The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it unprecedented changes to consumption habits and unforeseen challenges for businesses. In times like these, optimizing your web presence can be the key to keeping your business running.
Brick-and-mortar stores have had to innovate to keep from shutting down. Face-to-face contacts have decreased and some consumers are warier of making investments. However, not all actions have quieted down. Online activities have increased and even new customer groups have found their way online.
People are spending more and more time online, whether they are shopping, working, or just looking for things to do. The increasing amount of eyeballs surfing the web, creates opportunities for businesses to be seen.
To take the opportunity, it’s essential that your web presence is optimized for your target groups: that they can easily find you online, and that when they land on your page, the experience you’re offering is what they are looking for.
How To Optimize Your Web Presence
To start off, it’s important that your business has a home online. Preferably it’s a website, dedicated for your services.
After this, you should choose the social media or other channels, that are relevant for your audience.
Web presence optimization is about targeting your content to the right audiences, being active and present in the relevant channels and adjusting as you go, based on results.
Next, we’ll go through the three key ways of optimizing your web presence.
Search Engine Optimization – Be Found on Google
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is one of the most effective and affordable ways of gaining online visibility. By optimizing your website well, you can ensure that even new customers find their way to you. The goal of SEO is to reach a top three spot on search engines (like Google) for the keywords your potential customers would use when searching for services like yours.
In order to achieve good search engine rankings, start with the following:
- Pick the right keywords and use them in your content properly
- Create engaging content for your target groups
- Get backlinks and use other links appropriately
- Make sure things like page speed and responsiveness are in order
- Track the results of optimization and adjust accordingly
Another useful way of increasing your search engine visibility, is to create profiles for local listings such as Google My Business. This helps your business appear in searches made by audiences near you.
Paid Advertising – Buy More Visibility
Paid advertising is a great way to complement SEO in gaining online visibility. With Google Ads search ads, for example, you can get at the top of Google searches with predefined search terms. These ads resemble the so called “organic results” which Google ranks based on SEO. The difference is, that when a person clicks on an organic result, it’s without cost. With search ads, you pay for each unique click that leads to your website.
Even with Google Ads, it’s not a given your ad will end up at the top of search results. The position is determined e.g. by the relevance of your ad for the searcher, as well as on the price you’re willing to pay. Picking the right keywords is also essential in order to attract the right audiences and not waste your budget on irrelevant clicks.
You can also advertise with e.g. videos and using so called display campaigns, where your ads appear on other websites. Paid advertising can also be used on several social medias such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Here, it’s likewise important to carefully choose the audiences that see your ad.
Content Marketing – Generate Interest
Content marketing is essentially about creating engaging content for your desired audiences. This can mean writing a blog post, or e.g. creating a video or a social media post. Which ever content you create, it shouldn’t force your products upon the reader but rather offer something that’s useful or inspiring for the recipient. Engaging content enhances your expertise and helps build a positive image.
Sometimes it’s worthwhile to consider printed products to complement your digital marketing. Now, that people spend more time at home, many have the time to dig into a magazine delivered to their mailbox. Create prints that are tailored to the recipients, and make sure your message won’t pass them by.
In planning content marketing, consider the following:
- What kind of content could my audience be looking for?
- Where are they active online (websites and social media), ie. where should I post my content?
- Is my content well found online or should I also use printed communication?
Now, even if you are not trading at the moment, it’s still worth while to consider these marketing measures. Investing in especially SEO and content marketing will pay off in the long run. By gaining visibility you can make sure customers find you, both now and in the future. By offering interesting content, they will stay interested and remember you even when the crisis is over.
Let Us Help You In Web Presence Optimization
We at Verkkovaraani have gained good results in web presence optimization for our clients.
In March 2020, we started improving the digital marketing of a Finnish roof maintenance company RoofFin Oy. We created two pages for their new website on the wash and coating of tile roofs and plate roofs. Within two months, the pages have reached the competed first spot in Google with 7 desired search terms. Thanks to the high rankings and new Ads campaigns, the amount of site visitors has more than doubled within this time. The amount of contacts and sales has grown.
To complement web presence optimization, you can use our nopea.media service to reach and serve your clients both online and offline. With our plugin, you can easily turn your web content, such as blog posts, into print-ready products and send them to your potential customers’ home.
Optimizing your web presence and strengthening your customer relationships, will help you succeed beyound the short term. Get in touch, and we’ll make sure you get found and can keep your business up and running.