10 Tips to Improve Your Business’s Online Presence

Regardless of the industry in which your business operates, with just 3% of consumers refraining from using online search engines to research local businesses<, you can’t afford not to spend time finessing your business’s online presence. Here are 10 quick tips to help boost your online presence, brand recognition, conversion rates, and overall business success.

Create a Website

This one may seem a bit basic but shockingly, 49% of small businesses don’t have a website. Being active on social media or popping up in a Google Maps search just won’t cut it. Building out a website is well worth the initial investment with the potential business it can reel in. You can even create fairly cost-effective and responsive websites (a necessity these days, as Google penalizes websites that aren’t mobile-friendly) using WordPress.com, Squarespace, or similar. If you’ve put this task off, you’re well behind the competitive curve. Put this task to the top of your to-do list, hire help if you need to, do some research, get an idea of what you’d like to see on your website, budget it out, and get to work making it happen—ASAP!

Champion Consistency

When it comes to online marketing, consistency is necessary to create a bigger footprint. Settle on a name, logo, and perhaps even a slogan: these will be the recognizable elements to your online branding strategy. Use these elements across all channels, from your website and domain name to your social media accounts and more. Wherever you’re found online, it should be easy for prospective clients to recognize you. This will cross off some of the most basic search engine optimization (SEO) requirements—which essentially refers to your ability to show up in clients’ online searches—while building up your perceived professionalism and, in turn, patient trust.

Choose Your Keywords Wisely 

Keywords are essential to a strong online marketing strategy. These are the terms and phrases your target clients might type into a search engine to discover your business. While you may be tempted to use general keywords, like “medical aesthetics professional” or “medical aesthetics specialist,” it’s best to mix these up with more focused key terms, such as “laser hair removal for darker skin” or “body contouring specialist for men,” that better suit your target niche. Your business is much more likely to float to the top of the search results with niche-specific keywords.

Get Personal—Or Don’t

Leveraging your personal brand can be nerve-racking, but it can also reward your business with some major authenticity points online. With social media marketing on the rise, consumers are often questioning the authenticity of brands. For this reason, there should be no gray area. If you choose to open up and market your clinic with your experience, credentials, and maybe even your love of dogs or the color pink, if that happens to be how you stand out from your competitors and connect with clients, you need to be all in. Show up often in marketing materials, especially on social media, and stay consistent. Over time, you will create a community that connects with you and your business on a much deeper, more meaningful level.

Spread Word-of-Mouth with a Modern Twist

Just as word-of-mouth marketing offers a decent payback on a shoestring budget, encouraging online reviews or social media posts from your patients can be a great way to spread the word about your business online with limited finances in today’s modern world. It may take a while to pay off, but over time, you’ll build a collection of authentic reviews worth up to a 9% increase in revenue with each extra star. If you’re finding it difficult to convince patients to post online or you’re finding they often forget to post once they’ve left your office, make it easier: send a follow-up email with a link to where they need to go to leave their review and, if appropriate, offer a discount on future services for posting an honest review. With 90% of consumers looking to online reviews before even stepping foot in a business, you can’t afford to skip this step in improving your business’s online presence.

Sharing Is Caring

Quality content posted to a blog on your website can do wonders at increasing your search engine ranking, but creating quality content that patients and other businesses want to share can be even more valuable. Craft blog posts with this in mind and offer content that is comprehensive, but easy to comprehend. Insert clever sub-headings to break down content and make it scannable and entertaining. Offering content that other authoritative publications can link to and share with their readers can be beneficial to your SEO ranking. You may even consider crafting unique content speaking to new treatments and sharing this with interested publications, offering up your expertise if they so wish to write an article on it. It’s not a guarantee, but you could become that publication’s go-to expert if they like your take on the topic. This can help to expand your clinic’s brand recognition, so it’s well worth taking the shot.

Don’t Compete with Giants 

Keep your notion of a strong web presence realistic. If there’s a major player in your industry that is well-established and ranking #1 for “medical aesthetics specialist,” you’re not going to overcome them in the search results overnight. In fact, the best you might ever be able to do is come in second to them, and even that’s thinking big. Instead, focusing on personal improvement and serving your niche is the best strategy to improve a targeted online presence that is more likely to bring in interested prospective clients using a more specific search, which could make you the next giant in your local business community.

Say So Long to Snail Mail

If you’re making use of your regular postal service to deliver marketing materials and newsletters, it’s time to make the shift to email marketing. A study by McKinsey & Company found that 91% of consumers check their email daily. Generating a significant email marketing list can serve to boost your Google rankings through improved click rates. New blog posts and special promotions may be shared through email, directing traffic to your targeted marketing campaigns for the month. Likewise, McKinsey & Company found that emails prompt purchases at a rate that’s three-times higher than purchases made through social media, suggesting email marketing can offer that one-two punch for better business and an improved online presence.

Get Social  

Social media can help boost your online presence by broadening the platforms on which clients can find you and you can interact with them. It’s a rookie mistake to create a social media account on all platforms, though, as it’s unlikely you’ll be able to be present and consistent on all of them, especially with a small team. Instead, focus on two or three platforms where your target patient is most active and ensure you post quality content on a regular basis to these platforms. Include hashtags where appropriate to improve searchability and focus on interaction for improved engagement. Reply to comments on posts and patient questions. Try to avoid form answers for improved authenticity. Focus on informed replies, rather than sales pitches. Over time, a higher engagement rate will lead to a larger following and a better Web presence that makes your business that much easier to find online.

Don’t Forget to Register

Lastly, with consumers heading to Google to search for your business, it only makes sense to head to meet them where they are and register your business. Registering with Google My Business is free and helps you stand out in searches in your area for those prospective patients using the search engine or Google Maps. Submit business hours and have customer reviews pop up alongside your location and website listing. By registering your business, you ensure accurate information is provided and always up-to-date, while gaining access to search data with Google Analytics. This data will allow you to better focus on the online marketing efforts that are actually working for your clinic for greater business success moving forward. 

Bonus Tip: Push for a Better Partnership

When making purchases and decisions for your medical aesthetics clinic, lean toward partnerships that offer more benefits than a simple purchase or exchange of goods. For example, if creating marketing assets isn’t your forte, find a partner that can offer that skill. When you purchase a device from Venus Concept, you get more than a piece of cutting-edge technology. Among other benefits, you also receive in-clinic training, access to practice enhancement programs, and a dedicated marketing support team to offer the help you need, where you need it. To learn more about the benefits of a partnership with Venus Concept, contact an expert today.