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When I first speak with people about their website during my strategy sessions, I gauge how serious they are from their responses to questions about an ongoing commitment and collaboration. Many of the people who approach me looking for help with their website are looking for little more than a brochure on a screen.
Some have no remit other than “I need a website” and I encourage them to download my Ultimate Website Planning Checklist and then revisit the process when they have more clarity and are better organised.
Many of my other enquiries are from people who are clear what they want and are willing to put in the work to help me prepare the initial content for their website. However, they view the launch and ‘go live’ day of their website as the end of their commitment. I do my utmost to challenge this thinking because I know their website is unlikely to meet their goals. After all, my aim is to help small businesses reach and hopefully exceed the goals they have for their website! In my opinion there is little point spending time and ongoing money on a website which you are not prepared to make an ongoing effort with.
The bottom line is that you need to develop a mindset where you treat your website as a living, breathing entity and update it and add new content regularly. After all, surely your business has lots going on, so why not share it with your website visitors?
My aim in this post is to encourage you to plan a website that will continue to evolve and grow on an ongoing basis and here are 3 reasons why it’s worth the effort.
1) Free Google/Search Engine Traffic
Let’s face it, everyone wants to get free search engine traffic from the likes of Google, right! To achieve this, a website with quality content that is regularly added and updated is a must. In 2020, ranking well in Google is no mean feat and you’ve got plenty of hurdles to overcome.
The ins and outs of search engine optimization for a website today is complex and outside of the scope of this post, but I will say that if you continually create and update your content, then you’re off to a good start. Regularly adding and updating content will encourage Google’s ‘Googlebot’ crawler to visit and index your website content.
You also increase the chances of your content ranking for target keyword phrases when you continue to add more content to your website. In my Effective Keyword Research post, I suggested you find a range of keyword phrases and build site content based on them and gave an example. Visitors who are directed to your website from search engine results are likely to be at different stages of the buying process, so it’s important to develop content based on their differing search intent.
Another suggestion, that I made in my 8 Tips to Boost Your Website Conversions Using Images post was to regularly test different images. This is also another way of updating your website content and keeping Google interested.
2) Build Yourself As An Authority
Regularly adding new content where you share your expertise, increases your position as an authority in your industry. When done correctly, this can position you as your prospects’ go-to person. Your prospects may not need your goods or services today but may do so at a future time and are more likely to engage with you when you regularly deliver quality content that helps them. There are numerous ways you can deliver this content in addition to blogging which include:-
- Tutorials or how to articles.
- How to videos.
- Whitepapers.
- Online courses or webinars.
3) Keep Customers Informed
Many people that I speak with are solely focused on using their website to find new customers. This is of course entirely understandable but I also remind them not to neglect their existing customers!
Why not use your website to let your existing customers know what you’re up to in your business. This could include such items as:-
- New product or service offerings.
- Updates to existing products or services.
- Sales or special limited time offers.
- Awards or other milestones that your business has achieved.
- Notification of coming events such as participation at tradeshows, festivals and exhibitions.
Don't Reinvent The Wheel!
Many of the businesses I speak with are already sharing information via avenues such as their Facebook business page or YouTube channel but completely neglect their website. I encourage them to also include this on their website so those that aren’t following them on other avenues don’t miss out.
If you are using a website platform similar to what I use when building websites, you can easily share content from avenues such as your Facebook business page or YouTube channel. You’ve already written the content so it will take little effort to ensure that your website is continually updated.
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A share from you would seriously help a lot.
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