Have you ever poured so much time and energy into creating the perfect piece of content only to find it's not getting the amount of traffic you want? Are you sharing it over and over again? Trying to reach customers to make your business flourish? I know how it feels. And I have the answer.
The answer is in increasing your online visibility. We will do this with a three-part method consisting of organic search traffic, paid advertising, and social media outreach.
As a business owner, whether you own a brick-and-mortar business or an online business, your website and social media play a huge role in getting new customers in the door and ultimately making sales in your business.
Internet marketing and online marketing also play a bigger role in the growth of your business now more than ever. And if you’re not being seen by new (and existing) customers, it will be hard to grow and sustain your business.
Online visibility is the overall presence of the business or brand in the marketplace. Your business can have great products, an outstanding website, or even a great social media presence, but if consumers can’t find it, your business or brand will struggle to grow.
Online visibility is important because it allows consumers to find your website or products, as well as bring new and unique consumers to your business. Online visibility also helps how your products or services are perceived in the marketplace and helps you stand out among other businesses that might offer similar products or services.
Online visibility comes in many different ways, but for the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on 3 forms of online visibility:
The organic part of the Visibility Method focuses on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and driving traffic to your business naturally through search engines. Organic visibility (free traffic) brings interested leads to your website naturally.
Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) allows you to connect with the right people searching for specific things, all through a network of different strategies and techniques. Basically, the better your SEO, the higher you’ll rank in searches, and the better results you’ll see from that web search traffic.
If you’re not utilizing SEO on your website, on blog posts, or even in your Etsy shop or podcast, you’re missing out on traffic coming to your website, and ultimately, new leads and sales.
There are a lot of benefits to using organic SEO to gain visibility. I’ll share a few here.
Being at the top of a search results page is social proof in itself because people will trust that you know what you’re talking about if Google puts you on the first page.
SEO consists of criteria and methods used by search engines to determine the order of search results. This can be from your website and your content. Some factors include:
There are over 8.5 billion searches on Google every day. Chances are people searching for your products and services. Optimizing your website and content can help bring those people to you organically.
SEO is the cheapest and most effective way to reach your audience. SEO is free. All it takes is time and energy to optimize your business for search engines. You can go back and optimize old content too.
The algorithms continue to change as Google improves its method, so you have to be prepared to continually learn, apply and update your business as time moves forward.
Hiring someone to help you with SEO can allow you to streamline this process and not have to keep up with all the changes.
SEO is something business owners should always be focusing on, simply for driving in new traffic to your business from the Google search. It is the number one way for you to get visible online where people are actually searching for what you have to offer.
Paid advertising is the second part of the Visibility Method. Paid ads get your business in front of your target audience immediately without waiting to rank up or gain followers. Sometimes paid advertising is called pay per click. This is a great way to attract new customers quickly.
There are a lot of benefits to using paid ads to gain visibility. I’ll share a few here.
Another benefit is that your website can show up at the top of the search results (under paid ads) even if you’re not ranking for those keywords that you are advertising for. And ads come with analytics to show data about the people interacting with your ads and to help you fine-tune your campaigns to convert better.
The costs of using ads depend on your goals, budget, and the advertising platforms you choose. Running ads can cost as little as $1 a day and go up depending on your marketing budget. I highly recommend you set aside $10/day for ad spend when you are ready to start paid advertising.
The most reliable way to bring in new leads to your business is through Google Ads. Similar to SEO, Google Ads allow you to show up for people who are actually searching for your product or service.
Ever notice when you type in a search that an ad is the first few results? These are Google Ads and will ultimately help you get visible to the right people, leading to new leads and an increase in revenue.
Not only do Google Ads help you get visible online, but they’re also a great compliment to the SEO work you are doing. Typically we find if you show up organically (SEO) and in Google Ads, that people will click on the organic listing – thus saying you that cost per click.
It is important to hire a professional to set up and manage your campaigns. You can waste a lot of money if they are not set up properly. Google certifies people like myself each year by having us take and pass exams. An expert in ads can help your ad dollars go much further.
Or, if hiring a professional to run your ads is not in your budget, you can still be advised by a professional, like in my Visibility Hive community, which is linked below.
Almost all social media networks allow you to create ads or to spend money to promote your posts to a wider audience. This gives you the same benefits as using Google Ads, but instead of a search engine, you can take your ads to the place where your audience hangs out.
There’s no best platform to post your ads. You have to pick the best one for your niche and audience.
Social media is the third part of the Visibility Method.
While I believe SEO and Google Ads are better ways to get visible online, social media marketing tends to be the main way most businesses choose to get their products or services in front of new people.
And while there are billions of people using social media on a daily basis, it’s much harder for you to find new people utilizing social media marketing compared to SEO or Google Ads.
Despite all this, the majority of people spend some of their time on a social media platform. So, having some social media presence can be helpful as a part of a strategy for reaching your ideal audience.
Figuring out where your ideal audience hangs out is key to knowing which social media platform to concentrate on. It’s another way to find a person who needs your services.
There are a lot of benefits to using social media to gain visibility. I’ll share a few here.
By engaging with your audience and making a good impression, your conversion rates will be higher. People are more likely to convert when they see your authority and credibility displayed on social media.
The best thing about utilizing social media to gain visibility is that it is free. There may be 3rd party tools you will want to look at and depending on the tool there may be a fee, but using social media websites by themselves is free.
If you want to utilize social media for getting visible online, then you have to be CONSISTENT. And that doesn’t mean just posting on social media daily. Consistency on social media means posting consistently, showing your face consistently, and engaging with your followers consistently.
And even if you are showing up consistently, it doesn’t necessarily mean new leads are going to be able to find you, which is why utilizing SEO and Google Ads are so important for online visibility.
Facebook is the largest social media network and currently has over 1 billion users. That's a lot of potential clients.
Instagram is a platform focused around photos and videos. Instagram can help your visibility because Instagram is highly visual and engaging. Instagram is rapidly growing and changing.
Linkedin is meant for business owners, professionals, job hunters, and college students. Linkedin should be a part of your visibility plan because it is a unique social media network with a specific niche — business, recruiting and job networking.
Twitter is a microblogging social media network. Users are limited to 280 or fewer characters per post. Businesses can post short updates, announcements and attach content to link followers back to their websites. Twitter is good for visibility because it allows businesses to quickly connect with customers. They can respond to complaints and questions right away.
YouTube is the second largest search engine. Its videos show up in Google's search results and millions rely on YouTube, itself, to get answers to their questions. Being on YouTube and engaging through video helps build your authority, credibility, and trust. Connecting through video is more engaging especially if viewers can see a face behind the business.
Pinterest is another visual social media network and also a search engine. Users use Pinterest to share images that represent projects, blog posts, services, and products. These images are called pins. Pins are displayed as a giant bulletin board with designs competing to catch the user’s eye. Once a pin is clicked, the user can then be directed to the pin’s website.
The Visibility Method consists of three main parts: organic, paid, and social. However, you don’t need to utilize all three methods to succeed. You can choose just one, two or all three to help your online visibility.
If you're ready to tackle getting visible online, come join us in The Visibility Hive, where you will be guided with monthly actionable strategies through social media, paid ads and SEO.
Welcome! My name is Glenneth and I live in beautiful East Tennessee. I wear many hats: CEO of The Visibility Method, SEO & Google Ads Expert, content creator, and more. I love technology, social media, and weight lifting. My favorite place to hang out is the hammock in my backyard. My favorite colors are pink and orange. My favorite team is the Vols. And I LOVE to get email so please drop me a note and say hi!
