by Sarah Arrow | Featured Contributor
Building the influence you want online is something that you will need to work on every single day, for as long as you are in business.
Like an offline business, building your influence all starts and ends with content. In an offline business content comes in the form of brochures, business cards, leaflets and so on.
In the online arena content resides mostly online and cannot be physically touched.
In the offline world you can easily use all five senses to connect with your prospects (can you recall when you last went to the supermarket and smelt freshly baked bread?), but online you have to be more descriptive in your prose to use all senses to make a connection.
So it doesn’t matter which arena your business is in, you’ll need to create content to build your influence.
It’s important that you understand that creating content that showcases you and your business in the light that you want, that it’s an ongoing task to be noticed and stay in the forefront of the minds belonging to your prospect.
There are five simple, yet effective ways to build your online influence.
1. Build your Online Influence Through Guest Blogging
Blogging activity shouldn’t be confined to your own site, you need to reach out and ask for guest blogging positions. Choose to become a regular guest contributor on blogs that can help you spread your message and connect with your target market.
Frequency in blogging is important, and you need to blog on your own site at least 10 times a month. The next step is too blog once or twice a week elsewhere. Now that might sound a lot, but it’s easier than you might think.
If you choose just four other sites to contribute to and blog for them monthly then you’ll easily reach your audience and increase your online influence. Using this strategy to build your influence makes it easier and faster to do.
2. Build Your Online Influence With Social Media
Social media is the fast-track to building influence. You need to be active on social media in terms of posting new content to share, but it doesn’t stop there; you also need to CAP
- Comment on other social media sites, and other blog posts
- Answer questions on sites like Quora, in your Facebook stream, in LinkedIn groups and on G+
- Post relevant facts for your readers and then discuss them
When you use the CAP method you use social media to drive traffic back to your website, and it also enables others to see you’re knowledgable. When you’re known as knowledgable people will send you connections, leads and prospects. Remember you can share a link to every blog post or article you post on your website, as well as your guest post content, on your social platforms.
3. Build Your Influence Via Search Engine Optimization
SEO impacts upon many things when building your online influence. It covers blogging, article marketing, social media, and it ensures that you’re doing it all in a way that will attract the audience you want to interact with.
Use a service like HubSpot’s Marketing Grader to see how you’re doing and in which areas you need to improve.
4. Always Remember Your Email List & Lead Generation
Email marketing is not dead, never has been dead and is unlikely to die anytime soon. In fact think of email marketing as the undead of online influence building. Email marketing is still one of the leading ways to speak directly to your prospects and you do so with their permission.
Practice generating leads via social media, your website and blog. Always build your list this is your connection with your prospects long after people stop using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This is going to be one of your most valuable ways to build your online influence in a positive way.
5. Online Influence Building Must Be Mobile
What type of device are you reading this article on? Most people access the ‘net today with their mobile devices, more Americans have a mobile device than any other kind of device. If your online real estate isn’t viewable via mobile devices then you are missing a huge chunk of your potential audience.
With the advent of mobile friendly, responsive WordPress themes you have no excuse, no reason not to be ready for your mobile audience. Forget having two sites, all your sites should work with any type of browser or size of screen.
Blog about your industry and become a thought leader, build your online influence and use it to connect with your prospects.
If you don’t, you’ll find growing your business a lot harder.
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Sarah Arrow, Niche blogging and Social Media
Blogging an issue for you? Social media not quite working how it should be? I started out as a transport blogger for a same day courier company, and grew into a kick-ass blog coach as well as creator of Birds on the Blog (listed 3 times by Forbes as a top 100 website for women).
You want your blog to make a difference, so subscribe here and stay in touch, my updates will help you connect the dots.
Blogging an issue for you? Social media not quite working how it should be? I started out as a transport blogger for a same day courier company, and grew into a kick-ass blog coach as well as creator (listed 3 times by Forbes as a top 100 website for women).
One Reply to “5 Ways to Build the Influence You Want Online by @SarahArrow”
Marquita Herald
These are great tips Sarah. I’ve really cut back frequency over the past month but it was more out of self preservation than anything. I’m launching a major change this quarter and have been in planning and product development mode. It was a trade off but there was no way to keep all the balls in the air. Now I’m playing catch up but I feel so much more confident because I’ve got my plan in place and a hard target. Thanks so much for the terrific advice!