Featured article by Dawn Castell, Independent Technology Author
In today’s world, every business needs to have not just a good website, but an incredible one. A website is much more than a simple brochure today. It is your entire company’s web presence encapsulated in one place. So it is crucial that you make your site as powerful as possible. Here’s how to get the most out of your website so it contributes to your highest business goals.
WordPress
If you are lost on where to start with a website platform upgrade, WordPress (WP) is always a great start. WP comes out of the box ready to help you rank higher in the search engines by structuring the code on the back end to talk with Google much easier. You don’t have to be tech savvy to leverage the technology of WordPress. Better yet, many free and low cost themes exist for virtually any business that allow you to essentially flip a switch and get up and running in no time.
SEO Plugins and Apps
Thanks to the importance of web development in today’s economy, many programmers have turned their talents loose on the art of creating SEO plugins and apps. These SEO tools help you identify what changes you need to make to your site so it can rank higher with less effort so you don’t have to spend as much money on paid advertisements. For instance, there are various plugins for WP that will tell you how good of a score you are likely to have based on content length, keywords, and the structure of your tags like titles and headings. It even reminds you to tag your photos for better rankings, so let this awesome technology do the grunt work for you so you can focus on higher level items in your business.
Security
Security is of the utmost importance for any company today. However, because it is not directly tied to revenue, many business owners make the mistake of putting it on the backburner. The problem is that once you realize you need security from a break-in or other data theft, it could be too late. At a minimum, make sure to get an IT professional onsite that can install firewalls both for the web and for your hardware. If you truly feel like you are being targeted, also implement network monitoring for securing your customer’s data or your banking details.
A/B Testing
The art of marketing is determined in large part on having the best solution at any given time. In other words, your market will grow tired of a certain gimmick or ad that you are running. The only way to know this is not to guess, but to have tech in place that analyzes the data for you and tells you when to switch it up (or even better, it does it for you). Using A/B testing software to rotate the best ads in the mix is a way to gain more leverage over your competition who might be too slow to switch.
Sales Funnel Automation and Tracking
A sales funnel is both a concept and it is grounded in technological reality. Each webpage on your site will link to the next step in the buying process. And each social media post or ad should be linking to the front end of that website funnel, known as a landing page. Once this is in place, use software to automate tracking these conversions and sending out follow up emails to prospects at various places in the funnel to increase conversions.
When it comes to getting more out of your time and energy, having a great website helps you more than any other thing you can do online. A powerful website is a tool that continues to sell for you, convert for you, and communicate your brand message at all times of the day. Leverage the tips and tactics above so you can begin converting more customers and increasing your profits as soon as possible.
