A website or a blog should ideally be a brand’s ROI super-hero; however, more often than not it turns out to be a liability of the brand. Why does this happen to one of the brands most critical component? Why is it that a component of a brand that should ideally reflect the brand’s culture, vision, personality, mission, business intent, and its aesthetic values is ignored and neglected by its marketing department and looks outdated?
To further stress the point here are a few facts:
- Close to 60 percent website owners rate their website as below average to average
- Almost 78 percent people surveyed recently acknowledged that delivering quality user experience is important for their brand image, yet they all admit that this is where their website fails the most
The reason for these facts are many but the most glaring fact is that most website owners feel a website is a project that has to be completed satisfactorily, and do not consider it as an asset that can help their business and brand grow. Here are six secrets that will help you build a better website which in turn will help your brand grow.
Key performance indicators or KPIs
As is known in business circles key performance indicators help you define your bottom line results. Ask yourself a question, what you want your website to deliver? More visits, more sign-ups, more emails, or enrollments? Once you have identified the results you want your website to deliver, circulate the results amongst all members of your marketing team and across all your business channels.
There is no one home page; every page is a home page
People get into your website through pages other than your home page. Therefore remove this misconception from your mind that homepage is the gateway to your website.
The design and quality of content determines which page from your website shows up on search results. Therefore make sure each page looks like your homepage. Also make sure content, images, and videos are all optimized and organized on each page of the website.
Mobile friendly website
Increasingly people are accessing the internet via a mobile device, thanks to the smartphone revolution. Make your website is mobile friendly with a responsive website design. Close to 75 percent people complain that websites load slowly on mobile devices, 52 percent people complain websites crash or freeze on mobile screens, 40 percent people complain that a particular website is not available for mobile devices, and 75 percent people indicate that they are less likely to re-visit a website that does not give optimal experience on a mobile device. Such people are also unlikely to recommend that particular website.
Get your act together and get your website redesigned or repurposed with responsive website design.
Copy and content
The copy of your website should tell about your value proposition while your content should tell your company’s story and news. Copy includes About us page, products page, services page, Guarantee page, and Team fact sheet page.
If you feel copy will deliver the results, you are very wrong. It is the content that will send the message. Content like press releases, reviews, testimonials, articles, infographics, and images and videos should be optimized. Both content and website copy should be optimized for search results rankings.
Geo targeting or localization
Whether you are a small business or a fairly large business, you need to target specific locations. Without geo targeting you will be competing with all the websites in the world. You need to be highly visible locally. Make sure your content refers to your location also make sure your contact information is clearly visible so that users can locate you.
Newsroom
Press releases play a very important role in your content marketing strategy. Make sure press releases is a part of your marketing strategy. Press releases are not only picked up by journalists, but also read by users and potential customers.
Today the end-users expect a great digital experience. Check if your website satisfies all their requirements and also check if your website is leveraging the immense power of social media networks, if not it is time you rolled your sleeves and set things right!
