5 steps to creating a standout online presence

Nicola Moras shares five steps to help your business perform online – five steps to guarantee that you stand out from the crowd and build momentum.

When you open your mobile device right now, you’re like a huge portion of the world’s population who will go straight to social media to check their notifications. Twitter. LinkedIn. Instagram and Facebook.

There is the quick flick between apps as your eyes search out the important things that you need to know and see. Then suddenly, something stops the scroll in your newsfeed. You see a picture or read a headline that instantly stops you. If you think about what it was that caused that, you note that it was something that was a bit different. Perhaps some different colours, a video or a headline that grabbed your attention.

Regardless of what it was, there was something that stopped you in your tracks and created a pattern interrupt! BAM! They caught your attention.

This is exactly what you need to do in business as well if you want to stand out. There is more content being created right now on social media than will fit into someone’s feed, so you need to be strategic about it. People are spending on average more than 144 minutes per day and in order to cut through the noise, you must find a way to stand out.

Follow these 5 steps so you can stand out – for the right reasons.

Know your point of difference

This is different to the traditional “USP” (Unique Selling Proposition). Your point of difference within your business is you and your team. Most people tend to think that they need to play the ‘business line’ more than the ‘personal line’ these days and it’s just not true. You need both. The fact is this: nobody can do what you do in the way that you do it – and nobody else has your experience, your personality and your history. This is the very thing that you need to leverage online for maximum impact.

Be different – Be you

In the online world, first impressions are made within milliseconds and trying to capture peoples’ attention whilst hiding behind a ‘brand’ isn’t going to cut it. Because of the sheer volume of content and new information going up every second, everyone has a finely tuned BS detector! In order to capture attention and then retain it, you have to be yourself. People need to get to know you, like you, and learn to trust you and the best way that you can do this is to show up as you.

Bust the myths of your industry

Every industry has things in it that people agree with and disagree with. For instance, in the internet marketing industry a lot of people will sell a ‘magic pill’ type of solution that I know just doesn’t work. I think it’s an abomination that people are told that they can make millions online from their laptop whilst sitting on the beach with zero qualifications. It doesn’t work like that! When you look at your industry, what are the common myths that are rampant and how you can be the truth teller?

Results in advance

One of the best things you can do online to stand out is be consistent with adding value to help people get a result with your content before they spend any money with you. You do this by creating pieces of content that you post on social media offering hints, tips and advice. This will help solve the problems that your audience have, painting you in the light of being very generous and as a business who cares about your audience.

Post regularly and be consistent

Most people need to see something seven to ten times before making a decision to take action. The decision could be that they listen to you or it could be that they buy from you. A large percent of the population fall into this category and can be very slow to trust. Posting consistently and regularly is a way of you demonstrating with your actions that you are a company or business that can be trusted. When people trust you and believe you, this is when they will buy from you.

There is no magic pill for using the Internet to make a lot of money and to stand out. Following these five steps, however, will guarantee that you stand out from the crowd and you will build momentum.

Nicola Moras (pictured) is an online visibility expert, author of Into The Spotlight, a guide to help you step up your online visibility, become a Rockstar in your industry and make your business thrive in the simplest way possible. Find out more at www.nicolamoras.com.au