Establishing YOUR Web Presence

What is Web Presence?

Web presence (also known as Internet presence, online presence) is the digital and/or electronic representation of a person, place, business, or topic on the World Wide Web (aka WWW or W3).

Your web presence is the answer to the question: “can I find you online?” A person asking this question is trying to find INFORMATION about you and/or your business via the Internet. This information can be in text, image, audio, video or other multimedia format.

Your Web presence can include one or more of the following:

• website
• blog
• email
• e-Newsletter
• social network/media accounts
• directory listings
• online reviews
• any other online content that links to you.

TECHNICAL SIDENOTE: Web vs. Net

The World Wide Web (the Web) is NOT the same as the Internet (the Net).

The Internet is an international network of networks linking millions of computer systems around the globe. It had its beginnings back in the 1960’s with the ARPAnet project. The Internet consists of the hardware and software that facilitates this global connection and transfer of data.

You can connect to the Internet via a cable (as with most desktops) or wirelessly (as with many mobile devices).

Image source: R. Hollinger Web portfolio

The World Wide Wide is just one system that USES the Internet for accessing information. It was conceived in 1989 in the mind of scientist, Tim Berners-Lee. The following video does a great job of explaining how this system works in plain English.

As the history timeline image shows above, email existed years BEFORE the Web came along. It is another system or service that uses the Internet for transferring data. Others are shown below. Some of these other Internet services may or may not use the Web in their data transfer process.

Image source: Teach-ICT

Does My Business Need a Web Presence?

The reality is that the Web is where your customers are. Consider the infographic below which shows what happens in 1 Web minute…

Image source: Go-Gulf

Even if you have made no efforts to establish it yourself, you may already have a web presence! Perhaps a friend uploaded to Facebook a photo with you in it, or a customer left a review on a site like Yelp, or you advertised in a printed directory and they automatically added your listing to their online version.

So, if you’re serious about your business, you will establish and control a web presence for it.

Need a little more convincing? Check out the following presentation that shares 10 ways your business will benefit from having a web presence:

What Kind of Web Presence is Best?

After acknowledging and agreeing that their business does need a web presence, many sole traders and small business owners are left with a variety of questions including:

• How do I get my web presence started?
• A website or a blog – which one to use?
• Isn’t having a Facebook page enough?

The following video offers some guidelines:

In time you would want your web presence to be multi-faceted. At minimum, your business should have a WEBSITE with a built-in BLOG on a domain name you own.

In the next few articles, we will address the steps in getting started, namely:

• securing a well-chosen domain name,
• selecting a well-equipped web space,
• setting up a well-designed website with a built-in blog [link coming soon].

In the Meantime…

Take a look at our “Website for Business” board on Pinterest for some more insights.

Follow iBeFound International Ltd’s board Website for Business on Pinterest.

Time for YOUR input

• What else might be considered part of your web presence?
• What other Internet services do you know?
• Business Owners: What does your CURRENT web presence include?

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