Website marketing – getting the basics right.

Once upon a time a website was little more than an electronic brochure; how times have changed.

Today we demand our websites to work harder for us. We expect them to attract interested visitors. We aim to convert these visitors to prospects and begin to build a relationship until finally some become customers and the relationship continues to blossom.

Even with this objective in mind many websites fall short of their job and are still little more than a fancy brochure.

The good news is there are some very basic website marketing (also known as on-page SEO) that you can do to make a big improvement to the effectiveness of your website.

Here is a check list that will help search engines understand what your web pages are about so that they can direct searchers to them:

  1. Content is king. Search engines love websites that are regularly updated with fresh content. How often do you update your website with news and articles?
  2. Where appropriate, focus on one subject on each page. Create the page around a keyword or expression that your prospects are using when searching. These are likely to relate to the problems they have. The problems that you can solve.
  3. Include the keyword in the url e.g. www.attractivemarketing.biz/what-is-a-keyword
  4. Include the keyword in the meta title. If your website has a content management system (CMS) and you are able to access it to make changes, there should be meta tag fields that you can complete.
  5. Include the keyword in the meta description. This is 160 characters long and should clearly explain to the searcher the information that they can expect to find should they click on the link to your website. The words should compel them to take action.
  6. Include the keyword in the keyword field. Although this is now regarded as not important, the field is there so you might as well complete it!
  7. Include the keyword in the ‘Page title’.
  8. Include the keyword in the title on the page and format it as H1 (Heading 1).
  9. Include the keyword at the beginning of the first sentence and a few times throughout the content. Avoid stuffing the page with the keyword as this is bad practice and doesn’t read well.
  10. Include links within the page to other relevant pages on your website.
  11. Images should include the keyword or be named appropriately (NOT image123).
  12. Websites are read in a very different way to a newspaper, magazine or book. People are in a hurry and page is often scanned so it needs to be easy to read. Keep it short and sweet. Use short sentences and bullet points.

You can take a look at your meta tags by right clicking on the web page and going to ‘View page source’. If you’re struggling with this send me an email nicola@attractivemarketing.biz.

Once you’ve got the website marketing working and starting to attract visitors to your website, you want to inspire them to take action.

Here’s a few ideas to encourage visitors take action:

  1. Add a call to action on every page. State a reason why they should pick up the phone and call or send an email. Is your telephone number easy to find or hidden away? How easy is it for the visitor to find out more?
  2. Add a sign up form to receive your hints, tips or ‘how to’ relevant, interesting and helpful articles.
  3. Have a free download. This could be an eBook or your top 10 tips, in exchange for their email address.
  4. Create a quiz so that you can respond with the answers and further useful information.

And finally, if you haven’t already done so, install Google Analytics. This will tell you how many visitors you are attracting, which pages they are viewing and a whole lot more.

So next time you write an article for your website run through the check list and don’t forget to use email marketing and social media to let your contacts know it’s there!