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Business today is certainly a cut-throat environment. Getting noticed is essential for success, particularly as a small new start-up. Thankfully, the internet has made getting your organisations name out to a mass audience a lot easier; becoming especially apparent when compared with the processes involved in advertising and business networking 20 years ago. Yet the impressive scope and accessibility of the internet is also one of its major downfalls. Getting noticed in the vast pool of information on the web can prove just as challenging as the age old methods of getting your brand out into the open.

Whilse these top tips do incorporate basic elements of SEO (to help your searchablity), they fundamentally focus on business impact – and getting noticed online. If you are specifically looking for SEO guides, have a look around on Google – there is some great advice out there. However, the fundamentals below are just as important, so get these in place first.

1) Websites are Key

Your website is your virtual shop front. As such, it is essential for drawing in interest. Highly successful enterprises on the highstreet will have a constant flow of visitors, primarily because of their enticing frontage. The same applies online; keeping your visitors engaged is key. Have a website you are proud of, one that not only conveys the relevant information, but one that does so in an interesting and well developed manner.

But remember, this doesnt mean you should endulge in a flashy overcomplicated beast of a website with all the gimicks you can cram in. Less is more, and it is the simple designs that are most effective. Faster websites are rewarded by search engines, so dont over do it. Have a look at the websites you use every day, and pay close attention to what it is you like about them, and how they enrich your experience. Dedicated server hosting will allow your website to run far quicker than it would on a shared web server hosting platform – something to bare in mind.

Even the smallest of businesses have no real excuse to have no private website today. Just being on directories and business listings is not really enough in most cases, and with the cost of webhosting now so low, a website can be an affordable yet effective addition to your business.

2) It’s all about Image

Focus on your content. How the information on your site is read and interpreted will shape a customers perception of what your business is all about. Pay close attention to your image, and how you want visitors to interpret every aspect of your organisation. Intelligent use of language and maintaining a solid, professional online space can make smaller businesses appear larger – and more experienced. Naturally, the aim is not to deceive. It would be irresponsible and immoral to lie about your business. Yet having a well thought out, well executed image online can promote feelings of security, familiarity, and experience in your site visitors.

3) Don’t Spam!

Its all about quality, not quantity. There is no need to lay every last piece of information out, page after page, bogging users down with mountains of text. Keep it brief and concise. The same applies for social media output – people dont want you clogging up their social feed with useless information. Put out quality information, and you will be rewarded with quality responses in return.

Many people only see ‘spam’ as an unsolicited email sent to thousands of readers, directly asking for their custom. The fact is that spam encompasses so much more – any pointless, unrelated output can be classed as spam, and thats something to avoid.

4) Grow Online

As your business grows, your web presence should reflect the changes underway, building upon your increased experience. Linked closely with image (discussed in point 2), maintaining a website in keeping with your changing business is vital. A successful retailer on the highstreet experiencing rapid growth would not simply maintain their current outlet and ‘make do’. They would open new outlets, explore new avenues of business, and rebrand in accordance with their size. This is no different online, with web presence scaling vital to your overall exposure on the internet.

Ensure you have room to grow online. Shared web server hosting platforms can be limited, and do not favor websites with growing demand for traffic. Dedicated server hosting solutions give you the room to breath – able to handle far more traffic, contain far more storage space, and can scale with your business. Remember, moving web content is a real hassle, so start of on a basic dedicated server and build upon its specification from there.

5) Be Bold

Make waves. Getting noticed anywhere, not just online, is all about being big, bright and bold. Do things differently (but do them well of course), and people will sit up and look at what you are doing. This doesnt just mean sliding a plethora of unusual colours into your website – that can be offensive to the eyes, and tantamount to wearing garish clothes to a party just to get some attention. Be clever with the way you do business online, and people will take note. Don’t simply slot into existing preconceptions of what a business in your sector should be doing.

Good luck, and remember, SEO is wonderful – but to get truly noticed online, you need the fundamentals in place first. Be creative.