What era could be better than today’s digital age, when small businesses can promote themselves globally without investing a fortune?

The Small business online presence is becoming more important than ever.

Brands, enterprises, and even solopreneurs invest time, effort, and money to build online presence.

The reasons are obvious: most consumers prefer searching for products and services online instead of visiting in person.

Thanks to the internet’s founder, it is easier for us to access information in just a few clicks.

But before anything else, it is also important to know that small business struggle with online presence due to fierce competition. However, it does not mean you cannot successfully build an online presence for your small business.

Before diving into how to create online presence, it is important to know what online presence means.

What Does Online Presence Mean

Contrary to the belief, online presence means making a website, creating social profiles, and sharing content.

However, online presence is not just about creating a fancy website, adding content, and sharing it on social media.

Online presence includes all the entities that a business owns on the internet, whether it be content, videos, forums, social media, SEM, online directories, mobile and web apps, web design, infographics, and so much more.

It can be in any form or any medium where users interact with your business. But the idea behind creating an online presence is to be in front of billions of people searching for solutions in the form of products or services.

Digital presence for online businesses in today’s digital era is no less than a money-making machine. As billions of searches are performed daily, you cannot afford to miss your online presence.

Let’s talk about some of the statistics revealing how an online presence for small businesses can benefit them.

Online Business Statistics 2022

• Nearly 71% of businesses have their own website.
• 36% of small-personal businesses are making sales online
• 29% of Businesses operated in the United States are done online
• 92% of consumers visit a business’ website for the first time for a reason other than making a purchase.
• Approximately 1.79 billion people shopped online last year.

Benefits of Online Presence for Small Business

Digital presence for small businesses is not because everyone is doing and so should you.

As we have seen in the statistics previously, 92% of consumers visit business websites, not just for the sake of purchase.

Consumers visit websites to gain more information about businesses, products, and services offered and check existing customer reviews.  

Due to digital presence, most small businesses have scaled up to multimillion-dollar companies over the years.

So how could you benefit from digital presence as a small business?

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of online presence for small businesses in 2023 and beyond.

Starting Cost is Low

Unlike traditional marketing and business, online businesses can be started at a minimum cost.

Imagine opening an electronic store near your area selling smart devices, home appliances, and other tech gadgets. Firstly you need to rent a place where you could showcase your products.

Once you have set up the store, you need to hire human resources to manage various departments, from sales to inventory management and handling accounts.

Don’t forget to add other utilities such as electricity, internet, and other bills. Marketing and promotion are yet to be done. Roughly calculate the cost and see how expenses would go up, up, and beyond your reach.

Now imagine building your online presence for your small business.

Unless you are not going for paid ads, most of the marketing can be done for free.

For instance, creating a Facebook page for your business, an Instagram account to reach the target audience, or sharing pins on Pinterest to promote your business are all free.

You only need to pay for buying a domain and hosting for your website. If you could single-handedly manage it, you don’t even need to incur extra costs to hire someone to manage and look after your website.

The same goes for social media marketing, email marketing, and Search Engine Optimization. Many small businesses developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that too with the power of digital and online presence.

Market Reach Expands Globally

Online presence for small business comes with many benefits, which includes global reach.

Once you set up your business online, it frees you from geographical constraints. As the world has transformed into a global village, an online presence allows you to break the shackles of borders.

It allows you to reach a target audience globally, whether it be related to consumer products or services.

However, to reach the target audience globally, you need to increase your web presence across different platforms such as forums, directories, social media, and Web 3.0. Unlike traditional businesses, online businesses allow everyone to access your products/services 24/7.

Moreover, you don’t need to have a physical location to start an online business, but surely need to build credibility and trust among the global audience.

It could never be done without promoting yourself on platforms where your target audience is waiting for a solution.

Promoting to Right Audience

Unlike traditional marketing for small businesses, digital marketing works differently. You can try and test different strategies to look for results that bring maximum output.

For instance, if you use the traditional method, you might promote your product/service using telemarketing, flyers, brochures, and giveaways.

Once you invest money, there is no looking back.

Just take the example of printing thousands of flyers and brochures without knowing how well it works and whether your target audience got the message or not.

Printing and distributing flyers and brochures require some cost, which cannot be taken back. Digital marketing is way different than traditional marketing.

Whether you are a startup or an established business, you can try and test different strategies for a specific time.

You can adopt other methods and platforms if one strategy fails to reach your target audience. That too without blowing your money all at once.

Here are a few ways to reach out to potential customers through an online presence. 

Stunning Website 

Creating a stunning website is the cornerstone and first step towards reaching out your potential customers. 

Surprisingly, one out of three small businesses doesn’t have its own website.

(source)

A website is just like a store in the locality selling products that cater to consumers’ needs. 

However, your website cannot be found anywhere on the web unless you don’t optimize your web copies and blogs with target keywords. 

A website needs to stay updated and fresh with content to inform readers and convert them into leads. 

Social Media Presence

Having a social media presence and a cool website helps reach potential customers. 

A study found that when businesses engage customers on social media, the shopper will spend 19% more than the average customer

(source)

Social media is free to use unless you go for paid campaigns. 

Make sure to regularly feed your social media with relevant content to engage and reach a wider target audience. 

Moreover, staying active on social media and engaging with followers will increase your chances of turning followers into leads. 

But remember that not every social media platform is suitable for all types of businesses. 

For instance, if you offer home decor services, the best platform would be Instagram and Pinterest rather than Twitter or LinkedIn. 

Create Content regularly 

Content can be created in many forms, including blogs, podcasts, videos, online brochures, and eBooks. 

If you want to reach your target customers, creating content frequently will help you do so. 

The purpose of creating content is to keep your audience updated and informed about your offerings. 

Whether it be a digital marketing solution, cloud storage, or any SaaS product, you can increase user engagement and convert them by providing the information they want. 

For instance, if you are writing blogs on your website, you can talk about what the audience faces problems and how your product/service can help them. 

Moreover, a detailed short video explaining your product/service would likely reach millions and convert hundreds of customers. 

But creating content is not enough unless you don’t include a call to action button. 

