Most people come to me wanting a website. What they don't understand is that in this day and age, a website is not the only thing online that they might need to promote their business. What they really need is an online presence. An online presence includes a website but it also includes accounts in social media sites like Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and industry forums. Your business needs not to be found by search engines but by people. People use search engines but not necessarily for everything they want. Many people still use good old word of mouth referrals. They want to do business with people they know, like and trust. When they don't know someone that they know, like and trust, they will listen to someone else they know like and trust. The key is to have a vision of how other people will find you, get to know you and learn to like and trust you. A key activity when you decide your company needs an online presence is to define a vision for it. The vision should include a statement of value and a goal that can be measured. A vision provides a focused goal for your online presence.
Goals
Start with a short term goal for your online presence. What would you like to achive in one months time? How many people should be following you on Twitter within a week? Pick a goal that you can measure and realistically accomplish. Starting with something easy to achieve will encourage you to make other goals. Each small step will add up to success. Decide on a long term goal that will take up to a year to achieve. This goal should also be measurable and realistic. Both goals should include a number, date or other measurable value that can be verified through logs and records.
Value
Once you have determined your online presence goals, determine several related values. What are the qualities that your online presence will acquire as you meet your goals? When other online individuals and communities mention your company's name, what expertise or social agenda will be identified with your online presence? Be specific about what you are trying to achieve with your goals.
Combine
Combine the values and measurable goals you decided were part of your vision in a short statement. Create two statements, one for the short term goal and one for the long term goal as in the following:
"We will become the local area's most well known online [business], providing [products or services] by the end of the year."
When you develop a vision, you will discover questions that need to be answered. The vision will help you focus your online efforts in establishing a strong web presence. So sit down right now, write down short term and long term measurable goals. Add in your associated value statements and then start working to meet your online vision.