Best advice for increasing online visibility, from 20 marketing experts

Astrid Sucipto

Founder, CEO and Chief Pixie
Digital Pixie

The one thing business owners should do to increase their online visibility is to “show up” online. Showing up is about engaging and connecting with your customers wherever they are hanging out. If your customers are on facebook, reply to threads and be involved in conversations. There could be opportunities to link back to your blog or instagram post during these conversations. Showing up online and talking about what you do or what you sell is really how others will know what it is that you do. This is exactly the method I used when my sister first started making custom furniture. I started talking about her furniture online and showing them off, and before she knew it, she had so many orders that she ended up with an 8-week wait list. In addition to being an online marketing expert, I also have a small skincare brand and I apply the same method. I show up, I post about them, I provide education, and now almost every post converts to a sale. The trick is to do this in a non salesy way.

Here’s another example of showing up. If you’ve written a blog, it’s not enough to just write it and hope that people will stumble upon it. You still have to push it out. Post the link where your customers are and look for opportunities in the facebook groups you belong to where it makes sense to share your blog. You can do so many things online (social, paid ads, etc) but for you to increase and continue being visible is really about connecting and engaging and essentially, showing up (but not salesy!).

Avery Swartz

Tech writer, consultant and speaker
Author, See You on the Internet: Building Your Small Business with Digital Marketing

This may sound counter-intuitive, but my advice for business owners to increase their online visibility in 2020 is to actually be in less places. We’re all stretched way too thin, trying to maintain a presence across multiple social media channels, email marketing, online advertising, and websites and blogs. Unless you have a devoted team member managing all of this for you, odds are you’re not using each channel to its fullest potential. Instead of trying to be everywhere, cut back and devote more time and energy to a smaller number of digital activities. Be like Marie Kondo. Take stock of your digital marketing activities, and if one or more of them aren’t helping you meet your business goals, thank it for its service and let it go.

Cherene Francis

cherenefrancis.com

Owners should ensure that they have created a personal brand presence on social media and a website. If their name is taken they can also secure a variation of there name. For example, “Sarah Matthews” can be “LifewithSarah.com” or some other version.

With the prevalence of social media and mobile devices with two-faced cameras, it’s clear that being up close and personal is a game that everyone has to play whether you’re sitting on the bench or not. Professionals that choose to hold off on their engagement will miss out on this billion-dollar industry called internet marketing. For goodness sake, we have celebrity’s running and winning presidential races with social media. Even without political experiences, they skip out on using the traditional resume, and instead, they use their influence that they have created based on their values and personality. More than ever the business landscape is willing to look past your education if you can connect with them deeply through human connection, trust and likeability.

Therefore, it’s not about what you know, or even just who you know. It’s about who you are. Personal Branding.

Read the full article Personal Brand Marketing for Opportunities, Sales and Clients: https://www.cherenefrancis.com/blog/personal-brand-marketing-for-opportunities-sales-and-clients

Crystal-Marie Sealy

MBA, Keynote, Author, Consultant. President and Founder
Crystal-Marie Sealy, formerly Successiory

CrystalMarieSealy.com

Short of making the time for consistent, meaningful and strategic engagement, is leveraging trending hashtags. When you do find relevant hashtags trending, one tactic that works well is to go into your scheduling tool and add those hashtags to the posts you have scheduled to go out in the next hour or less. A few more insights here – https://www.crystalmariesealy.com/blog/hashtags-save-time-and-increase-visibility-2019-12-8

Crystal Washington

Futurist, Technology Strategist and Author
CWM Enterprises

crystalwashington.com

Business owners wanting to increase their online visibility in 2020 should close their social media accounts. No, not all of them, but all but one or two. Then business owners should master those two remaining networks. Focusing on no more than two networks will likely lead to more engaging and share-worthy content as business owners can put more time and energy into creating quality posts.

Darlene Moore

Chief Website Revenue Officer
DriveTraffic Digital Marketing

drivetraffic.ca

Coming from the Google perspective, stop producing content just for the sake of creating content – identify the 20% of content that drives relevant traffic from Google and either optimize or delete that other 80% while continuing to create only content that falls into the 20% – aim to shift your ratio in 2020 so that 80% of your content is driving relevant business!

