The more visible you are to people, the easier they can find you. Some of that visibility will be offline – like someone seeing your logo on the side of a van, or an advert in the local paper. But if you want to boost your visibility it’s important they see you online too.

Your website and social media are how you get seen online and, hand-in-hand with that, will dictate where your company shows up on Google searches (the #1 place potential customers are looking for your products or services). 

The more you build your online presence, the higher you’ll appear in the search rankings. Plus, when people see you online, they’ll learn all about you and why you’re the right fit for them – making them more likely to go from being a potential customer to an actual customer.

Once your website is up to scratch and you’re posting regularly on social media, it will typically take between 3 – 4 months to see a tangible increase in visitors to your site and followers on your pages. (Google rewards people whose online presence is consistent over the longer-term. It’s definitely a marathon, not a sprint.)

That doesn’t automatically translate into sales because it takes, on average, someone who’s new to your business 6 – 18 months to buy what you’re offering. A lot will depend on knowing your customer profile and leveraging that information (which is why I offer a profiling service). [Link to page] Impulsive shoppers will be much quicker, but analytical consumers will take longer.

The success of a project is measured in numbers: where you appear in search engine rankings, how many people click on your website, how long they stay on it, how many followers you have on social media, how many views your posts get, how many clicks turn into enquiries..and more.

I’ll provide the numbers for your online presence, then it’s important your company tracks all enquiries throughout the timeline of the contract, so we can see the correlation.

I’m Catherine – The Online Presence Specialist and I’ve set up my business so you only ever with one person: me. Whether it’s re-designing your website, working on your SEO or posting for your socials, I never outsource. You’ll get my brain, my expertise and my contact details.

This depends a little bit on my workload and availability. Generally speaking, a small 5 page website could be 2 – 3 weeks, whereas a 15 – 20 page site would take around 4 – 6 weeks. If your site includes an online shopping facility, these usually take 8 – 12 weeks, depending on the number of products/blogs involved.

SEO is all about including the right keywords on your site and in your social media posts so that, when potential customers are searching those words, your website ranks highly in the results. This is also known as organic SEO, because you’re getting the visibility without having to pay for it.

By contrast, paid ads instantly place your brand at the top of searches, which can help build you some instant profile, but as soon as you stop paying for them, your visibility could drop to zero. 

Although it can take longer to build your presence with organic SEO, it’s much more sustainable and often there’s no need to pay additional ad fees. In fact, some of my clients have saved up to £7,000 a year doing just that.

Yes, if you already pay to own your website domain and have your website hosted (through companies like GoDaddy or 123Reg) it will stay that way. All that I’d need is access to those through your dashboards – and I can provide simple to follow instructions to make this happen.

For websites it will depend on what you want promote and what you think your customer should know. Examples of what I might need are your company logo, staff pictures, photos of your location or finished projects, or product shots. 

For social media posting, I typically ask for a selection of 20 – 30 photos and videos every month. Though I’ll give you a specific list of what’s needed, to make it really easy for you to supply them. 

Probably, yes (or if not you, someone from your company who’s comfortable on film). People buy people, not just products or services, so if your company is faceless it could be holding you back from making sales. There will be plenty of notice and some coaching from me, so we can ensure you feel comfortable in front of the camera.

As I set out in my answer to How long does it take to see results? building an online presence and reaping the rewards for that are like a marathon, not a sprint. To have a chance of really making a difference and delivering the most bang for your buck, the minimum contract I have includes updating a company website plus at least 3 months of social media marketing. 

Most platforms have a space to invite a developer or admin to join your profile and make edits. This means passwords don’t change hands.