Introduction
If you’re considering starting an online business, or just building your own brand, it’s vital to have an online presence. There are a number of ways in which you can do this and grow your audience. Here are some tips on how to get started
Create a Website
Create a website. A website is the most important tool for any designer looking to build an online presence. It’s a place to showcase your work, share your thoughts and ideas, and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
Choose a domain name that reflects what you do or who you are. A good tip is to use different variations of the same word until one sticks, because it may be easier to remember later on down the line when you want people to find out more about what it is that you do by searching online first before going anywhere else since there won’t necessarily be any signage outside either — unless there’s some sort of physical address within sight range which might help but then again this isn’t always possible.
Start a Blog
It would be best if you started a blog, which is basically a website that publishes content on specific topics. Your blog can be related to your business and will help you build an audience of people who are interested in what you have to say.
Once you have started the blog, make sure it has a good design and layout so that it’s easy for readers to navigate and read.
Once set up correctly, the next step is publishing content on the site regularly (at least once a week). Make sure all of this content is useful and relevant for your target audience — if not, then don’t bother publishing anything at all!
Once everything looks good on-screen, post links on social media profiles such as Facebook or Twitter where others might stumble across them while scrolling through their feed in search of interesting things they haven’t seen before (which hopefully includes yours).
Put your blog content on social media.
Make your blog content social media-friendly.
Share regularly.
Don’t just post links to your articles and expect them to get noticed. Add a little context and make it easy for people to share what you’re posting by including quotes or anecdotes, rather than just a link with some words on top of it.
Share other people’s posts as well as your own! If someone else is talking about something interesting that relates to the work you do, retweet it or add it to the end of one of your own tweets. This can help increase the reach of both their content and yours too!
Guest post on other blogs/websites
Guest posting is a great way to build your online presence. You can share your expertise, and build relationships with other bloggers. It’s also a great way to get your content out to a wider audience.
You may be wondering why guest posting is so important for building your personal brand. Well, it gives you an opportunity to:
share information on topics that are relevant and interesting
demonstrate how you can help others with the resources that you have available
show off what makes you different from anyone else (i.e., unique value)
Publish on a regular basis
The best way to build an online presence is to publish content on a regular basis. When you’re first starting out, it can be tempting to want to post about everything that you are doing, but this can often lead to posting too much and not being able to sustain the frequency of your posts. Set a schedule and stick with it. You should also make sure that the content you are publishing is high quality; don’t just post anything because “it’s good enough”. Your readers will quickly lose interest if all they see from you is poor-quality content.
Finally, make sure that the topics or types of posts that you are posting are interesting for your audience! If they’re not interested in what it is that you’re writing about then they won’t bother following along with what else happens around here!
Join online forums and Networking Groups
If you’re looking to meet like-minded people and build connections, joining networking groups is a great way to get started. You can share your content and see what other people are saying about it, ask questions, get answers from the experts, learn new things from like-minded peers in the space — and most importantly: make connections with people who have similar interests as you.
Networking groups can include LinkedIn Groups (both paid and free), Facebook Groups (paid or free), Meetups (local or online), Slack channels, private Facebook Groups for industry professionals…the list goes on!
Make the Most of Social Media
Social media is a great way to build an audience and enhance your blog’s reach. If you’re doing it right, social media can open up opportunities for guest posting and other ways to get more exposure without having to spend money on ads.
Here are some ideas for making the most of social media:
Post interesting content that people want to share. People love sharing pictures/videos/articles that they think their friends will enjoy reading or watching, so make sure that the stuff you post is worth sharing! For example, if you have a recipe blog with healthy recipes, find fun variations on popular dishes (like bacon-wrapped salmon) that readers might not already know about (for example…bacon-wrapped salmon burgers!). This will help build your brand awareness by showing people how creative and inventive you are as an author.
Give people a reason to follow you on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram — iF YOU CAN’T DO THIS THEN DON’T USE SOCIAL MEDIA AT ALL! You can do this by offering freebies such as ebooks or discounts on software programs and related products in exchange for email addresses
Share useful content, infographics, or links you come across online.
Sharing links to interesting articles or projects you come across online is a great way to show your audience that you care about what they’re interested in.
However, don’t just share any old link; make sure that the content you’re sharing is relevant and useful for them. For example, if you’re posting about a topic related to marketing or business, share an infographic that offers interesting information about this subject area. You can also share articles or videos from similar sites so long as they aren’t spammy — people may stop following if their feeds are constantly filled with promotions for products and services instead of valuable content!
Comment on other people’s blogs and websites.
It’s a great way to build your reputation, establish yourself as an authority in your field and get backlinks. But be careful: spammy comments have a history of getting flagged by Google and penalized by search engines. So don’t just post links to your own website; leave a comment that is relevant to the content, highlighting why people should click through it — and do so with care. Don’t just write “Great article!” Show that you have read the article and understand it (if not all its nuances), then let readers know something about yourself — your experience or expertise on this topic, what problems you’ve seen in real life with whatever was discussed in this piece…
Create an email newsletter that you can send out to your audience
Your newsletter is an important tool for building a relationship with your audience. It’s not just a place to send links to your latest blog post, but an opportunity to give people something that’s useful for them. If you have been doing this long enough and have built up a good rapport with your readership, then asking them questions in the newsletter can also help generate new ideas or projects that your readers will surely take interest in.
Another way of using your newsletter is by sharing other people’s content with it — you can talk about their work and why it’s interesting, or even give them praise if their work was especially good! This helps grow your audience because when someone receives a note from one of these authors (or other influencers), they’re likely to check out what else they have written/created/recorded before making any decisions about whether or not they should follow them.
Get in touch with people who have similar interests and goals
Another perk of social media is that it allows you to meet new people. It’s not uncommon for people to use social media as a tool for expanding their personal networks, whether they’re searching for friends, colleagues or even romantic partners. Social media also makes it easy to connect with people who live in different parts of the world but share similar interests and goals with you.
When you start using Facebook, Twitter or another type of social media platform like Instagram or LinkedIn, don’t forget that you can use these tools to connect with others based on shared values (such as hobbies) or mutual goals (like starting a business). This will make building connections much easier because you already have something in common!
Be involved with the community
You can gain a lot of knowledge by being involved with the online community. It’s important to interact with people and share your own experiences. You should not be afraid to ask questions, make mistakes, or disagree with others.
Attend events and speak to people
Attend events and speak to people. You can use the opportunity to network, but you should be sure to speak with people interested in your field. Ask them about their work and how they got into it; ask what they would like to learn, or what they’ve been up to lately. This will give you a sense of what content is most useful for success in your industry.
Posting content consistently and networking are the keys to building an online presence.
The key to building an online presence is consistency. You need to be posting content regularly and networking with people in the community.
To build your brand, you need to be involved with others. This doesn’t mean just social media: it can mean attending events or speaking at conferences, writing guest posts for other blogs, or even just having a good conversation over coffee with someone who could benefit from knowing you.
Conclusion
So you should be able to see now that there are many different ways in which you can build an online presence. You will not succeed unless you make an effort every single day, so make sure that before starting out on any new project or venture — whether it’s building your personal brand or launching an art exhibition — take some time off from other activities and focus solely on this pursuit for at least six months!