5 (Fixable) Mistakes Business’ Make with Their Online Presence

Kristina Stubblefield: [00:00:00] Today we're uncovering the five major online presence mistakes that will negatively affect your ability to be found, be seen. And achieve being successful in your business, but don't worry, they're all fixable. 

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 Today, we're talking about a topic that's not just important, it's absolutely essential. [00:01:00] I've said it time and time again, and I'll keep saying it. In today's digital world, a robust online presence, it's your lifeline. It is your passport to reach people in your community, your state, or globally. And I've said it once, twice.

I've probably said it a hundred times, but I feel it bears repeating your online presence is your virtual storefront, your digital business card, and your ticket to reaching your audience today, we're going to discuss the five biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to their online presence, whether you're just starting your journey online or fine tuning your existing presence, this episode is a gold mine of lessons and actionable tips.

And here's the exciting part. If you recognize any of these mistakes. You don't have to worry about it. We've got a brand new program coming out very soon dedicated to boosting your online presence. Stay tuned [00:02:00] for more information on that. But first, let's dive straight into the heart of these online presence blunders.

 And don't forget, subscribe and leave a review. If you enjoy this show, your support keeps us going and growing. Now let's get started. 

Mistake number one, neglecting consistency, that dreaded word that packs such a punch. Consistency. Here's the thing and I pause because I feel like I talk about this a lot, consistency, and you don't want to miss the previous video that I did on this topic, but there are consequences of being inconsistent.

It affects your branding. It affects your engagement. And it affects the amount of people that you reach. Here's what I mean by that. All these algorithms that make up the different social media platforms and internet world, they [00:03:00] like, and they run on people and businesses that use their platforms. Google loves Google.

So if you are active on your Google business profile, Google is naturally going to push you up higher. They're going to make sure your business has seen more. Why? Because you invest time, energy, effort in their platform. Consistency helps you maintain a good online presence. And here's what I mean by that. When you're consistent once a week, twice a week, whatever it is, if you're someone that does seven days a week with updating your website, posting on social media, using your Google business profile, what have you, if you do it consistently on whatever social media platforms. That platform is going to recognize, Hey, this person, this business is over here investing time. They're [00:04:00] using our platform. So let's push their stuff out to more people. Why? Because if you get results, you're going to come back and you're going to use it more.

It's keeping people active in that platform. Now, I can get techy on you and give you a whole bunch of words that is probably going to go right over your head, but I like breaking it down in simple terms. That's why I've just explained it the way I did. Now, how do you maintain a consistent online presence?

Well, I encourage you to listen to the previous video that I did. About defining and demystifying this word consistency, because I think people glaze over, they roll their eyes cause they've heard it so many times respecting your boundaries, understanding where you are in your business and how often you can post.

On the different platforms or update your website or utilize your Google business profile, whatever that is once a week, twice a week, twice a month, whatever it is, staying consistent [00:05:00] with it for a long period of time, not just a week, a month, a couple months, a long term, that's how it's going to help your business.

And I feel like a lot of people start out and they are gung ho and they're so consistent. And then two or three months later, life happens. They get busy and they do good to post a couple of times a month. Now, I'm not here to tell you any different. You can't help that life and business happen. However, if you respect your own boundaries and you're honest with where you're at right now in your business and you're honest and you say, I can only do once a week, but I can schedule out content for once a week for 90 days, for six months, whatever it is, that consistency is going to provide better results than you posting three times a week for a couple of weeks and then ghosting whatever platforms you use.

So that's what I mean by mistake one being neglecting [00:06:00] consistency. Let's move on mistake number two, ignoring analytics. A lot of people don't even look at their analytics. They're reporting and that's a misstep here because there are so much data inside those analytics. A lot of times when I work with clients, one of the first things that I ask, have you looked at your analytics?

Who's your audience? Normally they tell me who they think their audience is on the different platforms. And when we peel back the layers and we look at their Facebook analytics. Their Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, their Google analytics for their website. Most of the time they're so shocked to learn more about who their audience actually is.

