What is the recipe for a website which delivers? Here we list seven key ingredients…
1) Have an interesting website in the first place!
Ensure that your website is interesting for your customers i.e. with lots of original, engaging content – not just cut and pasted from elsewhere – that wont work because Google won’t index duplicate content.
2) Digital housekeeping
Make sure the website urls, page titles, headings, meta data etc. are tidy and are well aligned with the main keywords you wish to perform well in. For more information on this please see Housekeeping: 5 basic SEO tips.
3) Demonstrate your performance directly to Google.
Use Google Analytics to track your website traffic. This provides not only YOU with an insight into the performance of your website but also provides Google directly with the track record of your site – hopefully demonstrating a good track record of retaining visitors who came to your site using relevant keywords in their search.
4) Use Google AdWords to drive traffic to your website.
This is related to (3) in that you are demonstrating your performance directly to Google at the same time as you are effectively buying more traffic with your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads. This should create value for you by generating more business than it costs to run, which is obviously the point of advertising. Like with Google Analytics you can use this information to improve your site and it’s performance. Be careful choosing your keywords. You might like to read the Gingerbolt post on how to choose effective keywords.
5) Off site SEO
Inbound links from or an association with highly ranked websites will serve you well. For example, an article or news item on a credible industry website, as well as the actual content of each item adds depth to your “claim”.
6) Continue to enhance your website.
Google loves fresh, engaging, relevant content. Also, remember that a successful website is never “finished”. Successful digital marketing is like a simmering pan of water on the hob. If you remove it from the heat, it is going to cool down.
7) Use other digital channels to attract potential customers to your website
Email marketing and relevant social media channels can stimulate the relationship between your website and your potential customers. Choose your social media channels wisely. Go where your audience is. If your target audience doesn’t hang out on Facebook then it is not a relevant channel!. Using teaser content from (6) followed by a link to the full article is particularly effective.
