Keep these five steps in mind for greater performance from your website.
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So you just launched a website for your new business. Being the entrepreneur that you are, you created the website yourself using a web builder like Wix or GoDaddy, and you're proud of what you accomplished, but you're unsure if your website has everything it needs to be successful.
Being in the Wix Partner program, Black Circle Consulting has seen its share of websites made by owners, including designing a few of our own for clients. Too often, we see things on sites that seem to be easily overlooked when designed at first by first-time website builders. That's why we wanted to write this blog, identifying five things all websites - no matter the niche or function - should always have.
Follow along and make sure your new website has these five things below to better ensure your website drives the traffic you want and do the things you want your site visitors to do.
#1 - A Domain Name That's Easy To Remember
It might seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised by some of the domain names chosen by businesses (and still available on the market). If purchasing from domain name providers like Wix or GoDaddy, you'll often find the domains you want already taken, especially if they are simple and to the point.
That's because the easier the name, the easier it is to remember and find on search engines like Google. Being "on the nose" with the name of your website can be good, but if your business's name is too long or if that name isn't available, then you may have to get creative.
One way to be creative with your domain name is by using descriptors based on geography.
For example, let's say my business's name is "Justin's Photography Studio". While "www.justingsphotographystudio.com" may be available, it is quite long and almost too specific. Being too specific could mean people searching for "photography services" might not see my listing immediately, if at all. Instead, Since my business is located in Tacoma, Washington, "TacomaPhotographer.com" could be a better option.
The name hits on two keywords (the city where my business is located & the profession of my business) that would most likely be used by someone looking for professional photography services in the Tacoma area. Not to specific, and not too hard to remember.
#2 - Protect Your Website Legally With Terms & Conditions, A Privacy Policy, And A Disclaimer.
\Three things every website needs: a privacy policy, terms & conditions, and a disclaimer. Why? Because it's the law, and not having them can set you up as a target for lawsuits, especially if you do any type of data collection, payment processing, or promote any type of sales offer.
Seeking help from a lawyer to draft these documents can be beneficial because they can draft those documents to be exact and specific to your business, but the work to create them may come at a pretty steep financial cost.
For a low-cost solution, we really like what is offered in "The Legal Bundle" from Plug and Law. Created by lawyer-turned-content creator Erika Kullberg, The Legal Bundle includes privacy policy, terms & conditions, and disclaimer templates perfect for any online business, content creator, or company website. Simply fill in details about your site using the template and copy and paste it to your website.
Learn more about why these documents matter by downloading this FREE Legal Guide.
#3 - A Blog That's Actively Updated
Some may say that blogs are outdated and have no value, but we find that simply untrue and misleading: Blog articles are content, and content is king (as cliche as that sounds). Content, in whichever form you choose to create it, can be shared on platforms - like Facebook or your blog page - and help drive traffic to where you want it to viewers to go, like your product pages or website.
You may hear social media gurus talk about how video should be prioritized over blogs. While video is effective, people who spend money still read, and like to research and read about the subjects they are interested in. And what else can be added to a blog article? We'll give you one guess...
The best way to keep an active blog is consistency. If you have a goal for two blog articles a month, start with producing one per month and go from there. Keep your blog article topics to what your passion or subject matter is about, and be sure to optimize your post by using keywords you are targeting in your H1 and H2 title headings.
#4 - Links That Drive Action From Your Visitors
Having a website is great for your brand image, but it should be more than just a glorified phone book listing (remember those?). A great website utilizes engaging copy and content to effectively move visitors toward a "Call to Action". That action could include clicking a button to purchase a product, scheduling a service, call, or demo, or even clicking a link to see a restaurant's menu listing on GrubHub.
Having one or multiple goals for a website - a clear intention for your visitors - is crucial when trying to measure the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of your website.
#5 - Great On-Page SEO
Lastly, knowing just a little bit about SEO can go a long way in helping your website and blog succeed. If you don't know, "SEO" stands for Search Engine Optimization. Essentially, it's the basis of how your website's web pages are found and displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) on online search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Each web page on your website has meta titles and descriptions that are used by search engines to provide information to searchers about what sites are being displayed. Making sure your pages' meta titles and descriptions are accurate and using keywords that searchers are using in their search queries is essential in taking that spot as #1 in search results.
Getting these done early on when you first create your website can help when your web pages get indexed by search engine web crawlers (the bots that crawl the internet forever).
Don't Have Time to Implement These Steps? We Can Help.
Making sure all five of these are updated and optimized correctly on your website can be the difference between your website's ability to drive traffic to itself and keep visitors there.
However, doing these things can take away time and resources from you or your team.
That is why Black Circle Consulting specializes in doing these tasks and so much more.
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