The start of a new year almost always brings new goals and ambitions, and the inevitable promises that come with the changing calendar. We all make solemn vows to be more productive, spend less time browsing Facebook, and to eat more kale. Well, ok. Maybe not more kale.
For small business owners, the new year often brings new business goals, such as making better use of the Internet tools and resources that make up the backbone of a business’s online presence.
Successful business owners know that the Internet can bring customers to their doorstep if they can harness the power of digital tools such as SEO and social media strategies. But, these are not always easy concepts to learn, especially for people who already have a heavy workload.
After making plans to tackle website upgrades, improve marketing campaigns, and to make more effective use of social media, priorities will usually shift to the tasks that business owners and staff members are most comfortable with, and that make them more productive.
Modern web marketing strategies require research, reports, and testing before any effective steps are taken. A website needs to be well-planned and carefully constructed to be a solid resource in the battle for Internet visibility and traffic.
Today’s website construction needs to include more than pretty graphics and fun visual effects. Or funny cats. To draw in clients for their first visit to your digital door, discovery through SEO and social media marketing must be followed by a proper introduction created by your website’s content. Each part plays a key role in the path that guides potential clients to the next point of contact.
Once clients find your website, it’s content, whether it’s the text on your home page, the entries in your blog, or the message in your email blasts, plays a far bigger role than many people understand. A delicate balance exists here – you must feed your clients information, but the tone must match your company’s persona. Too formal, too informal, too vague, or too detailed – each of these can drive your customers away if they are seen as inauthentic.
Well-produced content has another peripheral effect on your visitors. Grammatical or spelling errors and poorly written sentences can create an unprofessional image for your company. The message it can send is – if you don’t care enough to do a good job here, why would potential clients believe you’d do a good job there? There, of course, being your production line, workshop, or office.
Search engine optimization is an entirely different matter and one that must go hand in hand with content. Gone are the days when a blog post for a sock company could be made up of 300 words having anything to do at all with socks -as long as a few keywords and phrases were worked into the text. Those blog posts were not created to be read by clients, they were created to be indexed, or scanned and cataloged, by search engines.
Your website also needs to be pushed out in front of your potential clients if they’ll ever see it. Social media campaigns through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube get you your initial views. Then, you need to give people a reason to read past the first paragraph or click on the menu at the top of the page.
Now, what would you rather do with your time over the next few months? Would you prefer to wade through templates, plug-ins, and code every available night and weekend in order to build and maintain your website, performing tasks that will just change when the next round of updates are released?
Do you want to take a chance on knocking your home page offline for a month while someone figures out which One or Zero ended up in the wrong place, while your rank in the search results slides slowly down until it jumps behind four pages full of your closest competitors and their phone numbers?
Or would you rather go play golf while a professional, experienced team of people gets to work creating the best digital representation of you and your product or service?
I know what I’d do…
If your West Michigan business website needs upgrades and improvements this year, or your brand new Grand Rapids-based venture needs a new, hard-working website built from the ground up, contact GreenCup Digital and let’s discuss how we can help you succeed.
