I don’t need to tell you how many people surf the internet on a regular, if not daily basis. I don’t need to tell you that technology is constantly progressing. And I definitely don’t need to lecture about how important it is to have a website if you’re a business. But is just having a website enough? If only things were that simple!
Some websites are about as useful as a chocolate tea pot. Here are the top 5 traps that people fall into with their new website.
- Website Never Found
It’s very sad when your website goes unnoticed. You MUST tell the search engines (google etc) that your site exists; they won’t read your mind. There are a number of ways of getting your site ‘indexed’. The fastest is to get another website to link to it, and the quickest way to achieve this is to place an ad on Gumtree.com. If you don’t mind waiting, you can submit your site to the search engines individually – just do a Google search for ‘search engine submit’, this will produce some options for you. However, DO NOT PAY FOR THIS, you don’t need to!
- Website found, but not for relevant keywords
You must make sure that your content is totally relevant to your keywords. There should be a clear similarity between your page titles, keywords, page description and also your page content – this will get you the best results.
- Out of Date Websites
If your website gets out of date your visitors will see this as a reflection on the company. Out of date relates to both look ad feel (out of date style and tired design) and also content (dates etc that are in the past). With a content managed website you can manage your content so make sure it’s up to date.
- Bad Names and Domains
Think long and hard about the name of your business and the website domain name. Ideally the domain name should have some relevance to the site content although this isn’t always possible. Instead of ‘Eds.co.uk’ choose ‘EdsRestaurant.co.uk’ – this will rank you far better on search engines.
- Created and Abandoned
You must monitor your site’s performance on search engines. All of In8s customers are entitled to be setup on Google Analytics. You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to understand the stats and figures; the system is very user friendly and offers great insight into where you are doing well and where you are not.
Naturally, our customers never fall into these traps :o) . In8 website design will coach you through getting your site effectively listed and working for you - after all that is why you have them!
Do not get a website just because you should - you should plan your site, and ensure that it will work for you. Do your research first - who are your competitors and what do they do to promote their website?
For more information on getting an effective website, contact In8 Website Design on 0845 639 79 80 or visit our website www.meoncreative.com.
Until next time....
Anna
In8 Website Design Hampshire