So those analytics can be a huge guide with your decision making, what kind of content you put out, what kind of tips you share, what did those graphics look like, what platforms you use. Because you want to be utilizing [00:07:00] the platforms where your ideal clients or your target audience lives and spends their time.

So I encourage you to look at those analytics. You might not fully understand what they are, but start by going in there and looking at the numbers. 

Now mistake number three, neglecting social media engagement. Okay, I'm going to take a breath here because I say this a lot.

Social media is just that. It's social and this is a misstep. A lot of people post and go, post and go. They don't even reply to comments on their post. They don't check their DMs or their inboxes. They truly neglect being social. I want to remind you, it's two way communication.

Social media platforms allow you to build relationships. Take the time to go out and like other people's posts, comment on other [00:08:00] people's posts. Maybe it's people you do business with, maybe it's people that you're in networking or other organizations with. Be social. There is so much power in engaging on social media with other businesses as well as your audience, please, if people take the time to reply to a post or send you a message, make sure that you respond in a timely fashion.

It's so important because it's about building relationships. Okay, I'm on to mistake number four. Underestimating the power of SEO. Whew! There's that term, SEO. And, if you stay with me, and don't click the button, or don't fast forward this, I'm going to share with you what is SEO search engine optimization.

Here's what it means in layman's terms, optimizing your content for better [00:09:00] search engine results. And what that means. I'm going to keep going is you want your content to be the best it can be for search engines, where you can be like, Hey, this website, this business put out content. Because you want it to help boost your online visibility and the people that you reach.

Now, I'm not asking you to become an expert in search engine optimization. I do feel like it's important as a business owner, entrepreneur, coach, whatever line of work you may be in, that you understand a little bit about SEO. It can make a huge difference for your business. It can help you be found and be seen more than your competitors.

Okay. Are you ready for mistake number five? Not monitoring online reputation. Cue the music. Wah, wah, wah. Here's the deal. [00:10:00] You have to know what is out there about your business or if it's a personal brand about yourself. You can't do anything if you don't know what's out there and there's no sense in acting like.

There is nothing out there when there potentially could be. You need to know what's out there about your business or yourself. And I like when people say, well, what do I do about negative reviews? It's your opportunity to showcase your customer service. How you handle when something comes up. We're all human, mistakes can happen.

How are you going to address it? Not just acting like it doesn't exist. Now, this isn't a blanket answer for every review or negative review out there. This is simply saying, know it's out there and addressing it. Now, are there times where it may be a bad situation and you have your attorney involved?

Absolutely. However, there are other times when there was a misunderstanding or [00:11:00] something happened and there's times that people go out there and no matter what, you cannot please them. All I'm saying is the negative reviews need to be addressed. Don't act like they're not there and don't just avoid them.

The other thing, the positive reviews, reply to them. Google reviews make it so easy. You get a notification on your phone if you have that enabled and you can go right in and reply. Say, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, I appreciate it. Because then when potential clients look you up online, they not only see that someone liked your business or gave feedback about your business, but look, you responded, you appreciated it.

And that helps build trust. There's so much more that goes into your online reputation, but it starts with reviews. It's also important to know what different platforms or directories [00:12:00] you're listed on. Do those allow reviews? Or feedback from clients or potential clients. If so, you need to know that your business is out there so you can monitor it.

Monitoring your online 

Reputation is so important, especially where we're at right now. Today's digital age, people are making buying decisions with what they find online before they ever have a conversation or a meeting with you or a consultation, they are forming an opinion about your business based on what's online.

So that's why it's so important to know and address anything and everything that is out there about your business, your online reputation. That is building trust with potential clients before you ever even know that they are looking you up. I'm sure I seemed very passionate about those, but I've been doing this for many, many years.

And those are five mistakes that I see [00:13:00] businesses make. a lot with their online presence. So now I want to ask you a question. Do any of these mistakes resonate with you? If they do, the best part about it, these are all fixable. And if you need help with that, we've got something special coming up. Our brand new program designed to supercharge your online presence.

It's called Boost Online Visibility. Stay tuned because we'll be revealing more details about it very soon. And trust me, it's going to be a game changer for you and your business. 

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