Do you know what makes most websites in the world similar?
The fact that most websites disappoint.
There are about 1 billion websites in the world and most of them get too little traffic, hardly any visitors, and too little sales.
What can you do to make sure that your website beats the odds?
Considering a new website? Do you want help to turn your website into a real asset for your business? Contact us now.
Here are several best practices that will help your website stand out:
Use WordPress
WordPress is the most popular website Content Management System (CMS). WordPress is popular because it is a robust platform. It is easy to use.
20% of all websites run on WordPress.
Here is what makes WordPress such a great website platform:
[custom_list style=”list-1″]
- Free pen source CMS.
- WordPress websites are easy to use.
- Built in blog feature.
- WordPress is highly scalable.
- No special software required to make updates to your website.
- Thousands of free plugins.
- WordPress allows you to have multiple users making website updates.
- Search engines like WordPress because of clean standard code.
- No monthly fees to pay for the software.
- The ability to customize.
[/custom_list]
Use A Mobile-Friendly Design
Mobile isn’t the future. Mobile is now, and your site must be responsive or mobile-friendly. Mobil-friendly means that your website adjusts to the size of the screen of whatever mobile device people are using to view it. The sad reality that even today most websites are not yet mobile-friendly.
Websites that are not mobile friendly:
[custom_list style=”list-1″]
- Have a higher bounce rate. Which means that people immediately click the back button once they land on your website.
- Convert at a much lower rate than mobile-friendly websites.
- Rank lower than mobile-friendly sites. Google prefers responsive sites and ranks them higher.
[/custom_list]
According to Google 74% of users are more likely to return to a website that works well on a mobile phone.
Create More Content
Most websites have too little content. And the little content they have is pretty uninspiring. Content is the new SEO. Great content is what will set your site apart from your competition. Add great quality content frequently. If you can’t add content weekly, try at least once a month.
Here are some great examples of content you can add to your website:
[custom_list style=”list-1″]
- Blog posts.
- Articles.
- Press releases.
- Special reports.
- Studies and survey results.
- White papers.
- Webinars. (Yes, you can record your own webinars and post them as content on your website.)
- Video training, tutorials, reviews, tips and advice.
- Audio podcasts, training, etc.
- Infographics.
[/custom_list]
Grow Your Email Lists
Most companies ignore the most effective marketing tactic. Email marketing. There is a huge benefit in building and growing your email list. Give people a really good reason to sign up for your email updates. Give people a gift or a download that would be helpful for them. Instead of asking people to sign up for your newsletter give people a reason to give you their email.
Here are some of the most compelling reasons to grow your email list:
[custom_list style=”list-1″]
- You don’t own your Facebook page, but your email list is you own.
- Your email list allows you to continue to market to prospects.
- It helps you to ask for referrals.
- Through your email list you can introduce new products or services.
[/custom_list]
Social Media Integration
It is hard to get the word out about your business without social media. Connect your website to your social media accounts. Link to each of your social media accounts from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn. The key here is to stay active on your social account. It is a huge turnoff to link your Facebook account to your site for people to find out that you haven’t updated your Facebook page since last year. Identify the top social networks for your business and stay active on them.
Respond To Questions
A great way to add new content to your website is by answering your most frequently asked questions. Create an FAQ page that responds to questions.