Don’t leave your target audience wandering around your website or social media platforms to purchase the product or simply look into details about it. 

The Money is in the List – Grow Your Subscribers 

Once potential customers land on your website and find it relevant to their problems, they might not visit it again or simply forget after a while. 

Keep in touch with them by asking them to fill up the form and signup for a newsletter to get the latest updates. 

One of the most effective ways to grow your subscriber list is to give a free eBook solution to their pain points. 

Once they sign up, use the contact information to feed them with the latest updates about your products/services, new features, and other relevant information. 

However, don’t let the subscribers unsubscribe from your list by sending them too many emails. 

Once you have collected the visitors’ information, they might convert in the future, if not now. 

Paid Advertisement

In the early days, don’t expect to drive massive traffic and attract the audience on a large scale. 

Much effort and time is required to get to the position, as SEO strategy would take several months to show results. 

However, there is no need to worry as you can also go for a paid advertisement to gain early traction and a few sales through paid advertisement. 

It is highly effective if you want to gain traction early on without spending time. 

Google, Bing, Facebook, and other platforms offer you paid advertisement platforms to promote your product/service to the targeted audience. 

Guest Posting 

Guest posting is another way to reach your target audience. 

Find niche-specific websites related to your business, contact their owners, and ask them to place your link on their website. 

However, in doing so, you first need to find out the amount of traffic they are getting and from which region the traffic is driven. 

For instance, if your target is in the United States, whereas the webmaster’s website is driving traffic mainly from Nigeria, there is no use. 

Some webmasters would charge a nominal fee, while other websites like Forbes and Huffington Post would charge from a few hundred to a thousand dollars. 

Find out what suits your budget and how much the website is worth bargaining for. 

Users Feel More Connected

What can be more important for a business and customers to stay connected with each other?

Customers love to engage with brands to know more about the business and its offerings. Whereas businesses that are just building up would find it helpful to know more about what customers need.

But remember that it is impossible without picking the right online platforms where hungry customers are looking for solutions.

The best part is you can address your customers’ queries without additionally investing in support.

Convenience and Flexibility

The convenience of digital presence is well-known to everyone. No matter what type of business you are operating, a digital presence will allow you to provide ease, flexibility, and convenience to customers.

From getting business information to buying products or services, your website is always open to access around the year 24/7, and similarly, your other platforms. For instance, if you are running a website selling digital and SaaS products, your customers can purchase anytime from any part of the world.

According to statistics, 60 percent of smartphone users have directly contacted businesses through the click-to-call option.

(Source)

The numbers say it all, and even if the customers do not purchase anything, you are at least found by them.

Scaling Up the Business

Taking your business online allows you to reach the masses globally, along with reduced cost, increased credibility, and great convenience.

All of these factors lead to huge potential for your business to scale up.

For instance, if you were focusing on a website for your business promotion and got a good response, the next step would be to look for other online platforms and techniques such as video marketing, social media marketing, and Search Engine Marketing.

Even if you are handling brick-and-mortar stores side by side, the potential to grow and scale your business becomes higher.

However, you need to adopt the right small business online presence strategy to reap the fruit.

What Makes a Good Online Presence?

We have seen the benefits of online presence for small businesses in the previous section. You have made a website and social media profiles and listed your business in online directories.

Is this enough to help your business increase revenue and scale up in the near future?

The answer is “No.”

Simply putting your website online and making social profiles is not enough. In fact, the competition is growing with each passing day, and your business might be lost in the buzz of millions of other voices.

What makes a good online presence, or simply how to evaluate your online business presence?

Here’s what makes a good online presence.

Increase in Traffic to Your Website

A good online presence can be determined by the traffic you get on your website.

There are free and paid tools to help you analyze your website’s performance.

Google Analytics is far better than any paid tool because it allows you to track website visitors, how they land on your page and their interaction on the website.

If you are targeting people from a specific country, Google Analytics will also help you track it. Moreover, Google Analytics also allows you to track devices used to access your website.

You can even customize Google analytics by setting goals, trackers, and other events.

Social Media Reach and Performance

Digital presence is incomplete without social media.

As most people spend most of their time on social media, you can’t miss the opportunity to grab their attention and convert them.

When tracking your online presence, looking for what social media channels you choose is vital.

For instance, if you are selling SaaS products or any other business-related services, LinkedIn and Twitter are the best instead of TikTok or Pinterest.

Once you have created profiles on social media, check the frequency of sharing posts, how users interact, the number of likes, shares, and comments will determine the engagement level. However, if you want to gain deeper insight, you need to compare it with your competitors and see how good your social media performance is.

Organic social media reach and engagement will be key factors in determining how well your social media strategy works.

Ranking of Keywords and Visibility on Search Engines  

The importance of having a website for small businesses cannot be undermined.

But creating a fancy website without optimizing it with target keywords will bring no results.

• Firstly it is important to extract keywords from tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs.
• Targeting low-competition keywords with high volume will help you rank easily compared to difficult ones.
• Make sure to have a blog as well to create posts optimized with keywords and help the reader’s pain points.
• Your website needs to be optimized and every other platform you use to reach your target audience. It includes everything from guest posts to press releases and listings to forum comments.
• Once you have done enough work, it is time to analyze traffic, ranking keywords, and conversions.

If these numbers show an upward trend, your website presence is good enough to make an impact. 

However, you need to know the difference between low-quality traffic and high-quality traffic. 

For instance, if you are driving loads of traffic through irrelevant keywords to your business, it is no use. 

In comparison, if your website traffic is low, but the keywords are highly relevant and match search intent, you will likely convert those visitors into leads. 

Make sure that the content you publish is optimized with keywords based on search intent. 

Try to figure out keywords that match search intent and people frequently ask. 

Here’s how to distinguish between high-quality traffic and low-quality traffic. 

High-Quality Traffic 

• Visitors are interested in your content
• More chances to convert
• Will buy the product/service in the future. 

Whereas low-quality traffic will turn off the visitor, with no chance of conversion, and will not buy the product in the future. 

