With the majority of Americans going online these days, it’s more important than ever to have an excellent online presence. According to recent research from the Pew Research Center, 85% of US adults now use the Internet. That almost guarantees that your target buyers are online, most likely researching the products and services that you could offer them.
But if you don’t have a website that covers all of the bases, then it might be doing you no good at all. Today’s website is much different than the website of years past. 10 years ago, a static website with your business information and a way to contact you would suffice. Today that most definitely won’t cut it. Your website needs to be working for you 24/7, bringing in new viewers who will eventually become loyal customers.
Here are just a few reasons that your website might not be doing it’s job. Take a few minutes to take an objective look at your site and determine if you need to make some changes.
- Unclear Message
When visitors first arrive to your website they should immediately be able to determine what it is that you do and why you’re the best at it. If they have to search and click and look for the answers to those questions, then you’ve already lost them. Having a clear message from the get-go is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to your website efforts.
- Poor Content
You’ve heard it time and time again: producing quality content is the most important thing you can do for your online marketing efforts. This content is what will draw people to your site, what will allow you to climb higher and higher in the search engine results, and what will keep people coming back for more.
- Difficult to Navigate
There should be a clear path that your website visitors take to get where they need to go. If they have to search and dig to get the answers that they are seeking, your site navigation needs some serious work. No one will be willing to put in that type of effort to find what they are looking for – they will simply click out of your site and onto your competitors in a matter of seconds.
- Lack of Social Activity
Building your presence on social media sites is one of the most important things you can do for your company’s online success. Your target consumer expects you to not only be present on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, but they expect you to be active. You need to ensure that you link out to these different sites on every single page of your website so that people can find them easily and begin to interact and build a relationship with your business.
- Unpleasant Design
The fact of the matter is, no one likes an ugly website. There are literally millions of websites out there today, and most online shoppers have visited a large number of sites themselves – many of them have likely visited several just today. If they go from a sleek, impressive site that is easy to view and navigate, and then come to your site that leaves much to be desired, they will be left with a less-than-pleasant feeling about your business. Just as the atmosphere of your brick-and-mortar business mattered a great deal in the past, so does the online atmosphere that your website creates. Many of your consumers will never set foot in your office – your website gives the first and only impression they will have!
- No Optimization
If you aren’t taking the time to follow SEO and keyword guidelines across your website and throughout each and every blog post, then the content you are publishing is basically useless. Take care to include your target keywords in all blog posts, social updates, and pages of your site. Also include those keywords in your blog titles, page titles, and Meta data. Just these few simple steps will make a huge difference.
- Infrequent Updates
Updating your website frequently is incredibly important. You can no longer create a site and then let it sit there, untouched, and expect it to do any good. Search engines take into account how often pages are updated when ranking them in their results. An easy way to do this is to have your blog content published directly to your website. Another way is to use a plug-in that will update the page with every Twitter or Facebook post that you push out. Also, update your site with information regarding new specials that you are running. Keeping things fresh is a huge part of what makes up an effective website!
As you can see, a lot more goes into having a successful website than in the past. It takes a bit of effort on your part since you can’t simply have a site created and then call it a day. But the great thing about the new way of creating online success is that it requires you to put out more info for your potential clients. Today’s consumer is going online the minute they consider a purchase to begin the research process. You want to be sure that your business is adequately represented, and having a dynamic, informative website is the best way to do that.
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