3 OF THE BEST WAYS TO DRASTICALLY IMPROVE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE
It can be easy to get complacent with our online presence when we reach a certain goal, have enough followers or have a constant stream of opportunities coming our way.
These are the things we’re working towards, right? So once we get them, we tend to just take things a bit slower.
But what happens if one of those opportunities falls through tomorrow? What if you just decide to take a break from your online presence and your followers and engagement decreases?
The life of a blogger can be an emotional rollercoaster, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can be as successful as you want if you put your mind to it and dedicate yourself to it. And sure, when you’re sitting with your feet up waiting for people to come flocking to your latest post, it might feel great.
But are you really doing enough?
Do you have systems in place that are always activated so you can take a break?
It might sound extreme when I say “always activated”, but having SOMETHING in place is so important, both for your continued success and your sanity. Plus, you want to improve your online presence, right? Don’t you want to get bigger, better opportunities, and more visibility?
Yeah you do!
IMPROVE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE TODAY!
You might want to grab this 5-day email challenge that’s starting on Thursday as an extra add-on to this post. I guarantee you’ll be feeling clearer about your online presence by the end of it!
#1 | MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PLAN
A lot of people say you need a “strategy” in place. But I know this word can cause confusion so today, we’re calling it a plan - because that’s basically what it is.
No one likes the idea of writing a full-on 10-page Word doc about a plan for their blog. Luckily, it doesn’t need to be that difficult.
In fact, it only needs to be a page long if you want. You can even just write it in a page in your notebook.
There’s this idea that a plan or a strategy needs to be really detailed, including all numerical targets and goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and all this other jargon.
Honestly?
There are only a few key things you need to include in your plan to improve your online presence.
Your target audience
This is super important. It works best if you’re specific. It’s not enough to say “young women” or “mums”. You want to dig deeper and keep on going until you have one distinct group of people in mind.
So instead of simply stating you want to write for “mum bloggers”, you might instead write that your target audience is a busy mum blogger who wants to start making money from their blog and become a mompreneur.
Does it seem like you’re being too specific? That’s good! That’s exactly what you want to be doing. You then need to go a few steps further and note down:
What message your brand is sending out
What your target audience believes in
What their goals are
Your categories
Make a note of everything you currently write about or want to write about. All your categories. Whether it’s a combination of lifestyle topics, or you’re completely focused on one topic like beauty or interiors, make a list of everything you want to write about on your blog.
Just be careful you’re not too broad. Try to stay within one industry. For instance, my umbrella categories are Create Content, Get Social, Be Productive and Build A Community. They all sit under the main topic of online marketing.
Your brand statement
I wrote a lesson on this in the Blogging Breakthrough challenge. (You can get access to it by joining our Facebook community here.) This is essentially made up of who you are, what you do, who you do it for and why.
For example, my brand message is: “I create actionable content for passionate bloggers so they can navigate the journey of building their online presence and get breakthrough after breakthrough.”
Easy, right?
Your goals
Dig deep. Where do you want to be in six months time? A year? 4 years?
The answers to these questions will be really important to you moving forward. But instead of just stating where you want to be, list out some checkpoints that will help you get there - like starting steps.
For example, if your goal after a year is to double your pageviews, you could say you need to survey your audience, revamp your content strategy, work on your social media promotion etc. Which actually leads me nicely onto the next point...
#2 | GET A MARKETING PLAN IN PLACE
I know those words might make you want to crawl back under your duvet, but just stick with me.
A lot of people think about marketing plans in two different ways. They either think that they’re not as important as they’re made out to be. Or they think they’re these jam-packed documents full of jargon, SEO talk and other salesy techniques.
Well firstly, a marketing plan is important. But they also can be pretty fun.
This is what I mean.
When you’re researching marketing plans, they might seem overly complicated, but they don’t need to be. It’s basically just a schedule that you can stick to consistently so you can measure and improve your online presence.
So what goes into a marketing plan?
Social Media
Social media is the biggest part of my online promotional strategy. It’s a great way to increase your visibility, find new readers and put yourself out there so you can GET FOUND.
It’s worth focusing on 2-3 key platforms. You want to do those really well instead of being on all of them and not being able to post consistently.
Twitter and Instagram are my two most consistent channels. I also use Facebook for networking and as you might know, I’ve recently started a YouTube channel. I absolutely love social media so I’m willing to put the time in to get results.
Networking with other bloggers
One of the best ways to market yourself is put yourself right in front of other bloggers so they have no choice but to notice you. You can do this is a number of ways, and while I was scared of networking when I first started out, my blog and business besties now support me so much.
It can involve different things like joining Facebook groups (and actually posting in them!), taking part in Twitter chats, getting together with another blogger on a collaboration, starting a mastermind and so on. You might put in your Twitter schedule that you want to start a conversation with 3-5 bloggers a week to increase your presence.
Guest posting
Some people love guest posting, some people hate it. I think it’s effective in two ways:
You can connect with a new audience and put yourself out there.
Having guest posters on your blog allows you to develop new relationships.
You get the chance to link back to your site and you’re showing your work to a whole new audience of people. It’s worth adding guest posting in your marketing plan - you could maybe try it once a month. Or you could even make it a 2018 goal for your blog.
Blogging
I know it might seem obvious, but blogging deserves it’s own section in your marketing plan. Not only does it provide you with credibility in your industry, but it also gives people a reason to keep coming back to your website on a consistent basis, which increases your chances of converting visitors into loyal readers and subscribers.
You don’t need to publish a post every single day. But try to aim for at least one per week. This works well because you can make sure your content is in-depth and valuable (which means it’ll rank well on Google), and it’ll also get shared on social media too.
Your marketing plan is all related to your promotional strategy so you can include anything that relates to that. What’s important to remember is to do things in your own way. What works for someone else might not work for you. Test what you implement and adapt it to move forward. That way, you’ll see results even faster.
#3 | REVIEW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
Social media is one of the easiest and most effective ways for new readers to find your blog and online brand. It allows you to put yourself out there for the world to see, and by being active, you’re inviting people to get in touch with you.
This is great because new readers can find you in an instant! But it could mean bad news if your social profiles aren’t performing as well as they could.
I come across bios on Twitter on a daily basis that don’t actually tell anyone what they do online. This is such a simple mistake that thankfully only takes a minute to change.
If you can, ask someone for some feedback. Get them to look through your social media profiles and list a couple of things you could improve.
You might feel negative when they give you some feedback, but this will help you so much when it comes to looking at the bigger picture. It’s easy to just write about yourself in your social media bio, or even just have your name. But what do you think that looks like to someone else?
You’ve got to tell people what’s in it for them. What can you offer them? If your bio isn’t answering these questons, it’s time to rethink.
Even if you’re feeling really good with your blog right now, it’s never too soon to improve your online presence. Don’t get complacent. And if you do have some spare time this week, definitely put these things into your schedule, so you can start making some improvements right now.
Or if you want a helping hand, sign up for the 5-day Power Your Online Presence email challenge starting on Thursday!
Are you ready?