High-quality traffic to your website is driven through highly relevant keywords. 

Make sure to optimize your pages, blogs, meta tags, headings, and alt text with relevant keywords. 

Moreover, you also need to alter keywords based on demographics, criteria, and location to appeal masses. 

Picking the right keywords for your website that drive quality traffic takes a lot of time. 

Instead of randomly picking the keywords that drive low-quality traffic, take your time and pick only keywords that match user intent. 

Choose the right keywords if the keyword volume is low and competitive.  

Track Mentions of Your Business

A good digital presence is all about how many people are informed about your business.

For instance, if you offer an SEO tool to help webmasters and digital marketers, make sure to look on different social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, like Quora and Reddit, for mentions.

The more the popularity of your product, the better your online presence is. You can also check what consumers say about your business and its offerings.

Note down all the negative and positive feedback to better understand your future plans.

How to Setup Small business Online Presence?

Whether it be small or big business, you need to ensure devising an online presence management strategy for better reach.

It all starts with building a website, creating a content strategy, implementing best SEO practices, and so much more.

As a startup, you need to start everything from scratch; it feels quite intimidating.

Initially, you might scuffle just like any other small business struggle with online presence.

But that does not mean you should not take your first step. If you are serious about your small business’s digital presence, here’s how to do it rightly.

Build a Website

Online presence management for small business starts with a website. Nowadays, building a website does not require you to learn complex coding or language.

With a few simple clicks, you can install Content Management System like WordPress on your website.

Moreover, you can pick from thousands of easily customizable themes according to your requirements. 

A clean, minimalistic, easy-to-navigate, and responsive website is what attracts users.

Visitors looking for a quick solution will not spend much time navigating your website to find the desired page, product, or contact info.

A good website is responsive, clean, user-friendly that is pleasing to the eyes, and offers a seamless experience, people love to explore and navigate.

However, before anything else, you must buy a domain and hosting plan to build your website. If you are unsure how to do it, you can watch tutorials on YouTube to get started.

NameCheap, GoDaddy, Hostinger, InMotion Hosting, and BlueHost are a few of the websites to buy a domain and hosting for your website. 

Choose a theme that well matches your business offerings.

You can take ideas from your competitor or similar websites.

Most small business owners are of the wrong belief that if they are not selling products online, there is no need to have a website.

It’s not the case because, in the digital era, showing your presence is the most important part.

However, if you have a brick-and-mortar store, you need to develop your website to share contact info, services, and other relevant information.

Hiring Web Design Agency

When a visitor accesses your website, it is similar to entering brick and mortar store.

The more appealing the look is, the likelihood of spending more time will increase.

When it comes to website design, you cannot put it behind and let it go just to avoid hiring a web design agency.

However, hiring a web design agency for website design and development services is not less than investing in something profitable.

Here’s how hiring a web design agency helps you in boosting your website’s performance.

Custom Design for Deeper Understanding

Every small business online operates differently, which requires you to create a website that matches your goals.

Hiring a web design agency will help you develop a user-friendly website that engages visitors and make them stay longer.

The more time they spend, the better they learn about your company and its products/services.

In addition, your website is your brand voice that must create a long-lasting impression on customers.

That is where a web design agency makes it possible by creating a stunning design, meaningful logo, and aesthetic feel.

Helps in Search Engine Rankings

SEO is not about picking the right keywords, creating backlinks, and keeping your website fresh and updated.

It’s also creating a user-friendly design to help visitors navigate seamlessly.

And if the website’s speed takes time to load, it might affect your rankings.

That is where a web design agency comes to the rescue and helps design a website that is super-fast and easy to navigate for anyone.

Web Design Agency Makes a Website Responsive

A responsive website means that people can access websites on the go on their smartphones.

As most website traffic comes from tablets and smartphones, an unresponsive design could lead to missing out on a major chunk of traffic.

A web design agency will help you design your business website that can seamlessly be accessed on all devices.

Moreover, a responsive website plays an important role in boosting your website’s traffic and ranking, leading to better SEO.

Stay on Top of Competitors

While researching, the chances are visitors will access your competitor’s website.

To stay on top of competitors and attract visitors to take action, you need to make a long-lasting impression to convert them into leads.

Hiring a web design agency will help you develop and design your website from scratch or revamp the existing one to improve the experience.

Staying on top of your competitors and leaving a long-lasting impression is only possible if you hire a professional web design agency.

Focus on SEO when Building Your Website

Search Engine Optimization or SEO goes hand in hand when building your online presence.

If the term ‘SEO’ is alien to you, it is a process of optimizing your website with keywords to rank on the top of Google searches.

It all starts with keyword research as we have mentioned previously.

After you have extracted your keywords, write blogs and optimize it with relevant keywords.

Keep in mind that some keywords are good to use in your blog while others are to be optimized on different pages, including the service page, portfolio, the home page, or other categories. 

However, make sure not to over-optimize it because Google considers it spam.

SEO has two main parts:

• 1.    On-Page SEO
• 2.    Off-Page SEO

On-page SEO includes:

• Including keywords in your URL
• Using Short URLs
• Use Keyword in Title Tag
• Use keywords in H1, H2, H3, Tags
• Optimize Images
• Use LSI Keywords
• Internal and external linking to your pages and keywords

Off-Page SEO includes:

• Backlinks from other Websites
• Reviews and Recommendations
• Social media
• Content marketing

SEO is changing rapidly due to Google’s algorithm update released after a few months or sometimes weeks. Yes, it requires you to put effort every day, but once you hit the nail right, you can’t imagine how beneficial it would be.

Once your keywords start to rank on top search results, your small business online presence will be felt within days if not weeks.

If you cannot learn SEO, you can outsource SEO services to an agency or hire someone as a freelancer or in-house to gain online business visibility.

Get Active on Social Media

Social media is widely used by millions of people across the globe, including USA, UK, Australia, and Canada.

If you want to build a strong online presence, you need to be active on social networks.

A study by Statista reveals that there are approximately 233 million social media users.

Whereas according to the report by Manifest, 74% of consumers follow brands on social media and 96% users interact with brands over social media.

