Internet Marketing: Your Website Presence Is Key!

Internet marketing tools bring in business; it’s that simple.  The sometimes-challenging part can lie with how one uses those marketing tools to bring the business in.  Any savvy on-line business owner absolutely must have a working grasp of the IT, coupled with the psychology behind how Internet users think–knowing their needs and buying patterns–as well as researching, tracking and getting ahead of technological trends.

Here we’ll cover some necessities any website should incorporate in order to increase online traffic, maximize conversion rate and generate revenue.

Your Website:

A company’s website is the core of a business’ online presence.  The key is to develop a site that can be easily found during a search which provides relevant information, fosters personal engagement and develops the kind of trust and confidence consumers, wholeheartedly, appreciate.

1:  Make contact information visible and accessible~

Contact information can play a key role in gaining higher rankings in search.  Just make sure the contact information for your business is prominently displayed (ideally, on each page) including full local address, with directions, if applicable, and not using a P.O. Box address, if possible.

Additionally, an email address and links to social media channels are crucial for enabling consumers to contact your business 24/7!  By featuring your social media channels, your site will ignite engagement and enable visitors to view a continuous stream of meaningful and personal information about your business.

2:  Incorporate Live Chat~

Live chat allows for your business to interact with your visitors in real-time.  Potential customers gain valuable insight into your product or service; and it’s an excellent venue and opportunity to build your visitors’ confidence.

3:  Utilize an appealing, easy-to-use interface~

Eye-catching color schemes in addition to seamless navigation are crucial since they will reflect the professionalism of how you handle your business.   Pay close attention to your site’s text and visuals’ formatting since graphics, videos and other content can produce sluggish load time which can be a conversion killer.

4:  Use dominant and searchable keywords on the front and backend~

As seen on MMT Advertising, Search engines ‘reward’ web pages with the right amount of ranking factors or ‘indicators’.  A few factors that should be targeted, regarding search-engine ranking success, would include, but not be limited to, the following:

Content:

** research and use keywords and phrases people might use to find your content

** provide abundant, quality content

** engage your visitors to keep them reading, as opposed to quickly exiting

HTML:

** make sure HTML title tags contain keywords related to page topics

** use meta description tags which depict what the pages are about

** create headlines and subheads that use header tags with relevant keywords

Design:

** search engines should be able to ‘crawl’ the sites’ pages

** the site needs to load quickly

** URLs need to be short and contain significant keywords regarding page topics

5:  Be mobile-friendly~

Surprisingly, a vast majority of websites are not mobile-optimized; and they should be.  A 2012 Local Search Association survey revealed that 32%, or almost 1/3, of their respondents chose mobile phones or a tablet, instead of a computer, to look up information for a product or service.

To not ensure that one’s website can be accessed on platforms other than a computer’s desktop is like intentionally blocking traffic to your site.

6:  Track results~

By properly tracking website traffic, you can glean insight on how many customers visit your site, where they are from, what keywords they’re searching for and what specific content is meaningful.  One can, then, gain clarity on how to further enhance the website’s visibility and performance.

Your website’s presence does make all the difference!

Karen ‘s knowledge about internet marketing continues to prove insightful and practical.  In addition to writing she is a retired educator from Nebraska.