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5 Ways to Increase Your Brand's Online Visibility

VIKI-STREAMING

An easy way to increase your company's visibility is to boost your online marketing efforts.

Online marketing opens up a business's doors to customers they wouldn't be able to reach otherwise, said Joe Palko, chief marketing officer for eCommerce platform provider 3dcart.

"Implementing a strong, multifaceted online marketing plan can help your business stand out," Palko told Business News Daily.

Businesses that aren't promoting themselves online are missing out on a simple way to gain new customers,  Palko said.

"You want to build a strong customer base, who ultimately become ambassadors for your brand," he said. "Having an online marketing plan and publishing compelling online content allows customers and fans of your product to find your business as well as spread the word through their social networks."

To help small businesses increase their online visibility, Palko offers these five tips.

  • Get busy blogging. Setting up a blog on your website can be a great way to drive more traffic to your site from potential and current customers. For blogs to be a successful tool, though, you need post frequently and use custom-written content that shows you're an expert in your field.
  • Make it hot. Do your research, and find out which keywords for your market are "hot" and frequently used on search engines. Websites like Wordtracker.com allow you to see the amount of times a keyword has been searched in the last 24 hours. Once you've figured out what those "hot" keywords are, incorporate them into your posts.
  • Go off-topic. Your articles and contributions to social media need to be interesting, and not sales- oriented.  You want the posts to be something that people share with their friends, such as tips or photos. For example, the 3dcart blog features everything from Valentine's Day ideas to tips on how to improve your online store.
  • Get authorized. Google Authorship is a free and easy way to claim all the content you've written and cultivate an online presence. To set it up, you'll need to go to your Google+ profile and fill out details about your background, experiences, and the websites where you are a contributor. Once you become a verified author, people will believe that your website is legit and in turn, view you as more of an authority figure.
  • Spread the message. Use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to share the content you've written. All you have to do is write a brief description about the post and then include a link to it. I highly recommend taking advantage of promoted posts on Twitter and Facebook because they can work for anyone no matter your budget. It's also a great tool to really reach out to and hit your target audience since you can be very specific in the reach for who should see the post.

Palko said businesses that aren't using online marketing to grow are losing ground to their competitors, who most likely are, each and every day.

"You want to grow your online following and improve your search engine rankings," Palko said. "The sooner you begin to effectively market your business online, the more dominance you will establish."

Originally published on Business News Daily.