Over the last 20 years the Internet has revolutionised business and our lives generally. And when it comes to starting or growing your business your website and your online presence is one of the key factors to giving (potential) customers, contacts and others to get a flavour of what you do. It can help position and promote you and your business and be a powerful tool in winning business, sales and opportunities. What does your website and your online presence (or lack of it) say about you?
Earlier this year I caught up with communications, branding and website specialist Suzanne Whitby to get her tips on establishing and developing your website and your online presence as part of the Soul-Trader.biz free webinar series. We start of by exploring what a brand actually is and then we move on to exploring building or redeveloping your website and then we move on to explore building your online presence more widely.
If you’re starting out or at a point when you are re-vamping, improving or extending your business this will really help you. It will give you tips on everything from getting your business card and logo sorted to building your website and beyond. We especially focus on your website and how to go about it: can you do it yourself? When should you call in the experts? What do you need to think about? How can you engage with a web developer? How can you get clear about yourself and your brand? Does the name of your brand matter? How important are logos? Does the domain name that you choose matter? These are all issues that we cover.
We also talk about how your website will need to evolve as you do – and continue on to explore how to utilise more of what the web has to offer. When might you need to refresh your website? Does your website need new functionality? Do you now have more or different products and services? Do you now need a more interactive site with e-commerce functionality or renewed content? How can you ensure that your content reflects your customers and the clients that you really want to attract?
We touch on social media like using Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and YouTube and which might be most be appropriate for you and how to incorporate them with your website and how you can also use them separately / or in parallel with your website.
I’m also mindful that when it comes to building your online presence it can seem really daunting especially if you are new to marketing, promoting and publicity – or if you’re a more reserved kind of personally. So Suzanne and I talk on issues about these topics like blogging through to posting videos and how to think about these in terms of which suit you, your personality, your skill set, your clients and your product best – and how to manage your time and energy effectively.
I hope you enjoy this video and remember that we run free live Soul Trader live online talk / webinar each month via Google Hangouts. And speaking of building your online presence you can also stay in touch with us via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube via the links at the top of this website.
