In the final part of my “Starting your Startup Online on a Budget” series, I will focus on the aspect of increasing your online presence and visibility.
This article is part 3 of a 3-part series on Starting your Startup Online on a Budget, where I will talk about the important elements, but split across different parts as follows:
- Part 1- Domain Name and Branding
- Part 2- Website Development and Hosting
- Part 3- Social Media and Online Presence
In today’s time, it is extremely essential to have a strong online presence as majority of the people search for products and service providers over the internet. This makes it important that you explore all possible mediums that help your website get more eye balls. In order to do that, there are 2 essential items one should explore. Let us go through both these in detail.
1. Setup Social Media Profiles
We may have our own profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc., but it isn’t a nice practice to use it for promoting your business and services. It is always recommended to setup separate pages or profiles for your startup business. Also, choose wisely on which platforms you want or think your target audience will be available on.
Important tips on setting up Social Media channels for your startup:
- Choose profile name, that shows in URL, such that it matches with your business and also helps people easily related with.
- Create social media profiles on those platforms which are relevant to your business. For example, a YouTube page might work great for a gaming company, but not much for a recruitment agency, for which instead a LinkedIn profile will prove to be more beneficial.
- Make sure to keep posting content, if not everyday, at least every week.
2. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing plays a critical role in promoting your business online. You had setup the website, but are still not getting enough traffic and ranking better against your competitors. Digital marketing helps update your website’s existing content, post new content regularly and also perform strategic services that help drive more visitors on your website or social media pages.
Fiverr is again a good place to search for some digital marketing specialists. Two of the services which I would recommend initially for any startup business would be SEO and SMO. More paid services can be explored as your business increases or you have more funding.
Important tips for digital marketing:
- Results from digital marketing services might not be instantaneous. So, be patient and give the freelancer some time to show the progress.
- Choose a freelancer intelligently by checking all reviews and also confirming on if white hat techniques will be followed.
Approximate digital marketing cost:
$50 per month.
This brings an end to our series for budding entrepreneurs and startups that are planning to start their business and need an online visibility that can help them build their brand and generate them business. Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or suggest any other important element or trick that I might have overlooked.