10 Best Strategies to Massively Increase Your Visibility Online

Wanting to increase your visibility online is the goal of most business owners.  After all, without visibility, you have no traffic and thus no business. And, the more attention to get to your business, the higher your income. However, when you start to research how to increase your online visibility, you discover so many options, yet have so little time for research and implementation.  Where does an online entrepreneur turn first to get the visibility (and traffic) you seek to help you promote your online venture?

New tricks and gimmicks come out every day, but unfortunately, most of them are like so many recording artists and become one-hit wonders.  In my business, I’ve discovered that there are a handful of strategies that are able to stand the test of time. Some have been around for as long as websites have been around, while others are newer kids on the block.

Here are my 10 most effective strategies to massively increase your visibility online:

1.  Podcast Guest.  Podcasting is more popular than ever. Rather than creating your own podcast, why not apply to be a guest on someone else’s podcast? Podcasts have a long shelf life, especially if they are syndicated on iTunes, and if you continue to promote your guest appearances, they can be used for years to come to promote your business. LinkedIn is a great source for searching for podcast hosts. Simply type in “podcast” or “podcast host” in the search bar and you’ll discover the many people who host podcasts.

2.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Optimizing your site or your blog for organic (naturally-occurring) searches has been around from the beginning of Internet marketing.  Use a keyword research tool and create a list of keywords applicable to your business.  Don’t forget to add things like “how to”, “tips”, or short descriptions of your target market’s problems to your research. Then, take a look at your page titles, page descriptions, page headlines, and formatted text on a page (bolding, italicizing, underlining) and include your keywords in those areas, as well as sprinkling 1-2 keywords throughout the content of your page.  Make the SEO appear to be natural, not forced, and the search engines, as well as your visitors, will love you. A free WordPress plugin, RankMath, is what I am using to keep my websites optimized.

3.  Social Networking.  Social networking now ranks near the top in terms of attracting much visibility to your business for a very low cost. If you don’t yet have accounts on the three most popular social networking platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, today is the day to hop on board and begin to network. Choose 1-2 social networking platforms where your target market hangs out, and then go and complete your profiles on your chosen platforms. Once those are completed, jump into those platforms and start making connections, joining groups or networks, sharing resources, and asking questions.  Dedicate 15-30 minutes each day to your effort to begin to see results. To help keep my posts organized and evergreen, I use Publer.

4. Email Marketing. Regular publication of an email newsletter (weekly is most effective) will enable your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and have you be top of mind when they are ready to solve the pressing problems that fall within your line of expertise.  If you make opting into your ezine list via a lead magnet the primary call to action on your website, you continually build your list with prospective customers.  Best of all, if they like what you write, they are more likely to pass along the issue to their contacts, thus increasing your visibility yet again. Birdsend is my platform of choice for email marketing.

5.   Webinars.  Have you created a signature speech that you can present whenever you’re asked to speak to any type of group (face-to-face or virtual)? If not, design a signature speech that demonstrates your knowledge and expertise without giving away the store (focus on the what and the why but not the how) that compels your listeners to visit your website or request your lead magnet and get on your list. Once you have created that, offer it as a webinar on platforms like Instant Teleseminar or Demio. You can also use these platforms to make your presentation evergreen and available on-demand to your prospects.

6.  Online PR.  Online PR means using press releases to help expand the number of people that your message is able to reach. Press releases are a well-known marketing strategy that has worked for years with print and broadcast media.  In recent years they have found new life as an online visibility tool. Just like in the old days, your release should carry some newsworthy angle that has been optimized with a select few keywords by which you want your business to be found.  Don’t waste your time submitting your release to the free press release sites — the release simply sits on the site and goes nowhere else.  Instead, invest in a fee-based service, like my own Authority News Release that is picked up and run by national media sites like ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates throughout the US.

7.  Blogging.  Blogging has gained popularity over the last few years as an online visibility tool. Blogs use RSS feed technology to immediately get new posts and updates out to your blog subscribers through a feed reader. Unlike ezines or traditional websites, search engines index blog posts almost immediately, which help you generate traffic to your website. To use effectively as an online visibility tool, you need to post 2-3 times per week to keep your readers interested and coming back. Make sure each of your blog posts contains a call to action. WP Scheduled Posts helps you create and maintain an editorial calendar for your blog.

8.  Videos.  With the popularity of broadband Internet connections, it’s much easier for almost anyone to view online video these days.  And, with high-quality yet low-cost webcams, smartphones, video cameras, and screen capture software readily available, anyone can make a video today.  You might record a live Q&A session on Facebook Live and post it on your site.  Or, perhaps you want to record a “how-to” tutorial using screenshots from your computer and upload that to your channel. SnagIt is a tool I highly recommend for great screenshot videos. Remember to include your call to action in your video so that you drive traffic back to your site.

9.  Publish a Book: Once you become the author of a book, or even featured in a book, worlds open up to you that were previously unavailable.  People want you to appear on their podcasts, TV shows, radio shows, and telesummits. When you promote this book online, your profile is raised to new heights.  Having Amazon as a publishing partner by having your book published via CreateSpace helps boost your visibility through Amazon’s own popularity as a search engine. My book publishing programs let you quickly and easily become an author without having to write a word!

10.  Lead Magnet:  A lead magnet is something that you give away on your site in exchange for a name and an email address. The most effective lead magnets contain such valuable information that you could charge for that info. A lead magnet is the most effective way to build your list and engagement by offering something of value to your audience for free. Here’s my article on the top 10 lead magnets you can create.

You’ve got two options when you try to get online visibility and attention:  the “steady and effective over time” method or the “quick and short and probably get banned” method. I prefer to use methods that have stood the test of time and won’t result in my site being removed from the search engines.  Use one or more of these time-honored strategies to get you the visibility you deserve online.