So firstly, what is a digital footprint?
A digital footprint could loosely be defined as the collection of data and information developed as a result of online communications and online activity, which can be tracked back to an individual or organisation.
Therefore, having a strong digital footprint is imperative in ensuring your business’ reputation isn’t damaged due to previous negative/external competitor activity. Whether your organisation doesn’t have an online presence at all, or whether your business needs to strengthen its digital footprint – these tactics will support you in your efforts to enhance your online reputation.
- If the web is the new high street, your website is your shop window
A professional and trustworthy website is one of the most important tools when it comes to strengthening or developing your digital footprint. Your website gives an instant impression of your organisation’s purpose and brand – the image that your site presents to a user will determine whether they click away from your site, or hopefully continue exploring what you have to offer.
Ultimately, your site should act as a hub for your business as it stores all relevant information about your organisation. Although the copy and content of your site is essential, it’s also important to focus on your site’s user-friendliness and usability when creating a strong business website. You have to remember as a potential prospect, users will use your site as a resource to find information about your organisation and hopefully end up as a lead.
For example, pages should include individual services or products your business provides, links to relevant social media channels, as well as reputable backlinks. Optimising or building your site to the highest standard will ensure your website is your most valuable marketing tool for increasing leads and boosting your organisation’s digital footprint.
- Producing engaging and interesting content
Blogging is an effective and quick way to establish a relationship with users and build trust with your preferred audiences.
It’s a creative space for your organisation to portray their views on sector-related news, promote new services or discuss your current products – either way it’s a great way to stand out against your competitors.
Moreover, ensuring that content is keyword-focused will support with helping your organisation rank highly in Google searches amongst competitors and related content, which is an important technique in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Creating a blogging schedule within your business is an easy way to ensure content is always frequent and regular. Although, this only works if colleagues are on board with the plan, to ensure there are no gaps. Consistency is key.
- The importance of being active on social media
If you have already integrated social media accounts into your marketing strategy, then you’re already on track to building or strengthening your online footprint.
Social media is sometimes a forgotten tactic when it comes to enhancing an organisations online presence, however it’s a key element in off-site SEO as it supports the claims a website makes. By establishing links between websites and other online resources, search engines develop in their understanding of a business, and this can lead to a substantial growth in online visibility.
In terms of immediate actions that your company can implement quickly, focus on embedding social media widgets onto your site, ensuring there is a regular stream of content on your channels while also asking colleagues to share content for further engagement.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – how can it help?
Firstly, if you’re a complete newbie to the digital marketing universe, SEO is the method of improving the quality of your site’s website traffic from search engines in an organic sense, rather than through direct or paid traffic.
A good place to start is to perform a digital audit on your current site, or if you’re just starting out, think about what your site should look like from an SEO perspective as a starting block.
Digital auditing is the first and most important part of a website’s SEO journey. It’s the process of improving your site to increase its visibility for relevant searches. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to increase attention and attract prospects to your organisation.
It can often be hard to know where your online presence could be improved and what skills and techniques you require to tackle your competitive online marketplace. This is where digital auditing comes in! The tool is the practise of analysing your current digital marketing efforts and evaluating how best you can achieve a stronger online presence.
You can use third-party tools that can crawl through your site’s pages, to give you an indication on the elements of your site that need to be improved to meet SEO requirements. You can then share this audit with your web designer who will be able to implement some amends immediately, while others are more likely to be ongoing and long-term.
Final thoughts
Enhancing or developing your digital footprint will have a meaningful impact on your wider marketing goals, whether it’s increasing leads or building brand-awareness. However, you need to ensure that you’re consistent with your optimisation and implementation to grow or strengthen an effective digital footprint. For some organisations this can easily be taken in-house but for others a skilled digital marketing agency is normally acquired to support.
PLMR Digital is a full-spectrum agency who has the experience and skillset to help any small or large organisation meet their wider marketing goal. For more information, on the services we offer please click here or contact lucy.somers@plmr.co.uk.
