What really makes a business' online presence stand out?

Your business needs to have an online presence. After all, it’s been the number one way to engage with your customers for the past ten years or so. And in 2023, it’s more important than ever.

But seeing as every company in the world is pushing their website to the forefront of the internet, how will your own marketing ideas fare? You’ve got to understand at an early stage what truly makes a business’ online presence stand out.

Yes, it’s still possible to stand out from the crowd and make your business look and feel unique. From a customer’s viewpoint, that makes you the most legitimate company to shop with in the entire industry.

It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, or how far your business goals still have yet to go. When you look professional, people won’t have any trouble believing you’ve got everything they need.

So, what makes a business stand out online? Here are the most important elements to include when designing your online strategy.

A clear understanding of SEO

It’s not just the look of your website that’s an important part of the overall website design. It’s how it interacts with the rest of the web as well. That’s where SEO comes in. It’s not just the content you create, but your use of things like page tags, headlines, URL slugs, and ALT text on your images.

When you’ve got a clear understanding of how these affect your overall online standing, you can set them up to represent your business much more effectively. And that’s good news for everyone! It makes you easier to find, but it also makes you more valuable to anyone tapping in a search term.

When you’re at the top of the page, and you deserve to be there, you’re going to be everyone’s number one pick. Get a clear understanding, organize your website with SEO in mind, and start creating good content.

Content that’s fun and interesting

Speaking of good content, make sure you’re regularly putting out articles and posts that are entertaining to read through. Even when it’s a serious subject matter, you need to have a consistent tone and style that makes your piece easy to read.

You want your visitors to stay around for as long as possible. If you’ve got a content backlog that’s been crafted with passion, and written to be indulged in, you’re going to have something very few other websites have.

Your business is clearly here for the customer, and you’re publishing content with them in mind. That’s a very promising sign when you want to find a product that works for you.

A responsive social media

Social media is the best place for engaging the customer. It’s an accessible platform where various forms of content thrive, so you can create a diverse stream and run A/B tests to see what performs the best.

Namely, that makes social media fun to run. But don’t get too caught up in perfecting your content calendar - you need to be responsive to those who follow you as well. Their comments and opinions, as well as their wants and needs; you need to respond to them all, and try to anticipate as much as possible.  

Use hashtags, post on different days, and if you get a message, try to respond within the hour. This is where a good customer service reputation can really get started.

You use email marketing

Email marketing is one of the best ways to give back to a customer, without running them a discount. After all, if someone hands over their email address, you need to prove that you’re deserving of using it.

It’s why newsletters have stood strong for the past 15+ years and are still going the extra mile to this day. You can deliver business updates, industry news, exclusive discounts, and introduce new content right into someone’s inbox. And if you want those emails to be opened, you need to have a killer subject line that promises plenty of good content inside!

Working with influencers 

If you want to bring a bigger audience share your way, you need to know who the right influencers are. You don’t just want to email anyone asking to sponsor them - you need to handpick your content creators very carefully.

Do your research, and start following people yourself. If you can watch their content for a good couple months before you reach out to them, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of what they do and how they can help you.

Remember, it’s a collaboration more than anything else. You want the influencer to shop your product for you, but you need to offer them value as well. They’re unlikely to be interested in something their audience doesn't want to see and/or doesn’t follow them for in the first place.

You’re easy to contact

Where are the contact details on your website? Stuck in the footer at the bottom of every page? That’s fine - it’s the best way to display your details to anyone who needs them. But have you thought about opening up a dedicated contact page as well?

This needs to be linked in your top of page menu. When it’s very clearly displayed, in a manner that means it’s one of the first things a customer sees when they visit your site, it’ll work in your favour. Think of it as a form of customer service without even doing anything.

After all, an easily contactable business is approachable. You don’t have to worry about parting with your card details; if there’s an issue, you can immediately send them a message. In today’s digital world, full of scams and people pretending to be someone else, you want to be trustworthy from the off.

You take every kind of customer into account

The digital world is an incredibly accessible place. If you want to fit in, you’re going to have to value accessibility in your own marketing efforts. That means creating content, and innovating your product, for more than one kind of customer.

You want the best share of the market to shop with you. Considering around 1.3 billion people in the world have a disability of some kind, focusing on accessibility is the best way to bring this big share your way.

You deal with bad reviews correctly

A bad review can feel like the worst day of your life. As a business owner, it’s the number one thing you don’t want to run into. However, you’re going to get a bad review every now and then. You’re going to be on the wrong end of someone’s ire, whether you deserve it or not.

Once you’ve gotten a bad review, however, you need to respond to it correctly and accurately. In the business world, it’s easy to let emotions run high and get the better of you. But the more professional you are, and the calmer you stay, the more respectable you come across.

For anyone searching you up on Google, seeing a measured response to a bed review will only make them think better of you.

You’re not afraid to have fun

A company that doesn’t take itself too seriously is going to be a hit on social media. It’s the best attitude to adopt if you want to try out viral marketing and the like. Big numbers require high risk, and when you’re not afraid to try that out, you’re going to relate much better to your average customer.

Maybe you want to poke fun at yourself, hire actors for a self aware advert, or you’d like to create a semi serious post around something that matters to your business’ values and motto. The more you try these ideas out, the more you’re going to hit the target, and bring in customers who understand you and want to hear more of what you have to say.  

You switch things up now and then

A business that does the same thing over and over again isn’t sticking to their brand. They’re just rehashing old content and boring their customer base, which could soon result in a lower social media following and a long-term drop in profits.

We alluded to this idea earlier, but when you switch things up now and then, you let your followers have fun with your content. That gives you greater control over the way your online presence works. You know what people want, and you get a better chance to interact with them through it.

Keep one thing in mind. When it comes to standing out, experimentation gives you the edge. You’re willing to push the boundaries and find out what really works. That’s good for longevity in this fast paced business world.

Your online presence has the chance to stand out. If you want it to shine like no other, make sure you get involved with ideas like these. Your marketing strategy needs to be robust, and this is how.