Peter James – WSI Digital Marketing Consultant

Does your website generate business for you?  Does it pay its way by return on your investment in the form of additional customers, revenue and profits?

If your answers to these questions are both yes then that’s excellent.

However, if your website isn’t working for your business then you need to think why.  Is it shy and so doesn’t get many visitors?  Is it lazy because it’s not converting visitors into paying customers?  Is it both shy and lazy?

Maybe your website is shy and lazy because you’re not taking enough care of it.  You need to love your website.

Your website is a business investment.  It should be giving you an excellent return on that investment.  If it’s not then here are the most likely reasons why…

1. Potential customers aren’t finding it when they search for the products or services that you supply.
2. When potential customers find it on a search engine results page they don’t find the description compelling enough to click through.
3. When potential customers visit your site they don’t find what they’re looking for and go straight back to the search page.
4. Potential customers aren’t compelled to buy online or contact you.

I see these problems time and time again with my potential customers.  Fortunately for them, I know how to fix these problems but it seems like most website designers and SEO specialists don’t.

It’s not enough to simply employ a web designer to create a website and then just sit back.  You have to understand what your customers want and make sure the website gives it to them and gives them compelling reasons to buy from you.

Also, it’s not enough to simply employ an SEO company to get you good rankings in Google for some random keywords.  You have to rank in those search terms that your customers are using.  When you appear in search results the description must be compelling enough for the searchers to take that next step and visit your site.

In addition to developing new websites, a lot of the work I do is in analysing, optimising and promoting existing websites.  Often, the websites I look at have been beautifully designed but aren’t working for their business because they’re either not drawing in enough visitors or not converting enough of those visitors into customers (or both).

Good Web Design is Not Enough for Search Engine Optimisation

A good web designer will build a brilliant looking website but, in my experience, they are rarely able to optimise the website for search engines and don’t pay enough attention to calls to action for converting visitors into customers.  Optimisation is specialist work that requires special skills, experience and tools.

How an Internet Marketing Consultant Can Help Your Website

Here are the sorts of things an Internet Marketing Consultant can do for your website and your business.

Competitive Analysis

1. Conduct a full analysis of your website and your competitors’ websites to see how you rank against the competition.
2. Identify the most popular search terms used by those searching for your products and services.
3. Determine the most effective keywords to help you rise above your competition.

Search Optimisation

1. Provide instructions to your web developer on how to deploy the selected keywords in content, titles, URLs, headings, link names and alternative text.
2. Ensure that page descriptions are compelling so that they draw in visitors when they appear in search results.
3. Provide instructions to your web developer on how to improve visitor conversion.
4. Review the changes made and ensure that Analytics are set up to monitor performance.

Website Promotion

1. Use directory listings, social bookmarks and article marketing to provide valuable inward links to your website.
2. Where appropriate use online PR to build high value links to your website.
3. Use social media (e.g. Linked-in, Twitter and Facebook) to further improve your online presence.

 How Your Optimised Website Will Help Your Business

With your website optimised for the search keywords, Google will properly index it and give it a better ranking in searches.  The online promotion will build inward links and further improve rankings.  The compelling descriptions will draw visitors to your site.  The conversion improvements will help turn more of those visitors into customers.

Do you know how well your website is working for your business?  How often do you give it a health check?  This article is an overview of the things you need to check to ensure that your website is delivering return on investment for your business.

Google Analytics

You should check Google Analytics at least once a week.  This will give you an understanding of how visitors are finding your website and what they’re doing there.  The sorts of things you should be looking at include…

1. Has there been a significant change in visitor numbers?  If there has been then you need to investigate and find out the reason.
2. Where are your visitors coming from and how are they finding you?
3. What is the bounce rate for your landing pages?  If it’s more than 50% then you need to address this (unless the page is a blog).
4. Check your goal achievements.
5. If you are using Google Adwords then the account should be linked to Google Analytics.  You should examine how your keywords and ads are performing.  Bounce rate and goal achievement is crucial here because you’re paying for those visits!

WebScan

WebScan is a tool I use to analyse websites and identify what issues need to be addressed.  You should run such an analysis on your website at least once every three months.   These are some of the things you need to check…

1. Are there any broken links or missing files?
2. Do your keywords, titles, headings, link names and alternative text match terms that prospective visitors might be searching for?
3. Is your website updated with fresh and dated content at least once a month?
4. Are descriptions (which appear in search engine results) clear and compelling?
5. Are you gaining more inward links?
6. Is your website popularity (Alexa rank) improving?
7. Is the site quick to load?

Currently, I have a limited time offer of free WebScan reviews - see WSI Webscan.

When you do digital marketing it’s important that you do the right things to make it cost effective and to gain the maximum return on investment.  This article contains some hints and tips to help you get the best from your time and money spent on digital marketing.

Know Your Audience

You should understand your audience: visitors, customer and prospects.  You must know their needs for information and education on the areas in which you provide products and services.  You need to understand the factors which will determine whether they will buy from you, from your compeitors or not at all.

Provide Valuable Content

From your knowledge of your audience you should craft content which is of value to them (not just sales blurb).  Distribute this content over your marketing channels (website, email marketing, mobile marketing and social media).

Make Yourself Easy to Find

Use search engine optimisation, search advertising, display advertising, social media presence, mobile marketing, directories, articles and press releases to make people aware of how your products and services can help them and to draw them to your website.

Make Sure They Convert

Make sure your website is designed to convert visitors into buyers.  Don’t distract visitors from your preferred conversion funnel.

Test & Measure Incrementally

Know what your goals are and how you can measure against them.  Test everything.  Use analytics to monitor performance and tune your marketing.