As I was reading a recent article in Business on Main, The 7 Deadly Sins of SEO, I thought to myself, “Yes, done that!” Ensuring your website meets your needs and is optimized for the search engines (and therefore search engine friendly) does not happen by magic. It takes a concerted effort on your part to ensure that search engines can find and index your site and then potential clients can find you! Check out the 7 deadly sins in the article and make sure you aren’t committing any of them with your own website.
In addition to this terrific list of things to avoid on your website, here are a few suggestions for driving traffic to your website and ensuring your current and potential clients are engaged:
- Include a blog: Consider a blog that is either part of your website or to which someone can link from your website. Blog regularly on topics of interest to your potential and current clients (and related to your business). When done well, this helps to establish you as a thought leader in your area of expertise and provides a reason for your clients to keep visiting the site and staying engaged with you and your business.
- Provide some free resources/information: Consider what resources or information you might provide your clients or visitors at no charge. All you might ask for in return is some basic information to provide them access to download. This might include templates, white papers, access to newsletters or case studies.
- Refresh your content: Update your content as needed. For example, if there are changes to your products and services, or new products and services – get that information on your website as quickly as possible and provide your clients with a “heads up” that it is there. Have client testimonials on your site? Change them up every 4 – 6 months with new testimonials. Websites that remain static and never change eventually lose clout or never gain it with search engines.
Certainly be sure to develop a long-term strategy for your website and be sure to evaluate that website at least every year or more often if significant changes warrant a review. Include a site map on your site that regularly keeps the search engines appraised of changes.
