Online Presence: Definition and 10 Tips for Business Owners

Believe it or not, philosophers still debate whether a tree that falls alone in a forest makes a sound. The answer to this question, of sound made for the hearing, remains unknowable.

Business owners can skip this argument. In the business world, existence means being perceived—and the easier it is to perceive you, the better off you are.

Many businesses invest heavily in efforts to increase the likelihood consumers will encounter them online. The outcome of these efforts is known as a business’s online presence. Here’s what that means, why it’s important, and 10 ways to improve yours.

What is online presence?

Online presence (or web presence) is the visibility and reputation of a business online. Your business’s online presence consists of all your online channels, including your website, social media profiles, digital ads, and online portfolios. It also includes mentions of your brand by others, content customers create about your company, and any media or press coverage that references your brand.

An online presence means it is easy to find your company online and that your reputation is good. A weak one means there’s limited information about your company online or that you have a poor reputation in those spaces.

How can I improve my online presence?

Improving your online presence is a whole-business effort that involves direct and indirect strategies. Here’s a strategy breakdown:

• Direct strategies. Direct strategies involve improving the channels and content you control, such as your website, social media accounts, and any paid content placements or online ads.

• Indirect strategies. Indirect strategies encourage audiences to create content about your brand. They include user-generated content (UGC) campaigns and efforts to increase brand awareness and improve audience relationships.

Who is responsible for online presence management?

If you’re a solopreneur, you’ll have to manage your business’s online presence on your own. At larger companies, online presence management can involve multiple teams, including:

• Marketing. Your marketing team manages your website content and social media presence, handlessearch engine optimization (SEO), and is responsible for activities that indirectly affect your online presence, like email marketing and events.

• Search engine optimization (SEO). SEO directly supports your online presence by improving your business’s online discoverability. Companies may have a separate SEO team, or it may fall within the purview of a business’s marketing department.

• Web design and development. A high-quality website lets audiences interact with your content and products and improves your discoverability through search.

• Online advertising. Paid promotions—such as pay-per-click (PPC) ads—increase your online visibility and can help you expand your audience reach.

• Public relations. PR focuses on generating positive media coverage about your brand. Digital coverage directly increases your online presence, and broadcast or print media can improve it indirectly.

• Customer service. Customer service is a key indirect driver of online presence because high-quality customer experiences encourage clients to promote your company, while poor ones can damage it by generating negative chatter and poor reviews.

Why is a strong online presence important for businesses?

• Builds brand awareness
• Increases sales
• Boosts legitimacy
• Improves customer communication

Improving your online presence puts you in front of more potential customers, keeps you top-of-mind with your existing customer base, and builds trust in your business—all of which can increase conversion. Here’s an overview of the benefits:

Builds brand awareness

Improving your online presence builds awareness with target audiences by providing visibility. If there is a lot of positive content about your brand online, the likelihood that a new customer will encounter this content increases.

A well-planned online strategy helps you get in front of the right audiences at the right time. For example, many consumers rely on Google search results to find products during the consideration phase of their buyer journey. Targeting the right keywords and audiences using organic and paid search marketing will ensure your products surface in search results.

Increases sales

Once customers have found you, an online presence in the form of an ecommerce store can help you boost sales. For online shoppers, having a well-designed online store that showcases all your offerings can be the deciding factor in making a purchase. You can also sell your products directly from your social media channels—TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube all have shopping functionalities.

Boosts legitimacy

A strong online presence encourages potential customers to trust you, which can be particularly important for small businesses with low name recognition. Many consumers will search for your company and scan content on other channels such as social media or industry websites to determine if they’re dealing with a legitimate business before purchasing.

If your brand’s online presence is limited, inconsistent, or negative, your audience might hesitate to purchase from you.

Improves customer communication

A positive online presence also makes it easier for current and potential customers to locate and contact your company. A high-quality website with multiple contact options, including live chat, email, and contact forms, as well as an active presence on social media channels encourages customers to reach out, boosting brand engagement and improving your audience intelligence.

Strategies for building an online presence for your business

1. Join online directories
2. Implement a guest posting strategy
3. Create valuable content
4. Partner with influencers
5. Perform an SEO audit
6. Optimize for local search
7. Run ads
8. Monitor your presence
9. Encourage UGC
10. Provide a high-quality customer experience

Here are 10 tips to help you improve your online presence, including both internal and external strategies: 

1. Join online directories

Create listings in local business and search engine directories. Start by claiming your Google Business Profile and ensuring your business information is correct. Then sign up for a profile or business account on other leading search engines like Yahoo and Bing and local online listing sites like Yelp and the Yellow Pages.

