name

• Vision, mission, and purpose

• Product assortment

• Statistics

• Where customers can find your store (e.g., offline location, upcoming event, website)

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Here are some popular PR websites: PRNewswire.com PR.com Newswire

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Benefits of a Press Release

Communicate with the target audience: A press release is an effective way to reach your target audience. Using print and online media can effectively help in getting your target audience.

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Grow organic traffic: The press release includes the target keywords that support your SEO efforts. SEO compliant press release increases your website traffic and ensures the website's top position in the search results. 

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Grow brand reputation: Featuring the brand story in the newspaper, magazines, news sites, blogs, and social media has a positive impact on brand reliability, image, and reputation.

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Visibility: Press release increases the visibility of your brand in the media. Brands can improve their recognition and chances of being preferred in the purchasing decision with press release activities planned for the long term.

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Generate more sales: A targeted press release can significantly impact the bottom line because it helps drum up customers' interest if it is innovative and sets you apart from competitors.

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Drive local foot traffic to your store: Press release distributions can help get people through the door if you have a brick-and-mortar shop.

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3) Create a Google My Business account

Do you know that 64% of consumers have used Google My Business to find contact details for a local business? Another 56% of actions on Google My Business listings are website visits, 24% of activities are calls for the company, and 20% are direct searches.

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A Google My Business (GMB) account is a free Google tool used by businesses to show their online presence. Online customers actively use it to search for nearby companies offering quality products and services. 

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How to set up a Google My Business account?

Step 1: Use https://www.google.com/business/ to sign in to Google My Business

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Step 2: Click Add your business to Google and select the appropriate business category

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Step 3: If your business has a physical location, then select Yes and add your address position on Google Maps

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Step 4: Enter your business contact number and website address so that customers can reach you

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Step 5: Click Finish and manage the listing.

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Step 6: Verify your business by Postcard by mail or other methods such as phone or email. It may take a few weeks to appear your business listing on Google after approval. Some of the most popular free business listings are BOTW AboutUs Spoke Yelp Foursquare Yellow Pages.

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Why do businesses need a Google My Business account?

Be discoverable: Google My Business ensures that they can find a nearby company when customers look for its details on Google search and Google Maps. A customer can find complete business details like company information, products, services, location, opening hours, customer experiences, and reviews. 

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Increase search visibility with posts: Brands can keep the customer updated by sharing what's new. The post can be an exclusive offer, event, festival greetings, changes in business protocol, and a lot more.

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Book Appointments: The appointment URL helps customers schedule a meeting time without ever leaving Google to book the appointment.

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Website ranks better in search results: By becoming a part of Google My Business, brands can let search engines know that they have disclosed accurate information about the company. This way, you stand out from your competitors, which can help you rank higher.

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Free Google advertising: A Google My Business listing is less expensive and faster to receive targeted exposure on search engines. It costs nothing to create, claim, and validate your listings, and it takes less time to improve your profile.

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Some of the other popular free business listings are BOTW AboutUs Spoke Yelp Foursquare Yellow Pages.

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4) Use social media to increase online presence

Business is where the customers are! You have heard it a hundred times. The number of people using social media is expected to cross 4.41 billion by 2025. It's no wonder that every growing and established brand is actively utilizing social media platforms to increase its online presence.

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Online presence is about quality and not quantity. Having one or two accounts with good engagement is better than having several accounts with weak activity. Here are some great tips to boost the online presence of your brand using social media:

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A) Focus on helping, not just advertising

Customers will run away from your brand page if you are only doing a sales pitch. So, brands must focus on helping the customers rather than selling their products. Providing helpful content in the form of short answers, solving product issues using conversations may help assist a broader group of visitors that would help attract more customers in the long run.

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B) seek relationships, not followers

1,000 active followers that engage with your posts will always be more valuable than 100,000 followers. Don't focus only on adding followers that won't bring you any traction or conversions. Start conversations, ask questions, and offer helpful advice on your social media account.

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C) Check the best time to boost engagement

The best time for engagement on social media varies according to the platform. 

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• The best time to post on Instagram is 11:00 AM on Wednesdays.

• The best time to post on Twitter is 8:00 AM on Mondays and Thursdays.

• The best time to post on LinkedIn is 9:00 AM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

• The best time to post on Facebook is 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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D) Create content that people want and need

Here are the top-ranked content desired by people on social media:

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• Blogs

• Social media posts

• News articles

• Videos

• Infographic content

• Interactive articles or tools

• Researched content

• Business- or work-related long-form content

• Pop culture or news related long-form content

• Screenshot from Twitter

• Podcasts

• Instagram Live

• Meme

• Poll

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Social bookmarking is one of the best strategies that help increase sales and revenue generation opportunities for business websites.

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How to create social bookmarking?

Step 1: Open a social bookmarking site like dribble and sign up using the name, email id, and password.

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Step 2: Create your profile – Fill up your Name, location, Bio, website URL, and click Save Profile.

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Step 3: Answer the options – What brings you to Dribble?

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Step 4: Look for filling missing information like Social Profiles – Twitter, Facebook, Google & Instagram, medium.com, LinkedIn profile ids. 

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Step 5: Click the profile option on the top right corner. You get a bookmarked link like https://dribbble.com/FyndPlatform if Fynd Platform is the company creating social bookmarking. 

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Top reasons why you must use social bookmarking for your website

Targeted traffic generation: One of the best features of social bookmarking sites is finding content based on a keyword. For example, if you are interested in "retail," you can type in the word "retail" in the search bar, and it will provide you with a list of sites. It is helpful as you can add multiple keywords based on the category. It will ensure that only interested people click on your link, thereby reducing the website bounce rate.

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Generate more leads: Lead generation is an integral part of doing business. People are always on the lookout for new offerings or content to educate themselves. Using a social bookmarking site will help you garner more qualified leads.

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Create more brand awareness: Creating a profile on top bookmarking sites will ensure that potential customers find your business with ease. The more you utilize social bookmarking sites for posting content, the more visibility your website will get.

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Expand internet footprints: When a customer types the name of your business on the search engine, they will see your business presence on the first page of search engine results using the social bookmarking sites.

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List of 10 most popular social bookmarking websites

• Twitter

• LinkedIn

• Pinterest

• Reddit

• Tumblr

• Mix

• Plurk

• Scoop

• Diigo

• Folkd

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These practical strategies help businesses grow their online presence, communicate with the targeted audience, generate targeted traffic, get more sales and develop a strong reputation in the market. Building an online presence takes time, but it pays off with greater brand visibility and increased sales in the industry.

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We hope this blog post has helped you learn new ways to make your web presence work for you. If you have any other questions or concerns about increasing sales with a web presence, we'd love to talk to you. Please get in touch with us today. We will help you build a web presence that brings in more customers.