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Taking A Business Blog And Making It Work For Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Taking A Business Blog And Making It Work For Your Business

There is no denying that as a business you need to look at all the different opportunities and avenues to attract customers or clients to your company. While some people are going back to old methods of shopping their high street and supporting small and local businesses, the digital world is still expanding, and this can often be an area where a business is the most successful.

However, for many businesses, there are opportunities that you just don’t take or utilise as best as you should. Sure you may have a content strategy when it comes to advertising your business online, perhaps a campaign where you use social media to keep things current and to engage with your audience. But there are other factors that you can consider, and a great option is a business blog. You may already have a page dedicated to blog posts on your main website, which is an excellent start to make, but could you do more? Here are some of the ways that you can take your business blog to the next level and make it work harder for your business. With very little effort.

Have your own domain

If you are serious about taking the business blog to the next level then it is important to ensure that you have your own domain name. While you may already have a dedicated page on your website, there is a missed opportunity of what a separate domain could do for you. Many people start off blogging with a host like blogger or WordPress. They choose a blog name, perhaps your business, but then the domain includes WordPress or blogspot within it. This means that you aren’t completely self-hosted, and that you are not building your own domain authority. Which can help you become credible when it comes to audience, engagement and your reach on the internet. Consider obtaining your own domain and then focus on your SEO to build up your ranking. It may take time, but it can be a serious game changer when it comes to attracting more customers and clients to your main site. As there are two domains to work from when it comes to keyword selection and links.

Attend networking events and use the blog for it

Blogging and networking events can be overwhelming, but you are going to be in a room full of like-minded individuals and the opportunity to feel inspired and learn something new is not to be missed. Plus it enables you to work and network with others, so you may want to consider having business cards that not only include your business details but also your blog details. Many people at networking events may find that checking out a business blog is easier than heading directly to the website, a more informal approach. Of course, within the posts, you may then have links directly to your site so it can be a win win situation to find yourself in. Networking events can work wonders for gaining in popularity when it comes to the digital world, but also enable you to make new connections. You could then host articles on each others blogs, obviously with companies that are not a direct competition or threat to your business, and help to increase SEO in that way.

A blog can help SEO

We have mentioned SEO a few times already, but a blog can really help to enhancer that feature when it comes to your business. You can include keywords in blog posts and content, you can use the separate domain to link back to your main website and also see it as an informal sales tool. If you are unsure how to make sure that you are prioritising search engine optimisation, not just with your business blog but also your main website, then you can seek the help of an SEO company for guidance. It could be a great way to boost your credibility in the online world and be presented in search engine results when your company may not even be on the radar of a potential customer or client.

Focus on your brand and social media strategy

These days making more of your blog is so much more than the content you produce, although that is equally as important. It can be more to do with how you promote it and the readership you gain. It’s all well and good writing a killer blog post, but if you don’t promote it then you may find it doesn’t get the readership it deserves, and therefore the traffic you want. Work on promotion through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Each have their different algorithms, so learn about the best posting times and what sort of content would suit.

Let’s hope these tips help you to make more of a business blog.

Improving The Sales In Your Business And How You Can Do It

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Improving The Sales In Your Business And How You Can Do It

When it comes to your business, one of the most important aspects of it is sales. It doesn’t matter whether you have products to sell, services that you can make money from, or even if you are predominantly trying to help people with your business and what you do, you sell something, and those sales need to be consistent in order for your business to thrive and continue to grow. Having said that, is there anything you can do to improve the sales in your business? Here are some suggestions.

Having a plan and performance management

Many entrepreneurs and business owners won’t go into their business bling. Initially there will be some sort of business plan forged, and an idea and goals you want to achieve. But, it is also important to have some plan in place for your sales and how you move the business forward daily, and not just thinking out into the future. The thing you need to think about is sales management.

Is your website doing its job?

Your website is one of those things that we can often take for granted as business owners, so it may be time to ensure that your website is not killing your business in the online world. You want your website to be responsive, but also informative, with just the right amount of images and content to appeal to your online customers. You will also want to ensure that all background software for data capture and management is up to date, and this is when you may want to have in the background a data recovery system to protect you and your customers. You can read more about how that could help online. Lastly, make sure that your shop is up to date in terms of stock levels and pricing. Disappointing customers does not give you the best platform to begin with.

Exploring all avenues

There will always be avenues that you haven’t explored yet, and more commonly for businesses these days that happens to be your local area. There is a huge shift of focus with the consumer at the moment, and many customers are more aware of their buying choices and are choosing to shop locally and support independent and small businesses. Do people locally know about your business? You could be the only business supplying in your area, and this could be a huge thing for you to boost those all-important sales.

Are you making the most of your social media presence?

Social media is huge for businesses these days, and so you should never underestimate how much you can boost your sales by placing a bit more focus on this area. When it comes to social media, you need to be consistent and engaging, but you also need to be aware of the type of content you are sharing and how that can affect your business. It is things such as the type of images you share versus the quality of the content. It might be worth spending some time to revalue your social media strategy to ensure you are doing all that you can for your business.

Let’s hope these tips help you when it comes to your business and boosting sales.

Don’t Have Your Own Website Yet? These 5 Arguments Will Make You Reconsider

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Don't Have Your Own Website Yet? These 5 Arguments Will Make You Reconsider

The online world has become lucrative for businesses of all sizes and localities. When looking at the sheer number of businesses with websites, it might be shocking to find out that some businesses have yet to go digital.

If your business has not opened a website, the time to do it is now. There are several business-friendly reasons to start your own website. Once you are ready to go, let Decisive Sites help with the entire process.

1. Everyone is Online

Nearly everything is online today. Consider the size of social media platforms and the growing reach of online banks. The immense amount of people are either watching or creating a streaming video on the Internet. If your business isn’t there, you are missing out on opportunities that you might have never considered.

Without a website, your business does not exist online. No one can find you and no one can add to your coffers. Everyone is missing out if your business isn’t available to an online audience.

2. The Internet Never Closes

If you have a brick-and-mortar shop, your business most likely has limited hours. Yes, there are some businesses that are open 24-7, but they require expensive staffing during that time. This isn’t necessarily the case with a website. The Internet never closes, so your online business would be available to anyone at any time. You don’t have to be online if someone wants to buy something from your site. You could wake up in the morning and deal with sales then. But, if you don’t have a website, your sales can only happen when your doors are open.

3. It’s Cheap to Make and Maintain a Site

Websites are not expensive to run. You can get started for much less than you expect. Of course, you can always upgrade to bigger and better things. But, to get started, you don’t need much. It is just as cheap to maintain the site, too. