Keep your blog up to date
When we think of the most important pages on a website we think homepage and product pages. Whereas actually one of the most important pages on your website is your blog. It is where customers can really get a feel for your brand and build a trusting relationship, it is also the perfect opportunity to add some quality content to your site. The content you add will be relevant and fresh, which is exactly what Google is looking for.
Enter the blogosphere
Blogging for your own site is important just as guest blogging can be beneficial to your online presence. Guest blogging can be a great way to improve your link profile, encouraging high quality and authority links to manifest. This is a much better strategy than then traditional link building, which can actually harm your rankings.
Be mobile friendly and responsive
Users want a website that is easy to use and compatible with whatever device they are choosing to use. Mobile usage is now equal with desktop usage, this means that more of your customers are browsing via a mobile device be that a phone or tablet. Improving their experience is only going to help your conversions.
Even if you do not see users converting via a mobile device, your later desktop conversion may be a result of a user browsing on a mobile device, do not make the mistake of assuming mobile users do not convert. At this point it is the browsing that contributes to a decision and it is therefore important that the user has a positive experience on your mobile website.
Choose your social media wisely
Using relevant social media is important. Pick the platforms that you believe will be relevant to your customer base, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and Google + will be adequate for most websites, but there may be specialist sites that you feel will benefit your customers particularly like Pinterest, Instagram etc. Keep away from becoming a social media stacker, collecting all social media platforms. As with site content put quality before quantity.
Keep it clean…
Remove unnecessary functions on your website, a user will have a more positive journey on a clean and easy to navigate website. With fewer elements to distract visitors they are more likely to reach their goal.
This links back to responsive design, according to Google’s think insights if a mobile user is frustrated there is 61% chance that they will leave your website and will convert elsewhere. With a positive user experience there is a 67% chance that they will convert, that’s certainly food for thought.
PPC and retargeting (paid advertising)
Pay Per Click advertising can be used to create a quick spike in traffic. Ad listings appear high in search rakings but each click will cost you money. This can be easily regulated with careful budgeting, and when planned effectively PPC can be very lucrative. Although effective in the short term, PPC is not a long-term solution and needs to be integrated with a rounded SEO strategy.
PPC mostly relies not as you might expect on the ad campaign itself but is largely affected by the landing page the ad links to. This is where you really work to justify a high cost on the advert, broken links and sloppy landing pages are an absolute no no, if this is the case you might as well not be running any ads at all.
Retargeting relies on information about the user collected from previous web pages visited. All this involves is placing retargeting ‘cookies’ in their browser. As your customer visits other sites your advert will be displayed creating a reminder to them. This keeps your brand front and centre.
Retargeting adverts do generally show high click through rates and conversions. Successful retargeting adverts are segmented and tailored to your visitor, based on the information you have collected about their browsing. The most effective retargeting includes a creative call to action, with an offer.
And finally…RSS feeds
RSS is a Rich Site Summary, it makes using the web easier, enabling frequent users to stay informed of updates to their favorite sites by retrieving the latest content without the user having to visit each website individually.
RSS feeds are a great way for you to stay in touch with your customers. By adding a button to your homepage you can give your visitors the option of subscribing to an ongoing feed that updates them when new items are added to your site.