7 Things Your Website Needs to Rock

Your website needs to rock. Seriously. We all know it, but getting there is a lot harder than you’d think. Since we’re passionate about websites, and really all things online marketing, we thought we’d share some of our must have tips for making your website rock and roll.

Make it Look Sexy

We all know it – if something is sexy, we pay attention. We also know that if a website looks outdated, unprofessional, or just plain bad, we will bounce. The look of your website is very important because it’s your first impression. Many business owners think that they will save a few bucks by not getting the best website design, but doing that will actually cost you sales. Do it right from the start.

Use Great Content

The content throughout your website needs to be top notch. Keep it within your company voice, make sure it’s proofed (spelling, grammar, look, feel, etc), and use different types of content. Include things like infographics, webinars, videos, case studies, press releases, the works! Do different things so that no matter what type of person comes to the website, their preferred method of learning about your company is available.

Does it Work?

TEST EVERYTHING. Go through each and every page. Does the flow make sense? Does all links work? How does the size of the fonts look? Ask colleagues to go through the site as well and give you feedback on what rocks and what doesn’t. If possible, put together a focus group to go through the site and get their opinion of it.

Optimize Each Page

Search Engine Optimization starts on the page. Go through every page of the website and make sure that all images have alt tags, that each page has meta keywords and a meta description associated with it, and that all titles are optimized. You’d be amazed what a big impact it will have just to make sure that images have a label when Google indexes your site. Also, think outside your industry jargon. Think about what an average prospect of yours would type into Google to find a company like yours. For example, instead of us using “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimization”, we’d use “Get my website listed on Google”.

Include Calls to Action

Gone are the days when your website is just a fancy online brochure. You want traffic coming to the site to become customers, so tell them that. Offer things like whitepapers, videos, case studies, tutorials, free quotes, 25% off, and more to get people to engage with your website. And, make it easy to do. If you have a form on your website, it better work and the whole process needs to be intuitive and simple.

Start a Blog

Companies that blog at least once a week receive more traffic than those who don’t, and the reason is that you’re adding new, keyword rich content to your website. Search engines love that, and it gives potential clients more information to look at when deciding if they should do business with you. It also gives you insight into what topics/ conversations are resonating with your leads so that you know what their hot buttons are and can close those sales faster and easier. Boom!

Keep it Updated

There is nothing worse than going to a website that you know hasn’t been updated in months. It looks unprofessional, and more often than not, it looks shady. Go through the site weekly, at the very least monthly, to update everything. You can even add thinks like a social media feed that will add your Twitter updates to your website. This is a great way to show daily interaction and kill two birds with one stone.

Want more targeted website advice, or for us to take care of it all for you? Well, give us a shout- we’d love to talk more.