So your website is built. A lot quicker than anticipated too, because you chose no-code development, which leads to an attractive, fully functioning, well-branded site with very little turnaround time. Good choice!
But now what?
This article is focused on starting and maintaining your digital presence. We’ll explore analytics, social media and everything else that comes next.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
It’s likely that some keyword research was done prior to building your site, but now is the time to dig in and start optimizing where your site will land on a search engine. The term “search engine optimization” (SEO) is thrown around a lot these days; partially because it’s trendy but mostly because it’s vital to the success of your website.
There are free and paid keyword research tools, a free platform like the Google Keyword Planner is a great place to start. However, if you’re facing a lot of competition, you may need to pay to improve your findings by using a paid tool, giving you a leg up on the competition.
Your keyword research will show you what people in your area are searching for in your industry. Let’s say, for example, you’re a veterinarian in New York city. At the time of writing this there are 486 vets in the city. How are you going to make it to the first page of google results, so potential clients can find you?
We start with content based on your keyword research. Your research may show you the following as top questions or searches performed by people in New York looking for vet related queries:
- Best veterinarian in Manhattan
- What is the best dog food
- What to do when your dog is choking
- Top vets in Brooklyn
- Can cats eat chocolate
Based on the above results, you’re going to want to write content (often in the form of blogs or news articles like this one you’re reading). Continuously adding content to your website based on what people are searching for allows Google’s web crawlers to find these relevant articles and see how you compare to other vets in the area. If you have more relevant content than your competition, you’ll rank higher in the search results.
GET ON SOCIAL
Some businesses can be found on every social platform. For many businesses that’s not necessary. Instead, you want to look at your target demo and be on the platforms that they’re using. A bar may choose to be on Instagram and Facebook only because their target audience is women 21-40. These platforms also work for the bar because they want to show off their designer cocktails on Instagram and let people order take out off their facebook page. Meanwhile a paper shredding company may choose to only be on LinkedIn, because their target audience is business professionals.
Regardless of the platform you choose, engagement should be your priority. You’ll need to post content that interests your audience, can help them, or benefit them in some way. It’s always good to fall back on content that is either entertaining or educational. Engagement also means responding to questions and comments posted. Not only will this help make your audience happy, but you appear relevant to the platform you’re on. When people like your posts, share or comment on them, Facebook for example, will see you’re popular and are more likely to show your posts in your followers’ feed (which is kind of like free advertising so you’ll want that).
Additionally, if you’re on Facebook you’ll want to install the Facebook Pixel. It’s a little, tiny, pretty much invisible dot (or pixel) that goes on your website to collect data. The Facebook Pixel will allow you to track conversions. It also serves a purpose in remarketing. If a person visits your site, for example, and puts something in their cart, but doesn’t buy it, the next time the customer is on Facebook, they’ll see ads for your business, or that product, or reminders of what’s in their cart.
SET UP GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Once your website is set up, and you’re driving traffic to it from your keyword research, you’re going to need to know how your website is performing, and if your marketing efforts are working. This is done through Google Analytics. It’s another free tool, and is very easy to install on your site. These analytics will answer questions like:
- How many people are coming to my site each day?
- How long are they staying for?
- What pages did they visit, and for how long?
- Where are your visitors coming from? (Social media, search engines, etc)
- What is my bounce rate? (when a visitor clicks on your site and leaves immediately).
Google Analytics is designed to give business owners as much information about improving their website as possible. You can use this data to find out what people like and don’t like on your page. You can learn if your social media content is attracting anyone to the site, or if your paid ads are working as intended.
As you can see, just because your website is designed, that doesn’t mean your online journey is complete, it’s actually just starting. The three steps above don’t just need to be done when your site is published, it’s something your team needs to stay on top of. Keyword research is always changing and having new content added to your website based on those keywords is paramount. Your followers on social crave new content and want to hear from you. Finally, your analytics requires (usually monthly) attention to ensure your free and paid efforts are working.
Techmate Labs can help ensure all your hard work isn’t wasted. When you discover changes that need to be made to your site in order to stay relevant, our no and low-code approach can make these changes quick and easy. If you’re getting started on your digital presence, or need a fresh start for your brand, reach out, we’d love to help.