Web Design & Marketing Tactics for Business
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are now well and truly convinced of the importance of an online presence; the ‘should I’ or ‘shouldn’t I’ thinking is now a thing of the past. So now that just about every business in Australia has a website, from BHP to Grandma’s home made Jams, it’s more important than ever to plan, create and implement effective online strategies to help businesses survive, grow and prosper in an ever increasingly crowded and competitive web space.
Each one of the topics below describes an area where businesses can help boost their online presence and also describes some pitfalls to avoid. Each factor should be considered as part of a broader website marketing strategy.
Your website’s age is important
Google allocates more importance and rank to older websites. Everything else being equal, an older website will rank higher in a search engine than a newer website. There is nothing you can do to increase the age of your website, it is what it is (except for waiting - that helps). However, do keep this important factor in mind if you are considering changing domain names ( www.-----.com.au ), as you will lose all your rankings and you’ll have to start again.
This factor can also manifest itself in more subtle ways, be careful of domain redirects, if you redirect your homepage from your primary domain name to a sub domain, you can lose rankings. Some of our web design Melbourne customers have unknowingly done this and have seen their sales plummet. Such a simple little error that can cause so much damage.
How often you update your website is important
Just like a store in the real world, if you don’t replace the products in your store’s window you’ll start to look tired and boring and your customer’s won’t come back. This is also true for your website. If you regularly change your website content you will give your users and customers a reason to return. Google realises this fact and rewards sites that update and change their content often. So be good to your users and get a bonus in Google.
We’re not talking all out redesign here, just the continual update of products, services and content on your website will improve your rankings and user experience. How often should you update your content? No definitive answer exists, but the more you do it the better the results will be, or to put it another way, update your website more than your competitors do. A rule of thumb for many industries is: once a week is great, once a month is ok, once a quarter is unacceptable, and you’re likely to be left behind.
Remember, websites can look old and tired very fast
With internet browsers updating all the time and download speeds increasing, web developers and graphic designers are continually pushing the limits of web design form and function. The net result is that websites that haven’t been updated for a while can look tired very quickly, and your site’s users will be the first to notice. A rule of thumb is that if your website is two years or older, it is time to consider a redesign.
How should you allocate your online marketing budget?
There is an ever increasing number of ways to invest in website promotion and improvement. Some of these include Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or investing in the content, design and structure of the website itself.
Each advertising avenue has its own advantages and disadvantages, Yarra Web has articles on each of the marketing concepts mentioned above that you can read on this site. Whatever option you decide to pursue, make sure you are well informed of exactly what it is you are doing and are trying to achieve. As so much mystery and myth surrounds internet advertising and promotion, it can be difficult to know what to do or what the returns on your marketing investment are likely to be. Yarra Web’s advice is, if you don’t understand it, don’t do it. Your web design company should be able to explain all your options very clearly and simply. To see how simple and clear your options are, simply contact us.