Need someone to identify that 80% of your content that is not serving you well? We can do that at DriveTraffic – drop us a note https://www.drivetraffic.ca

Dee Boswell-Buck

deeboswellbuck.com

Not many people realize that using keywords on social media is a fantastic way for you and your content to show up on search engines.

Chicken or Egg question.
"Which should I have first... A website or a social media strategy?"

Honestly... A website inches out ever so slightly.

However while your website is being designed or if you don't have the budget to have one... Get started on social media!

What keywords are ideal clients searching?

What problems are they researching?

Those are the details that should be included in your social media content.

Use social media to get found! Drive traffic to an inexpensive landing page, your email, phone call and DM's.

Be intentional. Answer questions to the problems your customers lose sleep over. Research the keywords they type into Google.

Talk about all of that!

Build trust with your audience!

And when your website is complete, don't forget to announce it on social media... With the audience that enjoys following and engaging with you.

Then get ready for an influx of clicks to your website!

Doris Chung

Founder & Creative Director
Liquid Ink

liquidink.ca

There are so many ways to increase your online visibility… and I’m going to share my tip that is a bit outside the box. I want to and recommend make a [physical] product. Like workbook, journal or planner? Sharing something that you’ve made is a great way to promote yourself online. I call it your next big idea. I’m amazing at helping others get clarity on their big idea, so feel free to book a no-obligation call with me and share your big idea! https://liquidink.ca/book-a-call/

Jasmine Williams

Founder, Content and Social Media Consultant
Jasmine Williams Media

jasminewilliams.ca

Figure out where your target audience is hanging out online and make sure you’re showing up there regularly. For example, my clients tend to be more active on LinkedIn than other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, so it’s important for me to be active on LinkedIn as well. I’ll share articles and blog posts that I’ve written, updates on speaking engagements or other notable achievements – anything to give my audience more insight into what I do and show them that I’m a credible professional in my field.

Katie Pringle

Partner & Co-Founder
Marigold Marketing & PR (Otherwise known as Marigold!)

marigoldpr.com

Leverage knowledge sharing to grow your profile. Consider joining Facebook or LinkedIn groups, hosting a niche event, speak at a likeminded conference and, of course, engage media. Move conversations to your CRM and remember to promote everything across owned touchpoints (ie. blogs, social. email lists). Everything you do offline, will lead to online relevancy.

Laura MacHardy

Co-Founder
Klusster

klusster.com

Recently, Oracle found 47% of consumers look at 3-5 pieces of content before making first contact. Consumers expect content from you and will move on if they don’t find what then need to build trust. So the question is – how do you get your content seen by your potential clients to start building trust?

There is so much opportunity in forming collaborative online partnerships. It’s time to stop working alone online! What other businesses do you know that have complementary content/products/services to you? What if you all worked together and shared each other’s content to your collective social audiences? You could increase your social reach to new targeted audiences by orders of magnitude. You could add value to your social audience by sharing other valuable and relevant resources. You could support other trusted businesses and reinforce referral relationships.

Klusster is the Collaborative Marketing Platform – built specifically to help complementary businesses work together online to drive distribution. And – your Klusster content allows you to generate high quality backlinks to your website, which can boost your website’s organic traffic too! Collaborating with other like-minded, complementary businesses is a win-win for everyone!

As Johnathan Perelman (VP Strategy – Buzzfeed) famously said, “Content is King, but Distribution is Queen … and she wears the pants!”. Leverage collaborative relationships to drive more distribution with Klusster. Check out the video on our home page to learn more: www.klusster.com

Lindsay Johnson

The Radical Connector

theradicalconnector.com

One of the best ways to make your brand more visible online is to make videos … lots of videos…and have a heck of a lot of fun doing them! Showcase your passion and brilliance in your field on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Be a guest expert in other communities where your perfect customers hang. Let people fall in love with the real you by bringing your personality and play to the forefront. (Ahem, remember to keep it professional!) Most importantly, don’t let fear stop you. You’ll quickly get better with practice, just as you’ll get bolder, more creative, and so much more tuned in to who your market is and what they love about YOU and your brand! If you’re needing inspo or just a kick in the pants to get creating come join my online community for entrepreneurs, Rad Connectors, and see how others are showcasing their brilliance through videos.

