January may be done and dusted, but there’s still time to set your business resolutions for 2017.
A great place to start is your website SEO – ranking higher for authority and value will drive more business, and that’s what you’re after.
User Experience: Start before the beginning
How a user browses your site is hugely important, but that’s not where their experience starts…
93% of online experiences begin with a search, so it’s critical that your keywords, H-tags, authoritative page content, site map, inbound links and proper 301 redirects are in place.
Clarity of journey
Once your user has searched for and found you (because you’ve got great initial SEO), it’s time to guide that user through the journey of your site to ensure they get the value they’re after.
Think like a reader
Great content should be relevant to the reader’s needs, not only to what you think is relevant.
Use Google Analytics to test what sort of pages and content are getting the most traction, and work out innovative ways to include more of that sort of copy.
Stay ahead of the game as well – be aware of market trends around your business, and be the person who has the content first.
Change up your content offering
We’re living in a world of convenience, so make allowances for the fact that many people would rather watch a video or an animated infographic than read a bunch of text.
Remember to optimise the file size of your visual content, host it locally to add value to your site’s content (rather than just pulling in a YouTube video), be unique and appealing, and do the basics right – tags, descriptions, alt text and metadata make search engines happy!
Stay on top of your social media
It’s very easy to get lost in the world of social media and suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by how much you have to keep up to date.
Stick with what works, and make sure even the channels you don’t use that often have the right information on it, such as business address, description, contact details and website address.
4 great tips to end off:
- Make sure you’re testing all your site links often enough to spot any errors, and put redirects in place for pages where it may be necessary.
- Great content that matches both user requests and engine searchability is a must, as are verifiable links
- Site navigation should be clear, with as few clicks as possible between entry and goal conversion. Test it by asking friends to review the navigation.
- Your site needs to be well-optimised for mobile and site-load efficiency – correctly sized images, clear and succinct content and tidy page scripts should ensure your site loads fast, but test it using Google’s PageSpeed tools.
If you need help with your website, please don’t hesitate to contact us or call 01223 55080.
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