Market website

It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. You’ve just launched your site and are awaiting the avalanche of traffic and sales that is sure to be just around the corner. But as you obsessively refresh your Google analytics day after day your enthusiasm begins to drop rapidly. Spreading the word about your business, driving eyeballs to your site, building brand awareness and ultimately sales is the part of your business that is probably driving your anxiety levels up.

Before you go calling it quits understand that launching your business is only the first step and from this moment forward you need to consider yourself in the business of marketing. So stop obsessively refreshing your Google analytics, and instead use helpful guide to brand yourself, your business and become an expert marketer.

It’s a big world out there and nothing is scarier than being a new business or blog and feeling unknown. The good news is that you only need a tiny portion of the world to pay attention, read your blog, or buy your products, to achieve fabulous success. So instead of harping on the challenge of attracting the whole world to your new website, just think about your niche and the people interested in what you are talking about and selling. That’s a much smaller world than you think. Be confident in what you are and in what you aren’t. Think back to the classic “he’s just not that into you” mantra. Consider that in your business, not everyone is going to be into you but be totally sure you know exactly who your perfect match is.

3 questions to ask yourself when determining your target audience:
1. Who did you have in mind when you started?
2. Who has a genuine need or desire for your point of view, products, posts, etc.
3. Who gets the most benefit out of your product or service? Who would pay for what you are delivering?

I encourage every new business or blog to create what I call “The Top Ten” list. It’s a list of brands or blogs that you want to model yourself after. Either because they are a competitor, you share a space with them, or they are in your niche. Make sure that they are successful at what they are doing and someone you want to emulate.
After creating this list you will be amazed at what a point of reference it will serve as. Refer back to it whenever you need inspiration, have to make a decision or want to see how others have done it.

How you brand yourself to the world through your online presence is everything! It’s how your visitors will determine if they like you, your work, your posts and your products. Your users, prospects and potential readers are making assumptions about everything they are seeing and hearing regarding your brand. This entire checklist shows you how to look great on the web but when it comes to branding it’s more about the story you are telling. Be intentional and use these 4 points to guide you through the process of creating your online brand.

• People are interested in other people before they are interested in things. Become known for what you do or sell through sharing your story and what you are all about rather then just promoting your products or services.
• What do you want people to know about you? Create your story by sharing how you can help others & identify what problems you solve for them first. Then develop your story in to a few keywords, bullet points and sentences.
• Take your story and share it. Post it on every social profile, your blog and your business website. Be consistent and live your message by publicizing what you stand for through sharing your story.
• Above all be human and have fun when branding yourself. Share the real you, be vulnerable, honest and don’t try to hard to project perfection. Most of all your readers and customers want to be able to relate to you and your message.
• Bonus: Take your branding to the next level by looking for opportunities to provide value to others. Share your knowledge as it relates to your story and offer help whenever possible. This will help you to quickly develop a reputation as an expert in your space.

Put your best foot forward with a great profile picture. When meeting people online all they have to go on is your picture. You want to come across as trustworthy and friendly. It’s not much different than an online dating site when it comes to the rules to follow for a great picture (no sunglasses, pictures of you at a party, a picture with your ex torn out of it, etc….)

Set Up your social profiles. This may sounds elementary, but once you get started you’ll see there is actually a lot involved. Choosing a profile pic or avatar for each of the social sites you will be is a matter of re-sizing to fit each specific dimension and putting up the various cover photos, background images and bios.