Good online brand visibility will set your business apart from the competition.  In order for your business to succeed online, you brand must be known and recognised. Good visibility of your brand will also make your business appear credible, and customers will be willing to avail of your services.

An effective brand visibility is about the ability to gain the attention of the targeted audience.  The Internet is can be a crowded marketplace.  Businesses are constantly competing with each other for the attention of consumers. It is thus important for your brand to be noticed and recognised.

1. Optimise Your Website

A website is one the most important branding tools for your business. Every business has a website, but very few websites rank favourably on search engines. Optimising your website for optimal performance on search engines is one of the first things you can do to drive traffic to your website and improve the brand visibility of your business.

There are several things you can do. These include:

• Use the Right Website Platform e.g. WordPress, Joomla, Magento
• Use a search engine friendly website.
• Use keywords correctly within page content/Correct placement of keywords on your website
• Follow the right on-page optimisation techniques
• Use of keywords in headings, bold text, anchor text of links
• Good website structure

2. Start a Blog

Having a blog can enhance brand visibility and improve your chances of success manifold. Blogging is one of the most effective ways to improve the visibility of your brand online. It improves your search engine rank, builds trust in your brand and can increase your reach manifold. It can also prove very effective for cultivating relationships with customers and other influencers from your niche alike.

3. Leverage Social Media

Social media marketing is one of the most effective and cost effective ways to promote your business and enhance the visibility of your brand. It levels the playing field between small businesses and established ones. It enables you to reach out to audiences that would have been previously unimaginable.  If done correctly, it promotes brand loyalty and recognition and can also grow your sales.

4. Press Release Marketing

Press release distribution is a quick and inexpensive way to enhance brand visibility and recognition. Unlike Social media and other SEO tactics, the results are almost immediate. Press releases are treated as fresh news items and indexed by Google within a few days of publishing. If it is picked up by Google News, you can get even more coverage for your brand.

Here are some Tips:

• Distribute your press release on several Press Release websites to get maximum coverage.
• Include a link to you company’s website
• Publish frequently for continuous coverage as old press relelases tend to get buried with time
• Use attention grabbing headlines

5. Leverage Video Marketing

Videos have the potential to attract a huge audience. Businesses of all sizes and scale can benefit from video marketing. Posting branded videos relevant to your niche is a very effective way to promote you business, drive traffic to your website and get your brand noticed in front of a targeted audience. You can take advantage of free online services such as ScreenR or video capture tools like Camtasia or SnagIt to create branded videos with little effort.

Here are some tips:

• Create custom YouTube channel
• For improve reach, use several services like You Tube, Vimeo, Metcafe, and more
• Rate and comment on popular videos relevant to your niche
• Link to your website in video descriptions
• Syndicate vides on your social media profile

6. Produce and Distribute Great Quality Content

Creating and distributing quality content is the best way to gain visibility online. It is one of the most effective inbound marketing tactics to promote your business and create brand recognition online. Creating quality content has become integral to any successful marketing strategy today. It goes hand in hand with many of the other methods covered in this article including SEO, social media and blogging.

The leads generated through quality content is more qualified and of a better quality as compared to other direct marketing methods. You have a higher chance of conversion when people arrive at your website via quality content you publish. Furthermore, well crafted content often gets reprinted and republished by other publishers, resulting in extra coverage for your brand.

Here are some tips:

• Create a good content marketing planCreate a variety of content e.g. articles, white papers, blog posts, eBooks, Infographics, and more
• Distribute content on several sources such as document sharing sites, social networks, article directories, and more
• Repurpose/reuse content e.g. converting existing blog posts into eBook, or articles into documents or slides, etc.
• Take advantage of content curation services such as Paper.li to deliver content and build your audience
• Publish frequently

7. Use Consistent Branding Across All Channels

It is common for a business to use several channels to reach out to customers. For example a business may use its website, several social networks, blogs, document sharing sites, and more. It is very important to display a consistent branding across all channels. This creates brand recognition and helps to reinforce the brand.

8. Make Sure to Target Mobile Users

The mobile market is growing exponentially and it is vital for a business to capitalise on the mobile marketing boom. It is estimated that within the next five years mobile internet use will surpass desktop access. In spite of this a recent study has found that nearly 2/3rd of businesses have not yet got around to creating mobile version of their websites.

Here are some tips:

Here are some tips to help you get started with mobile marketing.

• Create a mobile enabled website
• Develop useful Apps
• Leverage location based services such as Foursquare or Google Places

9. Market in the Right Places

Use appropriate channels promote your brand. There are several ways to market and advertise your brand on the Internet, both free and paid. Classified Ad websites, online business directories, local directories are some ways to advertise your brand for free. If you are looking for paid advertising, pay per click advertising such as Google Adwords or Facebook ads can prove useful particularly in the short term while you work towards building your organic visibility. Twitter advertising can also prove useful and cost effective.

If you sell products online, advertising on popular shopping portals and shopping comparison sites can create brand awareness and increase sales. ne retailers if they are actively looking to make a purchase.

10. Comment on Blogs and Forums

Commenting on blogs and forums relevant to your niche is an easy and highly effective way to improve the visibility of your brand. It offers a quick and easy way to obtain valuable back-links to your website which in-turn improves your search engine rank. It is also a great way to noticed by a highly targeted audience.

Here are some tips:

• Identify and maintain a list of influential blogs and forums in your niche.
• Participate in relevant conversations by leaving a comment on posts or replying to threads on forums.
• Make sure to include a link to your website with your comment
• Add links to your website, blog and social profiles in forum signature. This will be displayed below every post.
• Add value to discussions. Avoid self-promotion or spam.

Conclusion:

Online Visibility of your brand is vital for the success of any business today, no matter how small large the business. However the online marketplace is crowded and businesses are faced with still competition. It is imperative for your business to maintain an active presence in the online landscape if you want your business to succeed.

The internet has become the preferred channel for consumers to discover products and services for both, online and offline products. It is this vital for a business to improve their online brand presence, whether it is an online business or standard bricks and mortar business.