Getting ready for 2020
By this time of year, most businesses have made up their budget for the coming year. So much for transport, stationery, advertising, etc. It may come as a surprise to some, but your website, its upkeep, and the SEO for getting it ranked in search engines should be a part of your advertising budget. Unlike an advertisement in the paper, a magazine, on the radio or on the T.V. your website is there to be seen 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And even more importantly, it will be seen by people searching specifically for what you are offering, not just someone browsing a newspaper casually or listening to the radio.
So what should you be doing to improve your website?
Like every other part of your industry, the online part of your business is always changing and evolving. We would recommend that you get a professional to go through your website and make a list of all sections that need improving. Many website companies, including ourselves, offer a free website examination where we quickly make up a list of the most obvious errors. As a website gets older these can be quite frightening which is one reason we recommend a new build every couple of years. This tends to clear away the clutter in the back end of the website. Common errors are broken links, images, and pages that do not load, slow loading pages, broken maps, broken connections to social media, contact forms not working, etc. The list goes on. The free examination normally only includes what the developer can see from the front end using their own experience and a range of developer tools for exactly this purpose. For a more intensive examination where access to the website is needed there is normally a payment required.
What Else Would Help?
A large number of businesses ignore their websites and social media channels once they are set up. The daily demands of keeping up with their clients’ wishes cause them to ignore their own business. It is only when their business drops off do they start to pay attention to it again. We recommend that you have a staff member devote a certain number of hours each week to developing articles and images that they place up on your social media and in your website blog to keep your business interesting. Done well it can improve your business’s attractiveness to prospective clients in addition to improving your rankings in the search engines. Alternatively, you can hire a company such as ourselves to do this for you. No1 SEO Ireland offers various packages for both website maintenance and ongoing SEO services. You can find our contact form here.
Would PPC help Your Business Grow?
Done correctly PPC (pay per click) can definitely get things rolling. In fact, some businesses rely entirely on PPC!
Done incorrectly, it is a vast money pit that may wipe out your advertising budget with no return to show for it. When looking for someone to help you set up your PPC advertising it is vital to hear words such as ‘Keyword research’, ‘Exact Phrase Match’, and ‘Negative Keywords’! Recently Google has changed (loosened up) it’s exact match parameters so if you haven’t got someone very on the ball with negative keywords you are going to see a lot of your budget being wasted on searches that have very little to do with your business.
In Conclusion
List of stuff to do:
- Get Your Website Checked up
- Look after your social media
- Write a regular blog
- Be careful with your PPC campaign. Get a great PPC Advertising Company!
Have a great year!