It is not compulsory to have an account on every social site.

Make sure to do some research and find where your target audience is.

The best approach is to look for your competitor’s social media platforms and get an idea.

How TikTok is Beneficial for Small Businesses

One of the highly popular social media platforms that has not only entertained youth and teenagers but also benefited many big and small businesses. 

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms offering businesses and consumers a way to connect with each other.

Small businesses can connect and engage with their target audience with short and enticing video clips.

Especially if you are running an ecommerce store, TikTok will be the best platform to showcase your products.

TikTok is no less popular than Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

There are almost 1 billion active users on TikTok, which means you can catch the eyes of thousands, if not millions, of potential buyers.

As you might have scrolled through different TikTok videos, where brands display their product by showing unique features, unboxing products, or offering huge discounts.

It allows you to market in front of millions for free and convert them.

Another great advantage of showing your presence on TikTok is its engagement level.

An average user spends approximately 858 minutes per month, which is increasing with each passing year.

With so many users actively using TikTok, you can ensure high brand engagement. 

If you have not utilized TikTok for your business benefit, start today and see how big your business grows. 

Why Your Business Should not be on All Social Media Platforms

Many small businesses think that setting foot on every social media platform will help them drive more customers and increase engagement. 

However, it comes down to quality over quantity. 

Take an example of social media platform where your target audience is far from missing. 

How would you expect to have an impact on your sales and engagement?

However, if the social media platform is picked rightly after analyzing different factors, you are likely to save time and effort. 

Here are a few reasons not to be on every social media platform 

• Creating engaging and creative content for social media is time-consuming. Imagine if you have to design several posts for different platforms, and your time and efforts all go in vain. 
• The purpose of sharing posts on social media is to reach potential customers. But what if your target audience does not exist on the platforms you share? It would be a complete waste of time.
• Quantity over quality will only benefit you for a short span. Therefore, choosing social media platforms wisely after analyzing your target audience is important. Create content that engages customers and connects them with your brand

Create a Profile on All Local Directories

Whenever you are in search of a plumber or electrician near your area, what’s the first thing you do?

You simply go to directories like Yelp or Yellow Pages to find service providers in your area. It will be a surprising fact for you that Yelp gets 178 Million visits every month. 

Moreover, Alexa and Siri also use Yelp information to give answers especially related to local searches. Creating profiles on local directories will help you to increase your brand’s visibility among thousands of people.

If you are offering solutions in a particular region, make sure to take advantage of local directories, particularly Yelp. These local directories offer you free listing to boost your presence online and reach your target audience.

Most directories also offer paid promotions to display your services on top of the list.

Create Google Map Profile

86% of customers search Google Maps before visiting a business

Whenever you are searching for some product or service, you would either directly enter the name of the company on Google or search for relevant keywords.

On entering the company’s name, you will come up with a dialog box showing directions, phone number, and website. You must also list your business on Google Maps to claim your profile and edit information accordingly.

Moreover, by adding your business address on Google Map Profile, you will appear in search results, whenever someone is trying to find a business near their area.

Another great benefit of creating a profile is that your customers can add reviews, which helps know your weaknesses and strengths.

Lastly, creating a Google Map Profile increases your website’s SEO, which helps your target audience know more about you.

Get Reviews

You small business online presence is now reaping fruitful rewards. People are much aware of your brand and the solutions you are offering.

You need to get some reviews to add extra topping to your business’s credibility and trustworthiness.

How can you get reviews for your small business online?

The answer is by contacting webmasters and bloggers to write detailed review about your products and services.

It might cost you money, but these reviews will be helpful in getting more customers in the future. Moreover, you can also ask your existing customers to give a review on social media, local directory, or Google Map Profile.

Most people would be reluctant to write reviews, but no need to worry. You can offer a free giveaway such as digital downloads, a free extended trial, an eBook, or any other gift that would motivate them to leave a review.

Get Video Testimonials

Building trust among your target audience is hard.

No one would ever buy your product or service unless they get some validation.

Video testimonials are highly recommended to create a deeper and more emotional appeal for your business.  

According to the study, 92% of the consumers said that they look for testimonials before making a purchase decision.

(Source)

While 70% of participants in the study said that video testimonials build greater trust in specific business.

(Source)

To get video testimonials, you can either ask your existing customer to do a favor.

Or you can invite your customer to give an interview and talk about your business and its impact.

Once you have recorded the testimonial or interview, distribute it across platforms, including YouTube, Vimeo, and social media platforms.

Another great way is to run an ad on social media about the testimonial given by your customer.

How to Improve Online Business Presence

Up till now you have done much of the work to build your business presence online.

But the fact is you need to improve it day in and day out to stand ahead of competitors and improve your position on Google.

Here’s all you need to know how to improve online business presence after you have set up your small business.

Is Your Website Driving Traffic?

After setting up your website and writing few blogs, don’t expect to see a huge spike in traffic. 

Wait for a while, since Google takes time to crawl your website and index pages. 

After a month or two, if Google Analytics is showing an upward spike, it’s a sign that your strategies are working well.

However, if your website’s traffic is stagnant or declining, you need to write more SEO-optimized blogs, tweak your web copies, increase backlinks, and share more.

In addition, track your website’s overall performance, such as site speed, crawl errors, non-indexed pages, and so on.

You can improve your online business presence on search engines by doing all the aforementioned steps.

Reach New Customers with Ads

Your SEO efforts are showing positive results.

Keywords are ranking in top positions, traffic is increasing, and social engagement is on the rise, but they are still not getting enough customers.

Don’t worry; if you want to reach your target audience more quickly, you can always run paid ads on Google, social media, and other platforms.

 Social Media Ads

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube allow you to run targeted ads to attract more customers.

It not only brings more customers but also increases your brand awareness, improves brand loyalty, increases leads for your business, and provides useful data.

As discussed earlier, social media is used by millions of people worldwide.

Paid ads on social media will help you reach your target audience at a large scale without spending much.

Instead of waiting for organic results and engagements, you can try paid advertisements on social media to gain more visibility among potential customers.

