Category: SEOTech Talk

We spoke in a previous blog about the importance of marketing, not just your company, but your actual website. We covered crucial elements like original/relevant content and staying honest so search engines don’t drop your site. Today’s blog will go over a few more components of your site that deserve special mention.

Links – In and Out

Setting up links to or from your website is a good practice but only if those links are relevant to your site or provides pertinent information to potential or existing customers. Coming up with a bunch of unrelated links with the hopes of increasing your ranking will do more harm than good and is exactly the kind of thing we talked about in Honesty is the Best Policy. Search engines are paying close attention to (and dropping) sites that simply stick in a page full of links. A better policy is to put some thought into what links to and from your own site are relevant and strategically place them into places where they actually make sense within your content.

How’s Your Code?

Every business has unique characteristics depending on their size and the products or services they are selling. They do, however, all have one thing in common – the need for a well thought out marketing plan. In today’s tech savvy world marketing has to include marketing not just your company but also your website. Obviously, large corporations will have more money to spend on a website than a medium sized, local business. Regardless of how much a website cost to build; unless the site itself is being marketed properly, no one (or at least, not enough) people will see it. No matter how grandiose or simple a website is, there are basic elements that need to be addressed if you want the world to see it.

Aside from aesthetically pleasing, content is by far the most important component of any website. Content does however have two separate components; one that must appeal to visitors and one that catches the attention of search engines. If the search engines don’t recognize you site easily; neither will potential customers. So when it comes to content remember:

• It must be unique with original content
• It must be updated regularly

There is a divide even among businesses that have whole heartedly “bought into” the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) being a vital component of their online marketing plan. On one side of the fence there are those that hire a professional SEO provider and then simply walk away and want nothing more to do with it. The other side has likewise selected to go with a professional SEO marketing firm but instead of walking away, stay involved in all aspects of the process.

Those companies that have made the decision to be an active participant in their marketing and SEO plans typically see a better ROI (Return on Investment) and a significantly larger increase in their market share. Even businesses that have a dedicated marketing department should involve all staff members in various parts of the marketing plan. Any successful business can tell you that gone are the days when a website alone will help you get new customers.

There are so many aspects to any good website that input from employees is essential. Even in areas like content development; employees can get involved in things like blogs, FAQs, workplace photos, etc. Keeping staff engaged has also proven to be a great morale booster which in turn has positive effects on production in the workplace.

Having a strong internet presence in today’s global market and economy is about as basic as one can get these days. When we look at where business is consistently increasing advertising dollars; time and again, it points to online marketing but more specifically – content marketing. In other words, if you’re serious about putting your money where it will make a difference, it’s vital that you take a look at ways of improving and stepping up content marketing.

You were probably quite happy with your new website when it was either brand new or re-vamped a couple (or a few) years ago. It may still look great visually but what about things like, new product information, email contact lists and when was the last time you checked to make sure your links are still working and relevant?

Review Regularly

Make a practice of reading your website on a regular basis and make sure your content is fresh and free of typos. Things can change quickly in any industry and making sure you have kept up with new developments is important. Maybe you’ve launched a new product or have removed one from your inventory; perhaps you have some new information that your clients would be interested in. The point is that the internet and other social media sites are important marketing tools and must be kept fresh if you want to stay abreast of your competitors.