Being an online specialist in previous jobs, as well as being a community advocate with ShopVictoria.ca, I run across a lot of business owners who ask me how they can improve their online presence and in turn receive increased online traffic that will turn into sales, jobs, etc.

So here are 3 tips that will help improve your online presence.

1. Consider adding a newsletter to your website.  This allows you to capture the names and email addresses of people who come to your site. You can communicate with them via follow up emails and drive them back to your site as often as you want to show them new products. It makes it easier for your prospects to like and trust you also. Once they trust you, it’s much more probable that they will be willing to buy from you. This helps you maximize the effectiveness of all the traffic that you receive by making sure it is not wasted.

2. Make sure that your name, address and phone number is consistent everywhere it appears online. If you use unit 104 on your website, then don't use 104 or #104 in other places. Google uses the name, address and phone number to help link all the content and places your business appears on the web, this in turn is part of what drives your search result rankings.

3. Claim your Google Places listing. Whenever possible, Google likes to rank the Places Listings above everything else, so the first step is making sure your listing is claimed and filled out as completely as possible.