Google Ads

Problem finding new customers or increasing your brand’s visibility?

Don’t worry, Google Ads is there to help you reach your target audience without waiting for long.

You can run a Google ad campaign if you are struggling with organic results and increasing your business visibility online.

But to make it effective, make sure to target keywords that people in the region search.

If not done rightly, Google ads campaign would leave you with an empty bank account.

So don’t waste your money; hire an expert to get the job done.

The campaign is highly effective, if you want to gain more visibility in less time or you want to drive more sales at specific times of the year.

Start Building an Email List

One of the best ways to build an online presence for a small business is to develop and grow your email list.

An email list will help you stay connected with your current customers and engage your potential customers on a monthly or weekly basis.

To develop your email list, you need to create gated content that users need to sign up to receive. Moreover, you can also create an opt-in form on your website where readers can sign up to receive notifications whenever you share something new.

Some of the best email marketing tools include HubSpot, MailChimp, GetResponse, and many more.

Leverage the Power of Short-Form Content

55% of Visitors Read Your Articles For 15 Seconds or Less

Short-form content is concise, to the point, and addresses the pain points or solutions people are looking for.

It is not only limited to writing blog posts, but also includes short videos, a presentation, infographics, or Facebook/Instagram reels.

Short-form content is easy to consume; normally, people have short attention spans. Make sure you are not wasting opportunities available at your disposal and do more in less.

Whatever benefits your customers/audience, it would help you gain more engagement and visibility across all platforms.

Bottom Line – small business online presence

How to gain an online presence for small businesses in the digital age is somewhat challenging and competitive. 

In this article, we have answered questions in a concise manner to help you get an overview of why it is important for small businesses to show online presence. 

Moreover, we have discussed ways to increase web presence and what a good online presence looks like. 

Make sure to start your web presence by building a website and updating it frequently by writing blogs to gain traffic organically. 

After that, when you have set up your website, go for social media, video marketing, and local directories to gain visibility among potential customers. In short, all you need to know about small business online presence.

Don’t invest or waste money on promoting your small business through ads.

Marketing plays a pivotal role in the success or failure of any business. The better and more strategic it is, the more the chances of success.

On the contrary, if the business fails to plan and deploy marketing strategies correctly, it might end up packing the business soon.

Keeping yourself up-to-date with marketing jargon and key marketing terms is important in today’s digital age. Unless you rely solely on offline business and traditional marketing techniques, learn common marketing terms to keep yourself abreast.

The year 2022 is about to end and to stay ahead of competitors in 2023, you need to keep yourself updated about marketing terms and concepts.

Let’s dive straight into some of the common marketing terms to know in 2023-2024.

Basic Marketing Terms

Firstly it is important to shed some light on basic marketing terms commonly used, whether digital marketing or traditional marketing.

Brand Identity

Brand identity is representative of your brand’s personality and positioning and tops the marketing terms list. It includes everything from the value of your brand to how you communicate your product and what your customers feel when interacting with it.

It helps customers differentiate your brand from the rest of your competitors. Some examples of brand identity elements include brand name, logo, graphics and images, color scheme, typography, tone and voice, jingles, slogans, and catchphrases.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the common term used in marketing. It determines the level of customer expectation by using a company’s product or service.

Simply put, it determines whether customers feel content after using the company’s product or service. 

Whether you have gone completely digital or relying solely on a traditional business and marketing model, customer satisfaction is the core of your brand’s long-term success.

Customer Retention

Customer retention refers to the amount of customer loyalty or how often the client returns to the brand to purchase a product/service.

Around 18% of businesses focus on customer retention, while 44% focus on customer acquisition.

Factors leading to high or low customer retention include customer experience, customer support, product/service variety, and advertisement channels.

Brand Image

Unlike brand identity, you can’t take control of brand image. It is how customers recognize your company, products, or services. But keep in mind that brand image is not always related to buying of products or services.

Sometimes brand image tarnishes over time due to poor customer support or failure to leverage features rivals offer. A good brand image attracts new customers, introduces new products easily, and improves customer relationships.

Buyer Persona

The buyer persona is a fictional representation of your target audience that addresses their pain points and solutions. Its purpose is to help content creators to develop content around the target audience and provide personalized solutions.

Developing a buyer persona allows you to increase customers, boost brand awareness, and grow your sales.

Buyer persona in digital marketing accounts for over 90% of the company’s sales.

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer lifetime value is the expected amount of money a customer will spend on your product or service.

The customer lifetime value formula can help you calculate CLV:

Customer lifetime Value= Average Total Order Amount x Average number of purchases per year x retention rate.

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is the process of placing your brand in the minds of your customers and differentiating from your competitors. 

It allows you to set your brand apart from the rest by communicating with the customers what they will get and differentiating you from all other products/services. Brand positioning examples include Coca-Cola, which has been serving customers with soda for 125 years.

Moreover, brand positioning also sets us apart from the rest by bringing joy, happiness, sharing, and friendship to be in a better position.

Another example of brand positioning is Apple, setting a benchmark for companies related to technology and smart devices.

Digital Marketing Terms Glossary to Know In 2023-2024

Digital marketing needs no introduction as it is being adopted by businesses to reach the greater target audience and increase revenue.  

However, some marketers might not be aware of all digital marketing terms due to their extensiveness and enormity.

Let’s briefly explain digital marketing terms to know in 2023-2024.

A/B Tests

Digital marketers use A/B tests to figure out which of the two variants performs better. Some examples of A/B tests include email marketing campaigns, social posts, landing pages, or display ads.

While performing A/B tests, half of the audience receives the first version, whereas the second half receives the second version.

The performance is measured based on conversion rate, including completion of the form, product checkout, and percentage of clicks.

Abandoned Cart

Common marketing terminology used extensively in eCommerce is abandoned cart.

An abandoned cart is a term used when a user adds a product to a cart but does not checkout to complete the buying process.

The reason might vary, such as higher cost compared to other stores or the customer is not satisfied with the product’s price.

Most e-commerce platforms like Ali Express send personalized email alerts the shoppers to complete the checkout process.

