Hello, Is there anybody out there?
So you’ve designed and launched your website. Not only does it look great, the design is sleek, easy to read and has exceeded all your expectations. What’s next? Well, now you just sit back, relax and reap the benefits right?
Wrong. Six months later, your web presence is still virtually inexistent. So why are you invisible? Why aren’t search engines showing your company for the search results you want? Why can’t your target audience find you?
If these are questions you ask yourself, then pay attention! We’ve put together the top 5 reasons why your website is likely not gaining the attention and traffic it deserves.
Get Seen
It’s important to remember that maintaining your web prevalence is an ongoing process. Like fine tuning an instrument or running maintenance on an automobile, a certain amount of diligence is required to get your website functioning optimally. You don’t just tune guitar strings once!
1. Don’t Let your Content go Stale
So that introduction you wrote a year ago is still the last content you added to your page. This may be a reason no one can find you. Keeping your content fresh is not only good practice for informing your users, but also search engines! Search engines value websites that are updated regularly, and use it to help determine relevant and fresh content to populate search results with. Managing your content and staying fresh can sound difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. Something as simple as integrating a blog to speak to your audiences can help immensely! Start with an article every two weeks. The more comfortable you get, move up to once a week. If you are confident in writing more, then double it. The key message here, is to produce content consistently.
2. Get a Social Life
Still think Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are fads? You’re wrong. In this modern connected era, users are more and more commonly searching using social media interfaces. Facebook’s new Graph Search is blurring the lines between social media and search engines. Think of it this way – Facebook could soon become the 3rd most used search engine behind Google and Yahoo! Bing search engine has been integrated into Facebook search. This is a response to a major industry trend – users that search for a company on social media. If you’re not visible on social media, any potential brand presence in that sphere is lost. Users like to investigate and do their homework before making a purchase! In addition, establishing a social media presence allows you to build links (this is something we will talk about in a later tip!) back to your website, which will in turn generate more traffic for your site.
3. Mismanagement of SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the best practice to appease search engine criteria. We don’t necessarily refer to mismanagement of SEO as under-management, half of the time the problem is over-management. This could be as simple as over-or-under-analysing of keywords. You want your website to get seen by the right people and properly managed SEO can assure that you will. It is crucial that your SEO strategy is well laid out and handled by an expert that can get you ranked higher right away!
SEO management is often the most difficult element in ensuring your company has an impactful online presence. As the industry has continued to evolve and grow considerably rapidly, the best advice is to speak to an expert. Find someone with experience in the industry, with a proven track record with success.
One of the most frequent reasons for SEO mismanagement, is using someone under-qualified to do the job. There are many SEO start-up companies within the industry, often working out of small offices or basements. Although they may be cheaper, your end result will likely not have the greatest return on investment. SEO mismanagement can frequently have the opposite effect in your search engine rankings. Be careful not to find yourself paying more money down the road to someone else correcting previous mistakes!
4. A Link to The Future
Link building is also a great way to increase the visibility of your website. Link building refers to achieving genuine links on websites surrounding your target audience that link back to your site. If done correctly, this can increase both your search engine rankings and can build valuable relationships with peer websites. If you have a community manager or a public relations person at your company, encouraging them to build relationships with other companies or websites within your target audiences interest “sphere” is where to start. One example of link building is guest blogging on others pages and leaving your link at the bottom. Write blog articles for each other and link your article back to you companies website. You are now targeting their like-minded audience, and are building valuable links for search engines that help determine your site worth!
5. Google Ads
Google Ads is Google’s paid search results and display network platform. Users can bid on keywords to get on the front page of search results. By setting a simple daily budget, a recommended cost per click (CPC) and writing simple attractive ads, you can get seen on the front page of Google and start driving relevant traffic immediately. It’s important to define your targeting strategy! If you cast too broad of a net, you will be paying for clicks to drive users to your site that are less likely to convert into a lead. You can manage campaigns yourself, or hire an agency to ensure top quality performance. Fortunately, and if you have the time, Google offers extensive educational tools for becoming a Google Ads expert!
Conclusion
These are just 5 tips to help make your website easier to find by your target audience. Some are long-term strategies like SEO, others are more immediate like Google Ads . What is certain, is that all strategies should not be overlooked. Think of each strategy as a leg to a table. The more the legs, the more stable it will be! Without the legs, your table will not stand up.
