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O ne of the first things any business owner should do when looking to get their company moving forward is to establish an online presence. I’m old enough to remember turning to the phone book to find a transmission shop, but those days are long over.

Today, potential customers use Google, or any other search engine, to find what they’re looking for.

They also use Google to investigate businesses they may visit. Used to be that we worried about reviews for movies and restaurants, but not much more. Now, we can get reviews for nearly every business out there.

How do you establish an online presence for a business, and make sure the messages it’s conveying are right for you?

I have some ideas.

You Need to Build a Website

This should be obvious in this day and age. Your storefront is your storefront: cut the grass, freshen up the paint, keep the windows clean. But your business’s website is the front of your storefront.

I’ve written about this a little bit before, but it’s worth saying again: it’s just so easy today to make a website that you’re crazy if you don’t have one.

Hosting services like Wix and WordPress can help you make clean, inexpensive websites that can grow as your business grows.

Develop Your Social Media Voice

Should you Tweet? Post pics to Instagram? Follow on Facebook? Dance on TikTok?

There are so many social media outlets that it can be hard to follow them all.

Choose one or two and really use them well. Don’t dash over to the latest thing before really exploring the platform’s audience and functionality.

The key is to post regularly and interact with potential customers in a positive way. Don’t forget to spellcheck your posts, and get up for a drink of water before you click “send” to make sure you really want to say the thing you’re about to say!

Monitor Your Online Reputation

Finally, accept the fact that you’re online even if you aren’t online. People can say things about you and your business online whether or not you have a website or a social media account.

It’s a good idea to monitor what’s being said about you online.

There are services that you can employ to check your online reputation and fix it when inaccurate information is posted.

While they offer a complete suite of services, if you’re operating on a shoestring budget, you can still have Google notify you when your name or business is mentioned online. It’s not too difficult to set up, and it’s free.

Hopefully, these tips make it a little easier to establish an online presence that helps your business thrive. If you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear from you. Online, if you’d like!

–Jack