Moving Forward With Business
Sales go up and down but service stays forever
A smart website is only the start of good business. Here are some steps on what to do with you new website and how to build a great online presence. Whatever you do always keep moving forward.
SPREAD THE WORD
When your new website goes live, the most important thing to do initially is to smile and pat yourself on the back! Because well you made a great decision. Second and equally important is to drive traffic to the new site or hire reliable SEO marketing agency. Driving traffic will help Google index the site faster and start improving your SEO rankings (remember we had a chat about those) immediately. Here are some ways to consider getting the word out:
Email newsletter
If you have a newsletter or email list, be sure to let them know that the new site was launched and for them to go and have a peek at it – creating a new website can help your clients too. They are likely to give you some positive feedback, and that is going to make you feel that you are on the right track and bring that smile back on your face – let’s see if we can get more smiles along the way.
Social Media
Use your network of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. friends to get the word out. You will be surprised how far a post will go when it’s shared and liked by 1+1 = 2, and 2+1= 3 and on and on it goes.
Word of Mouth
This is still the most powerful referral – good and bad, but let’s not talk bad here.. as that’s not what this is about (another time or place). If you are excited as we are about your site launching, tell those around you, tell the paper boy, tell your milkman, tell your aunt and tell her to tell her friends at golf. Grab more smiles along the way. Also get some feedback from them, ask their opinion and see what they think about your new online presence. That is all valuable feedback. IT may even come in handy if you consider changes in the future.
We recommend that after your website has been live for awhile, you do some things to keep it fresh – we all love fresh things don’t we?. Fresh is key especially if you have a site that has repeating visitors. Her are some suggestions:
Change out Images
We recommend that you change out or update your images at least 1-3 times a year. If your site has a main image in the header on the front page, it’s important to keep that fresh and new. It looks like you’re taking the time to update your site and therefore making it more valuable to visitors.
Colors/Layout
If your site has been sitting for more than a year, it’s recommended to do something to spice it up. Whether it’s making some cosmetic changes to the colors or menu bar, or even just adjusting or adding some new images/graphics, keeping your site fresh is an excellent way to keep people coming back.
Updated Information
Let’s face it visitors come to your site for information; hours, pricing, services, etc. If you want to give a wrong impression then keep the outdated information on the site, it shows a company that’s not interested in spreading the joy and value to its clients. If Susie hasn’t worked for your company for over a year, isn’t it time to really let her go? and switch out her picture for the brilliant new person that took her role.
KEEP THINKING
ASK
Online reviews are more important than ever. Particularly for business being googled and found online, a user will process that review immediately and consider that factual over information produced by the company. There are many different ways and platforms to get reviews, here are some we recommend:
Google Review
We highly recommend this route. Generally a review will pop up when a user finds your site within an internet search. Your customers can either google your business, then leave a review OR you can use this site to generate a direct link that you share with your customers: generate short link here. Practice and write a redDog review here: Google Review Please
Facebook Reviews
Facebook reviews are also great and are now a more reputable place for customers reviews. Don’t be afraid to ask for customers to leave a review on your Facebook page and have them share it.
You could send redDog some Facebook smiles here
Testimonials
Testimonials for your swanky new website – We recommend you always gather testimonials – you never know when you will need or use them. Users will often look for reviews on your business before interacting with you because it validates their actions. Get the best ones and share them everywhere.
If you feel like sending one to redDog email here
Your site will always need updated, protected and maintained to help with protection risks. Over 50% of all web traffic is currently spammers, bots, malware, and hackers. Site hacking is happening all the time, and most of the time, for no reason more than a hacker thousands of miles away just happened to find a way in or a web spider that got through a hosting companies firewall, etc. If your site isn’t protected and secured, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a breach.
We installed basic security features when we developed your site because of these risks, however, if you would like to look at more advanced features and sign up for a security plan let us know we are more than happy to chat.
PROTECT
CONTENT
A website is viewed by Google as being “alive” or “dead.” An “Alive” site is driving traffic, getting new and existing users, being updated, posting new blogs and content. If your site is “dead” – i.e not being managed, updated or taken care of – it can impact your SEO ranking dramatically. Here are some options on how to build your website content:
Blog
Blogging sounds a bit overrated and useless to a lot of people, and I can understand that, but the facts are the facts – websites with blogs can drive 30-40% more traffic to their sites than their competitors. Google will often pick up blog posts before picking up major website pages. If you can contribute good, lasting content that is well thought out and valuable to your customers, you will drive more traffic. Don’t be afraid to use social media and use your network to get the word out. It’s worth having someone maintain a reliable website blog to drive your traffic and grow your online presence. If you don’t feel confident writing your own blog we have our very own content specialists who loves writing blogs all day long, let’s chat and see whats best for you.
New Pages
It’s good practice to not only update your images and graphics, but also your content! If you have more services to add to your site, do it! Google LOVES seeing that a site is being built on to. You can also repeat the steps above by reposting your site to your social media outlets and saying that you have updated images, content, new blog post, etc.
Updated Content
If things in your industry change or your services change, be sure to update your site accordingly. Even adjusting content by a few words can show Google that your site is being worked on and is again…” alive”.
Lastly we would love a testimonial
We love your new site and happy it’s live and helping you with your business goals
If you have had an awesome experience with redDog we would love to hear about it via a review or testimonial
We offer plans in SEO, Social Media, Content Creation, Website Maintenance, and SEM. If you would like to know more, please get in touch we are happy to have a chat and see which is best for your needs and make one work for you.