Operating an online store or e-commerce website can be a highly profitable venture, but expecting overnight success is both naïve and misguided. In order to solidify your business’s profitably, you’ll need to build awareness for your brand – and that means reaching out to prospective patrons. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. Educating yourself on the basics of online marketing and enlisting the aid of seasoned pros can do you a world of good when it comes to promoting your latest venture. Anyone looking to build awareness for an online business would be wise to arm themselves with the following pointers.

1. Work with a Web Marketing Company

If this is your first foray into online brand promotion, it’s strongly advised that you enlist the services of a highly-rated web marketing company. Companies like Web.com offer convenient online marketing services designed to build awareness and increase profitability. In addition to helping you reach promotional goals in the short term, the right company will provide you with all the tools you need to ensure lasting success. Whether you’re interested in search engine optimization, social media campaigns or any other form of online promotion, a good web marketing company can bring you up to speed.

2. Maintain an Active Presence on Social Media

Any business that wishes to remain relevant in this day and age needs to maintain an active presence on social media. Not only do social media outlets enable businesses to keep loyal customers in the know, they also provide them with convenient outlets through which to reach new patrons. To ensure that you maintain a steady follower count across the various social media mainstays, make a point of updating regularly – though not too frequently. For best results, limit yourself to no more than four posts per day unless absolutely necessary. Any more than this is liable to annoy your followers, and any less is liable to bore them. Additionally, to maximize awareness, actively encourage your followers to share and re-tweet your posts.

3. Make Your Site Search-Engine Friendly

Search engine optimization, commonly known as “SEO,” has become one of the most popular tenets of online marketing – and for good reason! Boosting your site’s ranking in prominent search engines like Google and Bing can lead to a substantial uptick in visitor numbers and paying customers. When it comes to winning Google’s favor, there are numerous ways to go about it. Plugging search engine-centric keywords into your site’s content, producing regular content updates and having other sites post links to yours are all tried-and-true methods of obtaining favorable search rankings.

In order for any online business – or any business, for that matter – to carve out a niche for itself, its proprietors need to take steps to build brand awareness. While this can often prove challenging, it’s far from insurmountable, particularly if you’re open to learning. In the quest to drive traffic to your site and boost your brand’s profitably, never underestimate the importance of working with web marketing companies, staying active on social media and maintaining a search engine-friendly site.