Affiliate Marketing

You might have heard of this term while browsing websites and researching how to start an online business.

Affiliate marketing is the process where a webmaster or content creator promotes the products/services of a vendor and earns a commission when someone purchases from the unique affiliate link.

Affiliate marketing allows you to earn money without having an inventory or creating a product/service from scratch. You can start working on affiliate marketing right now. 

All it requires is the cost of domain and hosting, which will be no more than $50-$100 per year.

However, if you want to use the premium theme in your affiliate website, your cost would increase, but at the start, you can start using free ones.

Some of the biggest and most renowned affiliate programs include Clickbank, Amazon Associates, Rakuten, and ShareaSale.

AdSense

AdSense is a program by Google that allows publishers to earn revenue by displaying ads on their websites. The ads can be in the form of video, text, or images.

If you are new to blogging or digital marketing and thinking of earning passive income by displaying ads, AdSense is a viable option.

The pay rates differ from one ad to another and depend on pay per click basis.

Alt Text

Alt Text, also known as alternative text, is the text that is displayed when you hover your mouse over the image.

The text is written in the HTML code of the web page to help users know what’s in the image if the image is not shown. The purpose of Alt text is to serve people with low vision or blindness.

While in some cases, users might turn to images to load web pages faster.

Backlinks

Backlinks are the links to your website from other websites, also known as inbound links.

These links are created for the purpose of driving traffic from high-authority websites with massive traffic.

Quality and relevant backlinks play a major role in ranking on top of Google as it signals the popularity of your website.

Blog

The term blog is somewhat known to everyone these days because most of them own it.

However, to make it clear, a blog is a short form of a weblog, a journal where writers share their knowledge, thoughts, and experience.

The blog is a great way to generate organic traffic, provided that it is optimized with keywords.

For instance, Search Engine Journal publishes blogs on various fields of digital marketing, such as SEO, content marketing, social media, and many more.

The purpose is to share knowledge with the readers and generate traffic to the website.

A company that has launched a new SaaS product will inform readers about what its product does and how it could benefit them.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to your website who, without taking action, such as buying a product/service, clicking on the link, or navigating to other pages, leave your site.

It is also one of Google’s ranking factors. The study has revealed that bounce rate was directly associated with Google’s first-page ranking.

A high bounce rate means you need to tweak your website to enhance user experience.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving a website’s visibility against keywords (Search queries) and, as a result, driving more traffic to it.

To gain more visibility, you need to consider improving the following elements:

•  Types of a search query that your target audience is searching for
•  Learn how a search engine crawls, index, and discover content
• Optimizing your blogs and web pages to help search engines know more about it.

According to BrightEdge, 68% of online experiences start with a search engine.

While 53.3% of website traffic comes from organic search.

Two major types of SEO include:

1.    On-Page SEO

2.    Off-Page SEO

On-page SEO involves many components, such as Meta Tags, keyword optimization, alt tags, keywords, geotargeting, site speed, responsive design, and URL structure.

While off-page SEO involves backlinks, social signals, branded searches, E-A-T, and reputation signals.

Keyword(s)

The keyword is a word visitors, or customers search on search engines to get the desired answer or results. Typically, keywords are optimized in the blogs and web copies so that search engines can filter the results against the keyword when typed in by visitors.

For instance, if you wish to buy Christmas gifts for kids, your query will be to buy Christmas gifts for kids.

Google or any other search engine will show websites targeting the keyword in their blogs or web copy, but not all of them will show on top.

The reasons are plenty, and a few of them are content optimization, website structure, on-page and off-page SEO, and keyword competition.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is the frequency of keywords used on a single page.

For instance, if your keyword is best Android Apps 2023 and the number of words written is 1500 while the keyword is used 5 times.

Keyword Density = Number of Times Keyword Used/ Total Number of Words X 100

In this case keyword density will be = 5/1500*100 = 0.3%

Using the same keywords multiple times is a great way to gain search rankings.

However, overstuffing of keywords should be avoided. Otherwise, it may be considered as spam by Google. 

Back in 2011, keyword stuffing was used as a means to gain a top position on Google. Webmasters used to overstuff websites with keywords and gained instant results.

But with the passage of time and Google’s update, it was considered spam and not more than 2% is allowed.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Unlike Search Engine Optimization, which drives traffic organically without paying, SEM involves business marketing through paid advertisement.

The advertisements are served on different websites and online platforms according to a location in the form of text, image, or video.

It is a great opportunity for marketers to show products or services to target audiences ready to buy products/services without looking for further information.

Search Engine Result Page (SERP)

The search Engine Result Page, as the name suggests, is the page displayed by the search engine against a user’s query.

SERP not only includes organic search results but also comprises PPC ads. Normally paid ads are displayed on top of organic search results.

While the advertisers who have paid higher costs to display ads are shown relatively on top of other paid ads. Over time, the SERP is becoming highly complex due to the launch of schema markup.

For instance, if you look for the best restaurants near your area, you will find search results displaying important information on SERPs such as contact details, websites, and other relevant information.

Sitemap XML

Sitemap XML is another term used normally by webmasters, and you should also know if you are going to launch your website.

Sitemap XML is a list of pages on your website that are written in markup language that search engines should index.  

Besides site URLs, it also provides information about modification dates to tell search engines whether the page has been crawled.

Title Tag

The title tag is an HTML element that points to the page’s title. However, the heading displayed on a web page should not be mixed up.

It is normally shown when you open a website and hover the mouse on the tab in your browser.

The title tag is an important element of on-page SEO and allows search engines to know what the web page is all about.

But to help search engines, optimizing it with target keywords is important.

Social Media Marketing

Digital marketing is not something limited to SEO, organic searches, or paid ads. Social media marketing is also one of the important elements of digital marketing.

It allows big and small brands to showcase their products and services on a given platform. Not every social media platform is suitable for every niche.

For instance, if you own a fashion brand, you might invest time and money on Instagram rather than Twitter. On the contrary, if you run a real estate agency, the best platform is Pinterest.

Just like SEO and SEM, you can either promote your products/services of your brand organically or run ads to gain more visibility in less time.