Look for directories that are specific to your niche as well. For example, if you carry other brands’ products, is your store listed on its Find Us page? Are there publications related to your niche that host directories?

2. Implement a guest posting strategy

Guest posts are pieces of content that you create for other sites or that other creators create for your site. This is a great way to introduce your brand to new audiences.

For example, if you have a business selling knitting patterns, you might write a blog post for a yarn company. Be sure to solicit and accept guest posts from related businesses or creators who share your values for the most authentic and effective collaboration.

3. Create valuable content

Content marketing involves creating educational, entertaining, or informative content and using it to increase authority and build trust in your brand. Produce content that provides value to your target customers and post it to your website and social media profiles. You can also distribute content through email and or offline channels and encourage users to post about it on social platforms.

Coffee magnate James Hoffman used blogging to increase his online presence. “This was a really virtuous cycle where I would learn about something, share it, maybe get some corrections or ideas or new things, and it would kind of continue,” he says on the Shopify Masters podcast. “It allowed me to be a part of a global community of like-minded people, and that really kind of accelerated my learning as well as built connections.”

4. Partner with influencers

Influencer marketing can improve your online reputation and secure positive coverage for your business on channels not controlled by your brand. It’s particularly valuable for boosting authority with niche audiences.

If you sell protective head wraps for natural hair, for example, you might partner with an influencer who helps women understand and care for natural hair types.

5. Perform an SEO audit

An SEO audit can help you boost your search engine results page (SERP) rankings by identifying strengths and weaknesses in your current SEO strategy. It addresses on-page, off-page, and technical performance:

• On-page. On-page SEO audits analyze the keywords you use and how they appear in your content. You might target less competitive keywords or incorporate more keywords in product listings and meta tags based on audit findings.

• Off-page. Off-page SEO involves improving your site’s domain authority by earning backlinks. An audit can evaluate your current performance and help you identify backlinking opportunities.

• Technical. A technical SEO audit analyzes your site’s structure and performance. Common changes include compressing images to improve site speed and optimizing content for mobile devices.

6. Optimize for local search

Local SEO increases the visibility of your site to consumers in your geographic area. You can improve local search performance by adding location details to your business listings, social media profiles, and site content and by targeting location-specific keywords and backlinks.

If you have a physical location, don’t wait for customers to walk by your storefront—make sure they can find you on Google Maps, Apple Maps, Yelp, and more.

7. Run ads

If you have the budget, paid advertising is a quick way to get your business in front of more people. There are four main online ad types: search engine, social media, display, and hybrid. You can use paid search ads to target users with a specific search intent and retargeting ads—a type of display ad—to engage customers with a demonstrated interest in a specific product.

8. Monitor your presence

Monitoring your website traffic and online reputation can help you evaluate the impacts of your efforts. Reputation monitoring also allows you to proactively respond to negative comments or coverage. Set up a Google alert for your business name, use brand monitoring and social listening tools to track online conversations about your company, and have your PR, communications, or marketing team determine the appropriate response and channel for negative mentions.

9. Encourage UGC

User-generated content (UGC) is the content consumers publish about your brand. Here are three ways to earn it:

• Run a contest. Hold a giveaway on social media that requires entrants to post content featuring your brand and tag your company in the post for a chance to earn free products.

• Interact on social channels. Liking and sharing posts about your company shows your audiences that you’re paying attention to their social activities, which can incentivize more content creation.

• Request reviews. Follow up with customers post-purchase to request product reviews. You can also incentivize reviews with a loyalty program.

10. Provide a high-quality customer experience

Product and service quality are the foundation of your online presence. An excellent customer service experience can improve your online reputation, and a poor one can cause a customer to lose trust in your company (and share their frustrations online).

The same is true of your product, as angel investor and content creator Maggie Sellers shared in an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “You need an amazing product first and foremost,” she said. “If you don’t have a good product, no amount of marketing will work to build a longevity brand.”

Build quality products that meet consumer needs, and use customer feedback to make them even better. To improve customer service, provide multiple ways to contact your business, answer questions promptly, and follow up to confirm issue resolution.