Today, most people turn to the internet for their needs. Whether it’s via a mobile app or personal computer, e-commerce continues to grow and companies need to focus on their digital presence in order to survive. Your business could be small with just one location, but having an online strategy is essential for attracting new customers and maintaining relationships with the ones you already have. And there are some key ways to go about achieving that, and more.
1. Perform An SEO Audit
Before you start tinkering with what you think may be lacking with your business’s online presence, you first need to find out for sure how it’s performing. According to a white label SEO agency, doing an SEO audit will let you know exactly which areas you need to focus on improving first. SEO is a complex process, and it can take a bit of time. But having concrete data should let you spot the easy problems to fix, while also giving you confidence that your digital strategy is headed in the right direction. In most cases, your website will need to be restructured, which could result in your employees needing to learn new systems. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself during an SEO audit:
- How many pages on my website rank on Google’s first page for keywords I’m targeting?
- Which keywords are sending me the most traffic? How much traffic does each keyword send?
- What are my bounce rates for my top keywords?
- Is mobile traffic decreasing or increasing?
- How many people who search for me on Google actually land on the correct page? Can I tighten this up?
Once you’re satisfied that you’ve analyzed all the major issues, it’s time to start up with making a plan on how to solve them.
2. Website Optimization
The first thing you need to do is create a clear strategy for your website. And keep in mind, it’s not just about which keywords you’re going after. It’s also important to make sure that your message matches what people are searching for. You need to keep an eye out for both customers who land on your site and how they’re navigating through it by using heat maps and click maps. When it comes to website optimization, there are two main categories to think about – the frontend, and the backend. In this context, the frontend would be the things your customers can see – your blog posts, product descriptions, and the like, while the backend would refer to meta tags and HTML. Having a responsive website is also important, since it’s your storefront for wherever your customer may be. People are increasingly spending time on mobile, so you don’t want to lose potential customers due to an outdated site that doesn’t look right when they’re browsing through social media, or just searching the web in general.
3. Build Domain Authority
When it comes to having an effective digital strategy, domain authority is one of the top metrics you need to think about in terms of measuring success. While building your DA won’t improve your ranking on its own – it’s not a metric Google uses to rank your website, it will help you create a more user-focused platform for your business, and that will implicitly increase your rankings. In essence, domain authority refers to how well-known your website or business name is – specifically on search engines like Google and Bing. The more people who search for you, find you, and then click on your website, the higher your DA will be. This may seem fairly intuitive, but that’s not all there is to it. You can also boost your domain authority by having a site that’s highly credible and one whose content is well-written and original – which means no plagiarism! Having a variety of unique images also helps to increase your DA.
4. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the second-best way to establish quality leads for your business. When it comes to social media, you need to keep both customers and search engines in mind. If you’re using social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, then you should be optimizing for both sides of the equation. To manage this, get your hands on a tool that helps you schedule posts ahead of time – something that both Buffer and Hootsuite are great for. This way, your social media accounts can be active while you’re sleeping, not just when it’s convenient for you to post or update them during traditional business hours. You’ll also want to make sure your profile on each platform is 100% complete, and that you’re consistently posting high-quality photos or videos. When it comes to Facebook, try to keep your posts between 20% and 30% text so that they can be easily read on a mobile device. The more you post engagement-worthy content – things people want to share with their friends, the better chance you have of growing your business.
The internet may seem like it’s dominated by individuals, but more and more businesses are turning to the web to find their audience, whether they’re looking for customers or for investment opportunities. This is why having a strong online presence has become among the most important things for any business today. While the steps may seem overwhelming at first, it is doable, and there are plenty of professional services out there that will help you do all of this without much risk or investment.