Today, when you go online to research, buy something or send an email, your first stop is probably a website. Websites are not just more content-filled pages, but in most cases represent a brand or company.
Your website is one of the most important marketing tools you will ever know. It is the foundation on which all other marketing activities are built. If you want to be noticed by potential customers, you need a website. But a website is useless without quality content. The trick is to create content that is unique, engaging and tailored to your target audience.
In this post, I'll give you my ten reasons why it's important to have a professional online presence.
The following sounds banal, but it is essential: there are two types of people who will visit. Those who need what you have to offer, and those who do not. You should know what kind of people your website is aimed at. If the website does not meet the needs of the potential customers, then you may be wasting your time. In other words: If your website is not adapted to your target group, you will have little chance of success.
If your website offers services or products that help people with their problems, your chances of success are higher. You can use Google Analytics to find out how many visitors come to your website and where they come from. You can also use an Alexa ranking to determine the popularity of your website. If you are interested in what others think about your website, you can ask them for feedback in surveys. If you are not sure which way to go with your website, you can look for help online.
People spend more time online than offline. This means that content marketing must address both the offline and online worlds.
To achieve this, you need to make sure that you create content that adds value to people. Make sure it is unique and relevant to your target audience. It is also a good idea to get an insight into what other people are talking about.
You can take advantage of search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media marketing to find customers looking for what you have to offer. SEO is good for information products because it makes your website more visible on Google. Your goal is to understand the principles of search engines and ensure that your website appears at the top of search results.
Search engines work by finding matching websites, media and products that people search for by words on the internet. Your website must contain the right keywords to appear on the first page of search results. A good understanding of your target audience helps you to understand what they are looking for on Google and Co. Which keywords are often entered in the search engine? For example, if you sell books, you could use the keyword "book". You would then include your book information on the page along with the keyword so that your website can appear in the search results for the word "book".
With all the content marketing tips out there, how can you find the right strategy? Basically, content marketing is about delivering the right content to the right person at the right time. Therefore, we can say that the most important goal of any website is to keep readers on the page long enough to gain their attention.
You can choose your strategy from a variety of content marketing tactics, almost any of which will help you achieve your goals in some way. For example, you could use video marketing to drive traffic to your website or social media accounts. Videos and short films are becoming increasingly affordable due to modern software and archives for licensing existing material. These resulting clips are then regularly published and shared on social media channels. You can also share a blog on a specific topic related to your brand on social media. People can follow the link to read your blog posts. Some of your visitors will surely stay and take interest in your product. And in general, you can tag the blogs with keywords to additionally benefit from the search engines.
The rise of the mobile internet is a challenge for marketers. By far the largest share of internet activity takes place via mobile devices. Smartphones and tablets play the decisive role. If your website is not adapted for these devices, you will miss out on a large part of the user traffic. Although these are obvious facts, it is still ignored by most website operators to focus primarily on mobile users. Nowadays, almost no one turns on the computer in the office just to do a quick search on the internet.
If your website doesn't look good on mobile, you might want to worry. So you need to figure out how to make your website mobile-friendly.
There are several ways to make your website mobile-friendly. You can set up separate websites for different devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, etc., but this can be expensive. But this can be expensive. Ideally, you can also use a responsive design. With this method, your website automatically adapts to different screen sizes. This is much cheaper than having a separate website for each device. However, you have to be careful with this method. Your design should not be too complicated or difficult to use. After all, you don't want to confuse your users.
You may have heard that consumers are less loyal to brands today than they were a few years ago or in pre-internet times. The numbers speak for themselves: more than 90 per cent of us say we want to save money, and 88 per cent say we want to shop much more often these days than we did back then. According to data from market research firm Gartner, shoppers are therefore increasingly turning to search engines to find the products they want quickly, rather than relying on brand loyalty to make their decisions. Google is one of the main triggers for this.
Due to the explosive developments of the search engines, it is becoming easier and easier for consumers to find good offers on the net. The corona pandemic has once again significantly increased the trend towards online shopping. A fraction of the population still goes offline and completely without the internet to the shops to look for bargains. As a result, even small shops on the internet are getting much more potential. Findability and the right offer have therefore become more important.
Research from Berkely University in California has found that people trust online reviews much more than the opinions of strangers. This finding makes sense because when we go to a new restaurant or book a hotel room, we know that the review was written by someone who already has experience with that establishment. Furthermore, the review is written by someone whose opinion is based on personal experience, not a survey, focus group or other type of data collection. In short, consumers trust the reviews because they are written by a known source.
On various portals, ratings and reviews can be collected for your own brand or business, which can be integrated into your own website. You should therefore consider how you can increase the trust of your visitors with feedback. The value of seals or rating badges that you can place should not be underestimated. - A simple way to make the quality of your services measurable for the visitor.
In recent years, website technology has advanced in leaps and bounds in terms of usability, functionality, design and accessibility. What was once a niche market is now a large part of the mainstream. Services for programming high quality websites have rapidly dropped in price due to increasingly modern software and processes of development. Even if your business doesn't rely on the latest web technology, you can still benefit from these advances, especially if you're just starting out.
It is a fact that social media has drastically changed the way consumers view websites. People used to visit a website for one reason - to buy a product or service. But now they also come to websites like yours to view and share content, videos, images, etc. So you need to think carefully about what it means for your website to be found on social media. It can mean many things - from increasing traffic to boosting sales to increasing your company's visibility to other business owners in B2B (Business To Business).
With an effective strategy, you can ensure that your social media marketing plan works. First of all, you need to set social media goals. Think about what you want to achieve with your social media activities and then set appropriate goals to maximise the success of your efforts. If you want to build a base of followers first, you should invest some time and learn what added value you can bring to them. If you are a first-time social media marketer, don't be afraid to try things out. Make your content as diverse as possible to find out what works. Try different types of media, such as images, videos or livestreams. Finding trends is the real art.
The last principle on this list is also the most overlooked. There are many businesses that fail because their owners do not pay attention to customer service. This is true for both offline and online businesses. For example, because a business doesn't do enough customer service, people leave negative comments on their review sites and social media. It is even worse if the company ignores the customers' complaints. Companies should not assume that if their products are popular, they will be liked. Customer demands change continuously. Starting from price to quality. So if you run an online business, you need to offer good customer service and be responsive to your customers' questions and concerns. In fact, there are many services that make it easier to take care of customers. Support chats that can be accessed through your website play an important role. A customer who wants to leave his opinion or needs support will primarily look for help on your website. Therefore, FAQs or user manuals must always be easy to find.
A modern website is more than just an online business card. A lack of understanding of the demands of today's internet users can be the biggest obstacle to your business success. But that's not to say you can't succeed without a website. It is entirely possible to build a thriving online business with a poor web presence. But in most cases, a modern website is your best marketing tool and the cornerstone of your digital advertising strategy. So if you want to grow your business, you should look at your website using the points in this article.
