the two keys to improving your online presence

Right now more than ever thanks to Coronavirus and shelter-in-place mandates, it’s important to have an online presence, and a good one. Now is the perfect time to get your business online or improve your online presence, especially because you might find yourself with a little bit more time on your hands.  It's one of the 8 practical ways you can help your business survive and thrive during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

There’s two essential parts to having a great online presence: making yourself easy to find and making yourself easy to understand.
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Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, the company will provide me with a small reward at no additional cost to you. All links are for products or services I use on a daily basis. Opinions are my own. See my full affiliate policy here. 

1) Make yourself easy to find

If you’re not on the internet, people can’t find you. Duh! But it’s also important to utilize the best tools on the internet to make it easy for people to find you. Can people find you if they Google for you? What about if they Google for what you do in your area? 

It’s also important to think beyond Google. Where does your target customer look for information? Is it Google Maps, Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, or Youtube?

It’s also important to not just spam yourself all over the internet. When someone finds you, you want to look good. Example, if you start a Youtube channel just for the sake of being “on Youtube” but you realize you don’t really want to make videos so you don’t post any, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Only start on a platform if you can keep up with it. When customers find you, you want them to find relevant and recent information. Too many times I’ve gone to a small business’ Facebook page to find not a single post in months and wonder “are they even still in business?”. 

When customers find you, you want them to find relevant and recent information.

I tell all my clients to pick the platform that they’re most familiar with first and get in the habit of keeping up with it before branching out to new platforms. ​​

2) Make yourself easy to understand

You’re not doing yourself any favors if you successfully get people to your website (or Facebook or Instagram), but they leave right away because they can’t figure out what you do and how it benefits them. Clarify your messaging. It should be so easy to understand that a third grader understands it. It should be short enough that it fits on a business card. 

Example, if your business is “Cheryl’s Crafts & Things”. I understand that Cheryl crafts, but I don’t know what exactly it is that you offer or how it benefits me. Is it craft supplies for sale? Is it crafts and vintage stuff? Is it crafts for children or adults? What kind of crafts is it? Instead, how about “Cheryl’s Crafts & Things: Custom Farmhouse Decor”? I now understand that it’s decor, and not just any decor, Farmhouse decor. And you offer custom options. So if I’m in the market for custom farmhouse decor and I land on your website, you can be sure that I’m staying to take a look around and I might even buy something. 


A lot of business owners are afraid of pigeonholing themselves into one niche. Don’t be. If you market to everyone, you’ll get no one. Instead, market yourself to your target customer. And guess what? As your business grows, it’ll probably change. And that’s OKAY! You’re the business owner, you get to change your business as it changes. You don’t need anyone’s permission! 
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If you market to everyone, you’ll get no one.

If you need help discovering your target customer, clarifying your messaging, or improving your online presence, book a free 30 minute session with me. These are all things that I help clients with regularly. Your business is unique, so you shouldn’t settle for “one-size-fits-all” advice. Get personalized one-on-one business coaching today! 
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Looking for more? 

Below you’ll find a “master list” of many things that you can do to improve your online presence. These are all things that when done well can improve your online presence. Consider where you are at and pick just two to three things to work on. I’ll be blogging about these in more detail in the future. Alternatively, I also can talk about these in depth and how it relates to your business in a personalized one-on-one business coaching call. 
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Master list to improve your online presence

• General online presence: 
  • Clarify your messaging.
    • Show only the top ⅓ of your homepage to 5 people who are unfamiliar with your business and ask them what you do. See if their response accurately reflects the truth. If not, clarify it. 
  • Create consistent branding to use across all online platforms.
    • Use the same picture or logo.
    • Use the same 3-4 brand colors.
    • Use the same 2-4 fonts.
• Website:
  • Do you have a proper Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Shipping, and Refund policy? 
  • Have you refreshed your About page recently? 
  • Create or update your FAQ page.
• Instagram: 
  • Update your Instagram page - it’s a landing page. It should say exactly what it is that you do and the one action you want them to take.
  • Post regularly to Instagram.
  • Post to Instagram Stories.
  • Use Instagram Live.
• Facebook: 
  • Update your Facebook page.
  • Post regularly to Facebook.
  • Use Facebook Live.
  • Join and engage in Facebook groups.
    • Be authentic
    • Serve when asked, don’t assume
  • Create a niche Facebook group.
  • Update your personal Facebook page (job description with link to business page).
  • Ask for Facebook reviews.
  • Create a Facebook event for online events or in person events.
• Google:
  • Set up your Google business page on maps if your business is location specific.
  • Improve your SEO on your website.
  • Have Google crawl your website.
  • Add Google Analytics to your website.
• Email:
  • Get a professional email address.
  • Set up email marketing.
  • Send out consistent email marketing.
• Pinterest:
  • Pin blog posts and product pages to your Pinterest boards.
• Blog:
  • Write blog posts using SEO principles and schedule them to publish over time.
• Video: 
  • Create content videos that are relevant to your product or service and publish to Facebook, Youtube, and/or Instagram. 

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, the company will provide me with a small reward at no additional cost to you. All links are for products or services I use on a daily basis. Opinions are my own. See my full affiliate policy here.