As a new business owner, it is important to make yourself visible. And as a life and business coach, I want to make sure you don’t miss out anything important. As part of your online marketing plan, you need to ensure that the right people are aware of your existence.

In this article, we discuss eight fast and free ways to increase your website traffic and grow your digital brand.

Be personable about you and your story

These days people are wanting to connect with a brand, not just a company. That means you, not your business should be the focal point.

Being transparent is not easy. This is a struggle that many of my past clients have struggled with over the years. Perhaps you struggle with it too. 

Have you ever found yourself wondering, “How can I appear both personal and approachable, yet still maintain a professional demeanor?”

Let’s think about this issue in another way. Recall your best business relationship. Perhaps it is with your family doctor, veterinarian, hairdresser or nanny. During the course of your business relationship, you learned why they entered their business and why they enjoyed it.

Now is your time to share what makes you feel passionate about your industry and why you choose to serve others in your business. Share your story not only in person but also online. Tell your story online and create a weblink that directs back to your site to increase website traffic.

Need help with your personal branding message? Click here to listen to this episode or press the play button below.

Be Friends with Micro-influencers

We are living in an age where people are looking less from big names like Kim Kardashian and Selena Gomez and more from micro-influencers. Micro influencers are brands or personalities that have an audience of 1,000 to up to 100,000 followers online. Companies are looking to get more endorsements from these micro influencers for MULTIPLE reasons:

1. Viewed as more authentic in comparison to big brands.
2. Are more affordable.
3. Tend to have higher engagement and bring organic website traffic.

It is important to locate and connect with micro influencers in your business community. As your business grows and thrives you want to build up a relationship so that you can agree to collaborate on marketing and advertising campaigns in the future.

Post ORIGINAL content consistently

Being original is majorly important in building your brand. People are getting tired of reading the cookie cutter, generic voices. You need to find ways to be original in all of your content. Content could be in terms of audio, video, written or graphics.

Many believe the lie that if you publish a bunch of content, somehow, you will be picked up by a big name and become famous overnight. And perhaps, that may happen to you. But most likely you will slowly build up an audience that will like your content and tell others about you and your business.

You may have heard the expression – “the overnight success.” But most likely that same overnight success worked for many years posting content that was largely ignored. It is a hard truth that does not get told often.

But I have some good news – by posting your content consistently and constantly working to improve your creatives – naturally, an audience will grow. Original content comes in a variety of sources, through your podcast, your social media pages, or website.

This brings me to another point regarding content. One of the biggest crimes, yes – crimes, I have seen online is plagiarizing or stealing content from others. If you like a quote that someone posted earlier, give them credit. In the era of social media, it is super easier to locate who was the original author of a quote or idea.

Stealing from others is always a bad idea. In addition to opening yourself up to a lawsuit, you cannot build an authentic brand by relying on the ideas of others.

Create your own private group

One of the keys to building a brand is helping your audience stay focused on you, your offerings and your ability to help them. 

Community groups in LinkedIn and Facebook help people grow to know, like and trust you. People are constantly looking for resources, tools and other like-minded people who have common business interests in values. 

Use your community page to share resources, ask questions and expand your social reach. While it may feel tempting to want to promote and sell constantly, most people would find it off-putting and would feel less likely to purchasing from you. If you are constantly giving good resources and value, you can be able to also inform your group of upcoming specials, promotions and offers.

Share and cross-post your content on other platforms

If you are creating good content that is getting reactions and shares, why not repurpose it to be used on other platforms? For example, that cool video you made on Facebook could be used shortened and used in Instagram. Or perhaps you made an article that resonated with your audience, why not make an audio version? 

There are endless possibilities on content re-creation. Try to find numerous ways to re-use your original content on other platforms.

Tag followers and ask them for their opinions

Social media platforms are social for a reason! Social media platform algorithms are designed such that posts that tag other account names will have a greater reach than just posting the content alone. In other words, your content can spread further and faster if you include other people to comment on your content. 

There is one big caveat: tagging people who typically do not comment or engage on your content is like throwing dried gum on the wall and hoping that it will stick. You want to engage with people who typically engage with you. And once they engage with your content, your tag’s followers will be able to see your content – which will allow your reach to spread further.

Post relevant and timely information

Chloe West from Sprout Social has a handful of tips on how to post content on various social media platforms.

Collaborate with others in your community

Thinking about making a webinar? Or perhaps an online summit! The more the merrier. One of the fastest and easiest ways to grow your audience is by connecting with others in the business community and creating fun and exciting new events that your audience is looking to participate in.

Need more help?

My job is to help my clients create plans that make sense for their personal and professional life. If you need more help, consider taking one of my communication courses. And don’t forget to check out my podcast for more helpful tips!