Website strategies seminar

We held a seminar covering website strategies that get results. For those of you who didn’t attend, this post gives an outline of what was covered.

Why do businesses have a website?

• People expect it
• Easier to edit than a printed brochure
• Makes your business look more professional
• Your competitors have one
• Show up-to-date info, photos and testimonials
• Gather contact information
• Build your reputation, gain credibility
• People can get info about your company 24/7

There are two important things to consider:

1. Make sure people click on your website

2. Keep people on your site to take the action you want

This post will help you with how to do both of the above.

Now, if you could wave a magic wand, what are the challenges you have with your website? Some examples are listed below:

• No website
• Low position in search results
• Low number of visitors
• Not mobile-friendly
• Time to update it
• Low number of enquiries/purchases

Google spiders and keywords

Google positions websites in their search results by using Google spiders. These crawl the internet for keywords and phrases which have been put into the search bar.

They find these keywords on the main content of the website, in the meta tags, and in the URLs of your pages.

Meta what?

Meta tags provide information for each title, description, text, image and heading all on the front end. These are what search engines look at when finding relevant search results.

Keywords in the URLs of your pages

Not only is having keywords in your URLs another way for search engines to find your sites, they also look clearer for the customers to see.

Inbound links

Your Google Page Rank is pretty much based on popularity – through inbound links. Having inbound links from websites with a high page rank is something that can boost your rank. Your local/regional website or newspaper website are examples of good places to have inbound links. Having a Google Page Rank of 4 is great for a local business!

Site loading speed

Don’t test your visitors’ patience!

Apparently it only takes roughly six seconds to win a visitor over with your website – so if they are spending all that time waiting for your page to load, they are likely to have moved on to another site.

Site speed is important for both visitors and Google. The biggest thing that can make a page slow to load is the images – make sure they are optimised.

Make people choose YOUR site

Stand out from your competitors in search results – grab attention in organic search results to make people click. Beat your competition by taking advantage of competitors’ selling points and weaknesses.

Example of a good title and URL but bad description

The description doesn’t have any information that would encourage visitors to click on the website. This company provides a 24 hour emergency service – these are great services which should be advertised in their description.

Example of good titles and descriptions

This site has good descriptions for separate pages, including testimonials.

Stand out and show what makes you better than your competitors

Grab your visitors’ attention with your unique selling points and the benefits of your company – why should they be giving you their time? Stand out! Show people that you provide the top services and offers. Also offer guarantees to gain their trust.

Good tips on getting visitors

• Easy to find your way around the site – clear navigation
• Important information ‘above the fold’
• Easy to understand content – no jargon
• Consistent and attractive site colours
• No more than three different fonts – keep your titles the same, your subheadings the same, and your body text the same.

Proof-read every page

The picture left is a silly example, but it does show how much of a difference correct punctuation and spelling makes. Poor punctuation and spelling looks highly unprofessional, so it is vital to proof-read everything.

Mobile-friendly sites are now ranked higher by Google

50% of online searches are done via mobile/tablet, so by now you should have a mobile-friendly site to make it easier to read and navigate on handheld devices.

If your site is mobile-friendly, Google will position your site higher in search results. It also now shows a ‘mobile-friendly’ label as shown in the picture to the right.

Calls to action

Now you have got those visitors coming and engaged with your website, the next part is your call to action. Whether it is to sign up to your newsletters or make an enquiry, your call to action needs to be clearly displayed on your site and a simple process for customers to follow.

Testimonials

Having testimonials makes your company more valid and easier to trust. It’s better to hear what is good about you from somebody else. Always have a form on your site asking for testimonials, and keep adding these to your website for potential customers to view.

Get results

There are so many websites which don’t have the ‘Where did you hear about us?’ question. As a company that has different marketing activities, how will you know which methods are working? Having this question on your contact form will give you an idea.

Next steps…

1. Contact me to get a website & marketing review plus a 1-2-1 consultation with me

2. Attend a Boot Camp so you/your staff learn how to do it yourself (held in Suffolk)

3. Join our mailing list to get more useful marketing ideas: