Slowly, very slowly, after good planning, plys good ‘original’ content creation and curation followed by some digital marketing or promotion your website will be one of the successful websites
This is an example of a typical small business website growth to becoming one of those successful websites.
Month 1 – Write up a Brief, spec or a scope, get a design done/agreed, a theme or ideally a customised design, have a developer agree to create the CMS Content Management System site with the agreed design. We would recommend using WordPress as the platform.
Month 2 – New site gets delivered – Read the user manual, get the training, tweak layout, navigation, images and text. Go live. Improve MetaData, Page Titles, Descriptions, Keywords and Alt Tags. Register with local free portals, set up Social Media pages etc.
Month 3 – Excitement over creation of your new shiny website. Lots of time consuming work, creating the first simple pages, images and articles learning how to manipulate or resize images, adding video. Not many if any visitors, just you checking for visitors at this stage.
Month 5 – Focus on Social Media getting it to work better, testing out Facebook and Google Ads. Reading about digital Marketing, Buying books or guides, listening to podcasts by well respected Digital Marketers.
Month 6 – Loads of hard word done and time invested, but the excitement is dying down. Very few visitors and few if any sales, bounce Rate is over 70%. Took 6 weeks to get pages indexed and 6 months to start ranking well. Feeling like it is never going to work – thinking about packing it in. Google does not seem to care.
Month 12 – After writing plenty more relevant content the site looks much sharper, the typos are gone, the images are better, the navigation makes more sense. You answer more questions in FAQs. Now your pages are all indexed, Google finds them and you start ranking high up the page in long tail search, low volume search terms. 100 people a day visit and 1 or 2 per cent make an enquiry or even buy something. The Bounce Rate is high, still over 50%, so you work on refining Page Titles, descriptions and keywords.
Month 24 – Now you have 100s of daily visitors and some sales or enquiries almost every day, building up to a low steady sideline or second income. Bounce Rate is below 40%. The pain seems to be worth it now at last. You are getting the right visitors now.
Month 36 – The site is making a small living and you are enjoying it, attending webinars and shows, reading all the tips and tweaking content. You understand what all the “experts are saying”, you continue to tweak content, to add Specials, Offers, Extras, Bonus Value etc. Now you are happy to tell people you are an Online Business, a Webmaster, a Digital Marketeer. The new car shows you are being successful. Nobody is laughing now.
Month 48 – Now your advice is being sought after, you are writing articles, get involved in a Mentoring programme, the orders come in whilst you sleep. An overnight success after 4 years !
Month 60 – You made it !! Independently wealthy now, developing other online ventures. A pioneer in the Digital Klondyke staking your claim. Keep studying the innovations, Google Analytics 4 or Google Business Profile, the Social Media funnels and whatever else is new. What is Seth Godin saying today? What is Danny Sullivan or Lily Ray saying ? Who else is in my space to give me pointers ? How can I help others succeed?
Tips to making your website successful FASTER
Digital Strategy: Create a Roadmap, plan the project, engage all the stakeholders, write down the ideas, views, objections and bring the team along with you, even the guys who do not really fully agree with the Digital Marketing plan.
Web Partner: Get this one right, as it is way more important than which CMS or platform. Work with someone you like and trust, someone competent and allow them make the odd mistake, as they create your website or work on your Digital Marketing. Their job should be to ensure that they help you attract the right visitors.
Design – You can use a website design theme if one works for you or better still, have a competent graphic designer custom design a bespoke design from scratch. Use the mockup to tweak the design rather than try to tweak after the developers are done building. It will save money and time and frustration. Good custom design will make you stand out and look more professional.
Text: The messages on your pages, your content will dictate conversion, not necessarily any stylish design or cutting edge themes or smart layouts, colour or navigation. Learn to write well about what you do, offer or want to explain – are you an expert in an area ? Write about that area with passion, then arrange it to look well, read well, flow and convert. Spellcheck and remove any unnecessary words to offer high quality content for your defined niche audience. The tighter the niche, the easier it is to write for them and get engagement, likes, reposts etc. Do some A B testing with your text – write the article and give it a few different headings over a period of time to see what gets the eyeballs, then write more on that topic/subject line. Show some domain authority.
Images: Yes, a picture can say a thousand words, so do use them when appropriate. Try to avoid overused stock images, create your own relevant imagery, to support, rather than replace the great text in your story.
Platform: Now that you have created your content library, put it up in a simple CMS or website platform so that it can be seen. Avoid basic html or big Drupal CMS, go for a Wordpress Open Source Content Management Syatem.
Digital Marketing: Have someone competent do the Digital Marketing for your web presence and monitor its progress, not a Developer or a Designer. Be prepared to speak publicly on your topic or engage in relevant Forums or both – get some PR.
To become one of the successful websites get in contact with us for SEO and Web Design here today.
A few useful tips to help promote the website when it is live.
Social Media Profiles
Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, most social media business profiles have a place for you to include your website details and ideally a link. Add it in there so your customers or followers can find your new or updated website. Any time you are updating pages or the whole site, create a post or make an announcement about your new website or website update letting your followers know it’s live or has some new content.
Email Signature
Your team member email signatures should all include a link to your website alongside any of your other contact information. You can do this on your laptop and smart phone. Add your logo too and maybe a link to your personal Linkedin profile.
Directory Listings
Listings like Google Business Profile, Golden Pages, Yelp, and even your local Chamber of Commerce typically have a place for your website address. Make sure anywhere you have an online business listing that it includes your website address too. Look for the backlink opportunities.
Other Websites
If you know other websites are mentioning your business (such as partners, clubs, suppliers etc.), ask them if they can update that content with a link , a backlink, to your website. Maybe a trade association that you are in.
Marketing Collateral & Print Ads
Do update your business cards, packaging, brochures, flyers, menus or any other marketing collateral or printed ads with your website address. These items are often limited for space, but by including your website address you can direct readers to much more information about your business.
Invoices, delivery notes & other stationery
Customers may not be aware of all the things you offer, but by including your website address on things like invoices and envelopes you give them a chance to learn more about your business.
Vehicle / Fleet Graphics
If you have van wraps / graphics / decals on any of your vans or cars, get the website address added to it. You can order decals at your local printers..
Front Doors / Windows
Add your website address to the graphics on your front doors or windows of your offices / stores / locations so people who visit you in the physical world know they can find information online too.
Signage
Instead of trying to squeeze all your services, phone number, email address, and more onto your signs — include your website address. It includes all that information, and so much more!
Promotional Items
If you have promotional items, such as pens, mugs, bags, etc, with your company name on them, make sure the next time you order you update the artwork to include your website address.
Uniforms / Apparel
If you or your staff wear company t-shirts, caps, fleeces etc, don’t forget to add the website address on the artwork for your next order.