The Glossarised Guide to Online Presence

by Matt Bell | Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Perhaps the easiest way to become familiar with what an Online Presence is and what it consists of is to learn the terminology. So here is the brilliantly simple (and by no means, definitive) Glossarised Explanation of Online Presences.

Online Presence
This is your collected efforts in Online Marketing, Website, Social Media and more. You invest money in your Online Presence in the hope that you will gain financially.

Online Strategy
The research and development of a plan to determine what your online presence will need to consist of in order to be successful. A good online strategy will take into account your business goals, target audiences, industry, products and your competitor’s actions.

Target Audiences
A specific audience you would like to purchase a product or service from you. Your Target Audiences are profiled in one of the first stages of your online strategy development in areas such as demographics, motivations, browsing habits and social media usage.

Conversion Goals
These are the specific actions you want your Target Audiences to take. These actions may include contacting you, making a booking, purchasing a product, subscribing or many others. Conversion Goals may apply to multiple Target Audiences but the motivations for completing the goals may differ between audiences.

Conversion Paths
These are used to connect each of your Target Audiences to your Conversion Goals. Your Conversion Paths make up your Online Presence and consist of various combinations of marketing strategies, content, functionality and calls to action as determined by your online strategy.

Social Media

Use of websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to reach and engage your target audiences. In addition to extending your Online Presence using profiles and pages, Social Media networks allow you to reach your target audiences based on their interests. Social Networks also allow you to engage your audiences with discussion, promotions and custom applications.

Search Engine Optimisation
This is one method of directly targeting your target audiences and bringing them to your website from search engines like Google. By researching and targeting specific keywords with your content, you can make your website appear more prominently in search results. The key here is to target highly relevant keywords to your target audience.

Pay-Per-Click Marketing
This is similar to Search Engine Marketing in that it is another method of driving your target audiences via search engines. Like Search Engine Optimisation, it uses keywords and the more specifically you target keywords relevant to your target audience, the more successful you are likely to be.

Website Content
This is the information including text, images, specifications, statistics, charts and other media that is going to meet your target audience’s expectations for information. Professionally-written content is always recommended for the best results.

Calls to Action
These are the direct and potent appeals for your target audiences to take the actions identified as conversion goals. These may be in the form of banners, buttons or even linked text. Calls to Action are the equivalent of asking the customer for their business and are absolutely critical to achieving an effective conversion rate.

Functionality
The functions available on your website are designed to assist your target audiences complete conversion goals or assist in meeting the expectation of information interactively. Common functionality includes contact forms, shopping cart functions, subscription forms, etc.

Commentariat

What are your top rules when it comes to Online Presence?