As you may have noticed from my previous blog posts, I am a big fan of online marketing and a firm believer in its power to help grow your business. If you want to do business online, the first step you should take is to prepare your website – a well-planned website is the foundation of any good online marketing campaign.
Here are the top 10 things you should do to your website to get it ready for digital marketing.
If you’re selling a product or service online, then your website will be your shop window – especially if you don’t have an offline presence. Take the time and effort to invest in a website that represents your business well.
WordPress is awesome as many developers can use it. You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a website which isn’t portable between different web developers. It’s also easy to make small changes and edit content yourself when you feel confident with the system.
Think about the keywords that are most relevant to your business – they need to be targeted and specific. For example, if you are a tree lopper in Sydney you need to use keywords such as ‘Tree Lopper Sydney’ or ‘Tree Lopping Sydney’, not just ‘Trees Sydney’. Also, check that there are searches for these words. Write title tags that include these keywords for every page of your website and make sure you include different keywords on each page (so don’t use the same keyword on every page).
If you don’t feature your chosen keywords on your website then you have little chance of ranking well for them – especially if there is any sort of competition. However, ALWAYS keep in mind that you should write for your users and not for search engines.
Google aims to rank the best quality results for each search term and if you have content on your website then you are starting off well. (Although content alone won’t get you at the top of the results page.)This is especially important on your home page where you shouldn’t have just one big image, as search engines can’t read images as well as text, especially if they aren’t optimised. You can find more great info on creating a content plan here.
This will give you the opportunity to rank in Google Maps results for relevant keyword searches and make sure potential clients can easiyl find you when searching for your brand. Click here to sign up for your Google Business Profile account.
This is a free service which helps you track all your website visitors. Google Analytics lets you see how many visitors you’ve had, how long they are spending on your website, which pages they visit and exactly where they are coming from. Click here to set up a Google Analytics account.
More than 50% of visitors to many websites are coming from mobile devices and your website should pass the mobile test. If you are building a new website from scratch, make this a top priority. Google has a great tool to help you see if your existing website is mobile-friendly.
Consider how people will contact you and make it as easy as possible for them to do it. If they are likely to call then make your number really prominent, or if they should contact you by filling a form, then make the form easy to find and complete.
Always design and write for your website visitors. Not for search engines. User experience is crucial when it comes to building loyal customers who also want to recommend you.
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