Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube… we have all read thousands of words about how important these are to your UK business. However, by the time a small business owner realises the power of these online media, the site is already flooded with competition. To stay ahead of the curve, a small business owner must always be looking for new ways to promote their business, brand, and logo design in a meaningful and low-cost way. Here are five options you may not have considered yet.

1. Become an online expert. Online booksellers allow users to review books. Often, you can link to your own website as well. Writing an intelligent and thoughtful evaluation of a book from an expert’s point of view will present you and your business as knowledgeable leaders in the field, giving your brand and logo design a boost of credibility. Best of all, people who look at books related to your business are obviously interested in your field. Because booksellers come out on top in search engine results, you can get a lot of exposure this way.

2. Blogging. I know what you are thinking; almost every modern business has a blog, so how is this a new idea? While blogging is important to building an online presence, you can also use other people’s blogs to get valuable exposure. Email blogs on topics related to your business and offer to write a guest blog on a relevant subject. Having relevant links from other blogs will increase your page rank while also boosting your visibility on search engine results. Simply commenting on other blogs will increase the exposure of your brand and logo design, especially if the comment is intelligent and coherent.

3. Professional associations. Most professional associations have an online component where you can build a searchable profile. This not only increases your online presence and gives you another invaluable chance to promote your brand and logo design, it presents you as a respected and involved member of your professional community. An added benefit is that you can often find a wide range of suppliers and mentors as well as professional advice from these types of organizations.

4. LinkedIn. Many people have LinkedIn profiles, but few have maximized them. Your profile should be branded so it is visually consistent with your desired image and entirely complete. Add relevant links to your business’s website as well as any other online presences you are proud to share. LinkedIn profiles tend to show up in the first page of search results, so any time you invest in your profile will pay off in more views of your brand and logo design.

5. Publishing as an expert. Offer to write short articles on your area of expertise for online websites and organizations. Being the author of white papers and websites makes you an instant expert in addition to scores of free publicity. There are likely many organizations and websites that are always looking for expert contributors just like you; it should not be hard to find a few of them and begin building your CV as an expert in your field.

As you can see, there are ways to boost your online visibility beyond obvious and overused choices such as Facebook. Marketing yourself authentically often means having a logo design and brand that customers can believe in, and then building a presence in your field.