Redirect

Redirect is pointing the visitor to a different page instead of the requested one. It normally works when the page has been removed, or the post is deleted.

Redirecting visitors to a new page allows webmasters to prevent 404 errors, which is another ranking factor. For instance, if you wrote a post on What Works in SEO in 2011, it might not be relevant in 2022.  

With Google updates from time to time, SEO that worked back in 2011 is a waste. You can’t do anything, rather, delete it. But after deleting the post, you need to redirect it to a new URL with fresh content on SEO in 2023.

Referral

Referral points to traffic generated from other websites to your website. It can help you understand how people found your website without using a search engine.

For instance, if you have published an article on a high-authority website related to your niche. Or if you share your website posts on different social media platforms;

The traffic generated from these sites will be known as referral traffic.

Robots.txt

Robots.txt is a file uploaded on a web server with instructions to search engine crawlers. The file allows search engines to understand which web pages should be indexed and which ones to be ignored.

For instance, the thank you page shown after a visitor fills out the form can be hidden from search engines.

Anchor Text

Anchor text is a clickable link that points to another page. It is also an important part of on-page SEO and one of the ranking factors.

For instance, if you are writing an article on what SEO is and in the middle of the post, you also mention the term content marketing.

Now, if the reader is new to the term, you might hyperlink the term content marketing or make it more enticing by saying learn more about content marketing by clicking here.

Usually, hyperlinks are highlighted in blue, but they can also vary from website to website.

H1

H1 is an HTML tag that represents the primary heading of a webpage. In SEO, it is important to use heading tags to help search engines understand what the page is about.

An H1 tag on any webpage means that search engines will give importance to it and index the content easily.

To simplify, H1 Tag is the main heading of your document defining the overall topic.

Churn

The term churn refers to the percentage of customers who end up buying a subscription or stop using the service.

It is important to monitor the churn rate to rapidly avoid losses and losing customers before it’s time to pack your business.

The churn rate is calculated with the following formula.

Churn Rate = Customers lost in period/customers at the beginning of period *100

RSS

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a web feed of a particular website that allows users to keep themselves updated about news and information important to them.

Aggregators collect multiple RSS feeds and combine them so that people can track different websites simultaneously.

It also allows websites to syndicate content from third parties.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click is the cost companies pay for each click with which users interact. The more clicks generated, the more the cost will be.

Companies usually prefer to choose pay-per-click because all they have to pay is the cost of clicks and not for showing website ads.

The formula for Pay Per Click = Campaign Fee/number of clicks.

For instance, if you pay $500 for a campaign with 20000 clicks, the CPC will be $0.025.

Impressions

Impressions are the number of times your content was shown to the people, regardless of whether they clicked it or not.

Heat Map

A Heat Map is a visual representation of users’ behavior on your web pages, such as clicks, scrolls, and what they look at.

Design plays an important role in providing a seamless user experience.

With a heat map, you can find what parts of the webpage are getting more clicks and which are ignored.

It is quite helpful in placing your call-to-action buttons and other important elements, such as ads, contact forms, and product pages to get the most out of it.

Responsive design

Creating a responsive website is important for webmasters to cater according to the device preference of the users.

Responsive design (a term used by website designers and experts) allows the website to adjust automatically to the screen size when viewing across devices such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones. 

As most internet users access websites using their smartphones, it is important to create a responsive website, especially if you are running an eCommerce store.  

Hreflang Tags

An HTML tag that facilitates search engines to display specific language and content when a website is using multiple languages.

For instance, if a person is accessing the website in the United Kingdom, the content will be displayed in English using Hreflang Tag. The same content is displayed in Spanish if the website is accessed in Spain.

The HTML tag plays an important role in avoiding duplicate content penalties.

While for search engines, it helps in displaying customized content to a specific audience of a country. If you provide services for people living in European countries and the United States, using Hreflang Tag will display language accordingly.

Featured Snippet

A featured snippet is a concise information provided by Google drawn from a website and placed in search results.

If any of the web pages are ranked on the featured snippets, it will help improve the click-through rate, boost credibility, and help you capitalize on voice technology.

According to Search Engine Land, 8% of clicks are generated from a featured snippet.

Types of featured snippets include paragraphs, tables, lists, and videos.

Google Search Console

Google search console is a free tool for webmasters offered by Google.

The tool allows webmasters to track the overall performance of their website, including impressions, clicks, and keyword position.

It also helps webmasters to know more about their websites, such as which pages are indexed and how many pages are affected by errors.

To set up a Google search console, you need to add a unique tracking code in the head of your website.

Inbound Marketing

One of the important terms to know in marketing is inbound marketing, which involves attracting customers by developing valuable content that adheres to their problems/needs. 

Some examples include content marketing, search engine optimization, and social media marketing. For instance, if you have published a guest blog on a high-authority website. 

The backlink that drives traffic to your website will be considered inbound marketing. Its purpose is to attract prospects and motivate them to interact with the band and as a result, convert them into paid customers. 

Landing Page

A landing page is a single page created by marketers to allow potential customers to land on a specific page after clicking a link, email, or advertisement. 

The purpose of creating a landing page is to collect the contact information of visitors in return for something such as an eBook, link to the webinar, or access to premium tools etc. 

A landing page, however, is not included in the navigation of a website. It only facilitates the target audience looking forward to information or details about the product/service. 

Content Marketing Terms to Know In 2023-2024

While searching for terms to know in marketing, you will come across various blogs and articles centered around various aspects of marketing.

It might include basic marketing terms, digital marketing terms, and email marketing terms.

However, if you want something centered around content marketing, make sure to read the section carefully. This section will discuss content marketing terms to know in 2023-2024.

Let’s dive straight in.

Above the Fold

Above the Fold is one of the key terms to know in content marketing. Users first interact with the part of the website when accessing it.

And if the section is unattractive or dull, the user might leave the website instantly without exploring further.

To make the section more attractive, it is important to design the website by picking attractive color schemes, adding sections, and making it user-friendly.

