Things To Consider When Creating Your Online Presence

Creating your online presence is important in todays world of Internet connectivity.  Web presence, or online presence, is a broad term that includes websites, networking sites and other mentions of your business where potential customers can find you easily. Most online searches are brief, so your online presence needs to take advantage of the short time a person might look at your information. Be precise and clear about the benefits of your business and what your business is capable of doing for a customer. In all online web presences you should include a link to your website and clear contact information in the form of email and phone. This will allow people who prefer different forms of communication to reach you quickly.

Your web presence might take the form of:

• A website that shares your business name, logo, contact information, services, location and any accreditations or associations in the business community.
• Networking sites offer you a chance to build a profile using your company’s name. You can then post coupons, informational pieces or links to helpful articles as a way of publicizing yourself or your business.  Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal, LinkedIn and Digg are sites that can help in creating your online presence.
• Blogs (web + log = blog) are typically websites that have a series of articles. A blog on changes in your business, updates on what is in stock or new industry information would be a good advertising use of a blog. Since they are updated regularly, blogs can take more time and effort to maintain than a typical website but provide a bigger return.
• Links, often called hyperlinks, are the words that people click on to find your website. Links to your website or networking sites are a fast and easy way to spread the news about your web presence. You can include links at the bottom of every email, resume, comments on blogs that are related to your work and networking site posts.

Whether your web presence takes the form of a resume on a job site or an entire website, make sure that the kind of site you create is appropriate to your business. A fun and light-hearted approach on the web will work well in a children’s doctor’s office rather than a law office.

Understanding your target audience, your business and what you want out of the online world will make creating your online presence that much easier.