Are you trying to make a name for yourself in the online world? Do you know the best way to go about it? Do you know the importance of branding yourself, and getting your name out there everywhere you can? These are just some of the things you should be thinking about when you get started building an online presence. Whether you want to be known for your services, or for your products, becoming an online celebrity is a must for creating a successful business.

Many small business owners do not know where the best places to go to build their presence online. While there are the popular places such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, there are also tried and true ways to get the most from your time spent. No one has hours to waste just chatting, joining groups and trying to get to know people. If you learn the tricks and tips that can get you working in the right direction, you will begin to see the power of networking.

You will never know where or how far your networking can take you. There are specific steps you can take to achieve your goals much faster if you only learn the secrets.

If you want to learn from the best, you need to follow the leaders in your field. Search them out, listen to what they have to say, follow the steps they give, and create the success that they promise you can have if you work hard and follow their lead. Beware of so called leaders online today that are all talk and can’t truly back up what they say. They may want to mislead you by sugar coating things and paraphrasing other things to make themselves sound more important than they are. You don’t have the time to waste on these types of people.   You’ll know a true leader by their accomplishments and the quality of the information they share.

One such leader who has proven her worth in many ways, is Joanne Quinn-Smith, aka TechnoGranny. Joanne has four internet radio talk shows, and created a new media platform long before Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn were popular. She has been awarded the National Small Business Association (SBA) Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts in the new media. This marketing maven is searched out high and low for her remarkable speaking and teaching abilities.

Now for a limited time, you can grab a copy of her teleseminar “Becoming an Online Celebrity” and learn how to make your personality shine through the crowd, building a platform where people will soon be seeking you out for your skills and talents.

Grab your copy now for just $17!

“Becoming an Online Celebrity”

If you liked “Learn the Secrets to Branding Yourself Online! ” please share it with your online friends by clicking the links below.

Getting people to your page is just the first part of having a successful and profitable site. Making them stay there, is another matter. Website statistics just isn’t about driving traffic to your site, but it’s about making people want to stay there and come back over and over again. Bounce rates, which is defined as the percentage of visitors to any given site who arrive at a page and quickly leave before looking at any other page. Therefore, the lower the bounce rate of a site, the better.

So how does one keep visitors from ‘bouncing’ away? Here are a few simple tricks to keep your audience riveted to your website.

Optimize your site

No one likes to be kept waiting, least of all people who can leave your site at the click of a button. A site that loads quickly and pulls up all the information anyone and everyone may need will make it easier for visitors to poke around your website.

Clear and Intuitive Navigation

There’s nothing worse than arriving in a new city and not know where north, south, east and west are. Think of your website as a new place for visitors to explore – make sure the roads are well planned, and road signs clear and concise. A visible navigation bar, labeled accordingly and no broken links are essential to keeping visitors to your site.

Have relevant content

According to a recent study by BBC News, an average Internet user spends less than a minute per website. How can you keep people longer than that? By giving them what they need, of course, through relevant content. If you run a website about fashion, then make sure from the homepage that your design and content reflects this.

Keep content fresh and updated

A soap opera writer once said “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry and make ‘em wait.” The same could be applied to your content – keep people interested and coming back for more. Having something new each day (or even every few hours) will keep people on your pages.

Have all the tools available

Web 2.0 is all about interactivity and socializing. Many blogs and sites make it easy to share links and content to their own social networking profile and interact with other users. You can install some simple tools directly on your website. Skysa, for example, installs a non-intrusive navigation bar on your site that lets visitors quickly access sites like Facebook and Twitter right on your site, without directing them away. (see mine below)

By making these few simple changes, you’ll see less visitors bouncing and more people sticking around your website.

With the Internet being a ubiquitous (ever-present) part of our daily lives, getting your business online is essential for any company. Whether you’ve been in business for 10 years or 10 minutes, your potential customers will most likely ask for your URL or email address. If you haven’t started building your website or getting on Facebook, then don’t worry; it’s not too late.

If you’ve been around for a while, then it’s easy enough to translate your branding and marketing online. It’s just a different medium, and it’s important you synergize what you do on the web with your brick and mortar business, to maximize your branding efforts. If your web marketing is part of your initial marketing strategy, then it’s important to get your branding done before you make any designs or buy up any online real estate (i.e. your domain name.) This will save you money in the long run, as you won’t have to change your website address or completely redesign your pages.

What you need to get started is a basic website. First, take care of the practicalities – get your website address or URL. (visit GoDaddy.com through our link in the sidebar) Hopefully, your business name hasn’t been taken by anyone else yet. If your first choice has been taken, then try to come up with something that’s easy to remember. Next thing you have to think about is the hosting – this is where you’ll be parking all your files for people do download onto their computers.

Next, you’ll have to think about the design and functionality of your site. Do you just want your information there, or do you want the extra bells and whistles – shopping carts, videos, payment processing, etc. (visit our Services page or contact us to help with this step) Do your homework and find out what people (your customers) would look for in a webpage. Do check out your competitor’s site and try to see what (and what doesn’t) work.

You’ll also need some compelling content for your site. With design and content, it’s always a chicken-and-egg argument and it really depends on you and your timeline. Of course, designers will probably ask for an outline to help them get started and give them an idea of how long programming will take. When creating content, you have to make sure it’s appropriate for your website and audience, while taking into consideration SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the keywords to be used.

When everything comes together, make sure your website is fully functioning and bug-free; there’s nothing worse than going to a website that doesn’t work. A good design company will include this in their services, including testing across different web browsers. And so do we

After you’ve gone through the site, you’re ready to publish! Start letting people know that your site is up, whether through email or just telling your customers when you see them. Integrate your URL into your collateral to make sure everyone knows where to find you on the web.

We’re happy to work with you on building your online presence, just give us a call at 865-223-5804 or contact us by email.

They will make a day for just about anything! I haven’t checked my Send Out Cards system to see if there is a greeting card for this special day, but I will. hehe

If I could get a different name what would I choose? I’ve always liked Alexandria, I don’t know why really. I don’t anyone with that name personally, but I’ve always liked it.

Lots of my online friends know me as “avirtualbiz” that’s my username on most of my social media profiles. So I guess in a way, I have already gotten a different name. In order to build up my brand name, I wanted people to know my business, A Virtual Business Solution, through my username of avirtualbiz.

What about you? Do you have a brand name? If not, today’s a good day to get one and starting marketing it for your business.

And if you just hate your birth name, go ahead…change it. Today’s the day!

Hugs & Kisses,

Alexandria (for today)