One of the examples of the Above the Fold section can be seen on Jeff Bullas website, which welcomes an attractive offer to get tips on increasing traffic.

Similarly, a content marketing institute ‘above the fold’ includes products and services they want to promote, such as consulting services and events.

Personalized Content

Personalized content is tailored for the audience living in a specific region, buying behavior of consumers, or interest. The purpose of personalized content is to serve specific audiences looking forward to some solution based on their pain points.

According to statistics, 91% of shoppers are more likely to buy from companies that offer personalized recommendations. While 74% of online consumers feel frustrated when content is not served according to their interests.

For instance, most of the internet service providers in the United States offer coverage in specific regions and states.

If someone is looking for internet service in New York, all the service providers offering coverage in the area should offer personalized content.

Analytics

Without analyzing data, your marketing campaigns are clueless. When it comes to content marketing, data like click-through rates, conversion rate, and bounce time are a few of the key metrics to look for.

For instance, if you have written a blog post and need to know how well it performs, you need to check data through various tools such as Google Analytics.

If the content is well written, the bounce rate will be minimal, the click-through rate will skyrocket, and unique visits will increase daily.

Buying Cycle

Buying cycle is one of the key marketing terms that every digital marketer, content marketer, or traditional marketer should be aware of.

When it comes to content marketing, you need to educate your target audience with the answers they are looking for.

No one would ever buy a product without being aware of its features, benefits, and price.

Buying Cycle is all about the consumer journey from awareness to consideration and purchase intent to purchasing and repurchasing.

Content Management System (CMS)

Content Management System or CMS is software that helps you to create, manage, and alter content without having coding knowledge or background. In the past, websites were developed using a programming language called HTML.

But with the advent of CMS, most webmasters, bloggers, and marketers rely heavily on CMS for ease. Some of the most popular CMS software include Drupal, Blogger, WordPress, Joomla, Umbraco, Magento, OpenCMS, Nuxeo, and many more.

The benefit of using CMS is that it allows users to create websites within minutes that can be customized according to one’s requirements. According to statistics, WordPress is a renowned content management system with a market share of 65.1%.

Content Marketing Funnel

The content marketing funnel creates awareness among visitors, nurtures them, and converts them. Simply put, it is the journey of consumers from awareness to being a customer.

On top of the funnel, you grab the attention of potential customers.

In the middle of the funnel, you educate and inform them about your product/service to help them make decisions. While the bottom of the funnel focuses on lead conversion through customized content.

Content Strategy

Content strategy is the process of planning, creating, and distributing content to achieve business goals and objectives.

Here’s how to develop an effective content strategy

·         Defining your long-term business goals

·         Researching your target audience

·         Focusing on niche

·         Measuring results

·         Improving content after customer feedback

·         Distributing content on various channels

Copywriting

If you are a content creator, copywriting is one of the most common marketing terms to be aware of.

Copywriting is the process of creating content and selling products/services through words. It is different from writing a blog or article.

Instead, it is more about evoking readers’ emotions, driving intent, and creating the urge to buy a product or service or taking specific action such as sharing contact info.

Some of the most common copywriting types include:

·         Brand Copywriting

·         Social media copywriting

·         SEO copywriting

·         Insight Copywriting

·         Email Copywriting

The major difference between a copywriter and a content writer is that a copywriter sells products/services to the target audience.

While the content writer engages, informs, and entertains readers to know more about the product or service.

Call to Action (CTA)

One of the marketing terms you should know is call to action.

It refers to the desire of the target audience to take specific actions such as buying a product, paying for a subscription, signing up for the webinar, or subscribing to the newsletter.

A call to action is inserted within a webpage, video, social media post, or infographic.

Content Distribution

No matter how good your content strategy is and how well you create content, if you fail to distribute it on various channels, you might not be able to achieve your business goals.

Content distribution is the process of promoting content on various online platforms in multiple formats. It could be anything from blogs to emails and social media posts to infographics.

The distribution channels can be categorized into groups such as owned, earned, and paid. Owned content distribution involves distributing content that you own, such as a microsite, blog, social media, or email newsletter.

Earned content distribution involves promoting your content through third parties, such as guest post contributions, press releases, product reviews by bloggers, or social media engagement.

Paid content distribution is the act of promoting your content through paid advertisement on social media or Google.

Product Marketing Terms to Know 2023-2024

So far, we have listed top marketing terms used in everyday life of digital and content marketers.

Let’s briefly overview product marketing terms you should know in 2023.

Advertising campaign(s)

One of the product marketing key terms includes advertising campaigns which digital marketers and traditional marketers use.

Advertising campaigns are a series of advertisements that are distributed across various channels, including TV, print, radio, podcast, Google Ads, social media, and many more.

The ad campaign aims to inform target customers about the brand and increase sales.

Ad campaigns have changed over the years from print ads to TV commercials, and Google ads to social media ads.

Product line extension

When discussing most common marketing terms, product line extension is worth mentioning. Product line extension is expanding an existing product line within the same category.

The horizontal extension involves changing the colors and adding twists to it to make it different and attract consumers. While vertical extension involves increasing or decreasing the price and quality of a product.

For instance, Pepsi introduced a twist to its existing product line by adding lemon to it.

However, the product was not successful at all and was removed from the shelves few months later.

Seasonal discount

One of the terms used in marketing is a seasonal discount. A seasonal discount is the reduced price brands offer on products in the off-season.

Normally the discounts are seen majorly in fashion stores selling men’s and women’s apparel.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Minimum Viable Product is also one of the marketing terms to know especially if you are a startup and going to launch a new product/service.

MVP is the launch of a product with limited features and functionalities to test whether people are interested in buying or not.

Moreover, Minimum Viable Product is also launched to take feedback from the early adopters and find what needs to be improved.

The goal of launching MVP is to test the new idea without wasting all the money and resources. 

Conclusion 

If you are a digital marketer, content marketer, or social media marketer, knowing these marketing key terms will help you in the long run. 

As the field of marketing is ever-evolving, knowing all these marketing terms is challenging for new marketers. 

However, in this post, we have tried our best to list down important terms to know in marketing in 2023 and beyond.