Lisa Mc Grath

Founder
CAVEA Studio

caveastudio.com

Make your marketing all about meeting your customer’s needs. Turn all of your content around from being about you, to showing how you understand them, how you can solve their challenges and provide them with great value. You’ll attract more genuine connections by making sure their stories live in all of your marketing elements, from your brand’s voice to website copy and SEO, social media and targeted advertising. While your competition is shouting about how amazing they are, you’ll be showing your customers how invaluable you are at helping them to be amazing. Getting your customer’s attention can be time and resource intensive, so you’ll need to be attentive, committed and patient as you build a strong, value-focused brand. We can help you build connections to larger, more valuable audiences while you focus on the essentials of building your business. Get in touch at www.caveastudio.com/contact

Michelene Maguire

CEO
Maguire Maguire Marketing

Most business owners are really under-utilizing Google My Business. We are so passionate about getting leads using Google My Business that we wrote a book on it!

The truth is everybody uses Google. Whether you’re buying a car, looking for advice, or trying to improve your business… you’re probably “Googling” it. If your business isn’t set up on Google properly, you miss a huge opportunity to be found by the right people, at the right time, in search of the exact products or services you offer.

Here is a link to our book on Amazon: Get More Customers Using Google My Business

But whether you buy our book or not, we highly recommend that you get your Google My Business account set up!

Michelle Daides

Video Production Expert & Marketer
MD Media Inc.

mdmediainc.com

We are bombarded with content and we only have 3 seconds to grab the attention of our potential consumer. If you want to increase online visibility in 2020, video is the way to go. By creating a combination of professional and social media videos, you will instantly create that visibility as well as credibility. Don’t forget that consistency is key. Finally, make sure that you leverage search engines like YouTube and Google My Business by posting to these platforms in order to improve your SEO/Searchability.

Rachel Di

Head Unicorn
Geek Unicorn

Treat the online space as an opportunity to build community and connect with people.

Sarah Calderwood

President
Stirling Marketing & Communications

stirlingmarketing.ca

If you are not personalizing your customer experience across marketing channels, I promise you, you are not engaging at a level that people expect and are now used to receiving. Integrating your engagement across platforms has never been easier and more cost-effective. For instance, it is now possible to track and engage with your customers on email, website, social media, events, etc. as the same user? Measuring and perfecting your marketing “Return on Investment” is also quick and easy with the right automation system. If you want to understand how you can extend that personalized experience through segmentation and personalization, here is an article with lots of practical advice and tips: https://www.stirlingmarketing.ca/2019/09/16/marketing-tips-in-2020-segmentation-and-personalization/#more-1749

Sarah Kiriliuk

Founder and CEO
Rise Agency

rise-agency.ca

Businesses should be reaching out to bloggers and digital media with interesting stories that are relevant to the news conversations happening in their marketplace. This helps increase their subject matter expertise and thought leadership, as well as building good quality back-links for increased SEO.

Sara Vartanian

Conversion Copywriter and Launch Strategy
Sara Vartanian

saravartanian.com

In 2020, it’s time to stop trying to predict what clients want, and instead spend time listening to them. Chances are every single day your clients are giving you opportunities to learn about their feelings and needs through their inquiries, questions, and in social media groups.

Your client’s words will help you grow your business, but if you don’t think of them before writing any copy or content than you’re going to be about 15 degrees off from what they actually need to hear from you–that’s what my clients discover when working through The Copy Playbook. That’s why the easiest way to increase your online visibility is to use your words to show the people you love to serve that deeply get them.

Tiffany DaSilva

Founder & Growth Marketing Consultant
Flowjo.co

flowjo.co

SEO! Take 10 minutes of your time and create your Keyword Bucket list – that is 10-15 keywords you wish that your customers would type into Google to find you. Now ask yourself, Do you have pages on your website dedicated to those keywords? Many of the business owners I meet have sprinkled their dream keywords across their website and blog in the hopes of ranking for something, but I suggest making a real effort to create landing pages on your website dedicated to each and every one that matches the intent of your visitor. For example, let’s say you’re a italian restaurant in NYC with the best meatballs in town. Then create a page on your website called “Best Meatballs in NYC”, show them pictures, add reviews from your previous customers or media, and provide a map and reservations link. That way, if someone is looking for something you’re great at, they’ll find you, and get all the information they need to take the next step. Good luck!