Are you investing in your website?
Your website is your home base, your ‘shop front’ online and needs to be working for you 24/7. It is a business asset, so putting time and effort into keeping it current is really important.
What does investing in your website mean?
It means that you need to be aware that online, things change at a dramatic rate. It is no longer realistic to create your website and then not touch it until it needs redesigning in 5 or 6 years time. You (or your web developer) need to be constantly updating, monitoring and auditing your website to make sure that you are keeping in line with current best practices and trends. This takes time and effort. We have website care plans that can help take care of some of this for you.
You need to make sure that your website is
- Modern
- Mobile responsive (Google has just implemented Mobile first policy)
- Updated on a regular basis
- Looks great
- Functions well
- Fast (page load speed is now something Google takes into account when ranking)
- As complete as possible so that people can find as much information as possible and do all the research they need to come to a decision.
- Found online (Search Engine Optimised)
- Connected to Google Analytics so you can track the statistics of visitors to your site
Is your website mobile responsive?
You can test to see if your website is mobile responsive here https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Google Search has expanded its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in Google Search results.
Mobile is changing the world. Today, everyone has smartphones with them, constantly communicating and looking for information. In many countries, the number of smartphones has surpassed the number of personal computers; having a mobile-friendly website has become a critical part of having an online presence.
Google Search
Is your website modern and appealing?
There is nothing worse than visiting a website and finding an unappealing design. Websites in the ‘olden days’ were built entirely in code and had quite a few restrictions. The design elements available to us now are so much more appealing and enticing. You want visitors to be excited by your website, to want to explore past the home page.
Does your website function well?
There is nothing worse than going to a website and not being able to find the information you were looking for. My attention span is very short if I can’t see immediately where to go.
- Is your website easy to navigate?
- Do all the links work?
- Are you telling visitors what to do next?
- Is it easy to find information?
Does your website load fast?
Website load speed is now a factor Google takes into account when ranking sites. There are a lot of factors that can affect load speed. The most common one is having very large images.
Investing in Social Media versus investing in your website
There has been a lot of talk about the need to invest in Social Media to drive traffic to your website. However, search is now out-performing social in terms of generating traffic.
Globally there has been a steep drop in visits to websites from Social Media and a steep increase in traffic from search. Some of this has to do with the data mining ‘scandal’ that has recently surfaced about Facebook where data has been available to third party marketing companies.
Diversify your Social Media
It also pays not to put all your eggs into one ‘social’ basket. You need to know what your traget audience is using. The younger generation (the young millennials) are now using different social platforms. Facebook is so not the thing for them.
Keep an eye on your Google Analytics
Are you actively keeping track of your website analytics? Do you know:
- Who is visiting your website?
- How did they get there?
- How long are they staying on the website?
- What pages are they looking at?
Understanding this data is important to know where improvements can be made, what blog posts can boost your traffic and how you might change a few things to make it easier for visitors to find what they need.
Invest in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
The whole point of having a website is so that people can find out who you are and what you do.If they can’t find you online then they can’t buy your product or service.
Launching a website without any regard to SEO is like throwing a party and forgetting to invite guests. Ignoring SEO on your website overtime makes your whole initial investment in building it a bit of a waste of time.
Search Engine Optimisation is a complex thing. It is a journey and a really important part of your website’s visibility online.
