Emmanuel Soroba May 12, 2021 
An estimated 85% of people search for products online, whereas 67% are influenced by reviews. The internet has significantly changed our behavior towards how we buy things.
Modern consumers want to see that a product has been endorsed by other people who are similar to them before even they would even consider it. Social proof plays such an important role in their decision-making process.
Your success as an entrepreneur in this digital age is largely going to be determined by your business’ perceived value and its positioning on the internet.
6 Easy Ways to Stand Out on the Internet
1. Get a professional website
Many businesses surprisingly still don’t have websites even though the majority of consumers search for things online.
A website is like having an office on the internet where people can conveniently find information about your business. It increases your credibility dramatically. You can even take it a step further by getting domain-based email addresses for all your employees using Google Workspace.
There are many tools that have simplified the process of building professional websites, including Wix and WordPress. You can also get your entire site custom built by professional developers.
2. Ratings and reviews
A lot of people rely on ratings and reviews when faced with purchase decisions. Having an abundance of them can give your business more credibility than money could buy.
Here’s an article that goes over some creative ways to get reviews. Make sure that they are prominently displayed on all your digital platforms, including your website, Google My Business, and social media pages.
3. Get featured on well-known publications
There’s no greater honor on the internet than having other people talk about you. Most blogs and magazines are constantly on the lookout for new stories to write about.
If your business has a unique selling proposition or an inspirational story behind it, then chances are that they would be happy to write about it.
Alternatively, you can join a platform like HARO to find interview opportunities where you get to share your expert opinion on various things. Doing interviews is the easiest way to get featured by popular media outlets.
4. Dominate social media
Social media often gets neglected by small businesses because of how time-consuming it can get. If you don’t have the time or personnel to run your pages, outsource the work to a freelancer. It’s just too important to leave out from your marketing strategy.
Social platforms open up room for conversation in ways that cannot be recreated elsewhere. They enable you to get your brand in front of people easily and cost-effectively. Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they recognize.
5. Run monthly contests
Contests are a great way of getting people to talk about your brand. You can leverage your social media pages to run contests where your followers have to like, comment, or share your posts to enter the draw to win something.
Be generous with your rewards to encourage as many people to participate as possible. Your ROI will be on all the publicity your business is going to get.
If you can get just 20 people with around 500 – 1,000 followers to share your content, it could be seen by up to 20,000 people. Now imagine if you can get hundreds or even thousands of people to share it. The bigger your rewards, the more people are likely to participate.
6. Cross-promotion
Cross-promotion is an effective marketing strategy that involves mutual referrals. It is quite straightforward, and takes minimal effort and resources.
You can partner with other businesses that are in a similar niche, and then actively promote each other across your various channels. For example, if you have a web design business, you can partner with graphic designers and then promote each other on social media. The more established your partners are, the more weight their referral will carry.
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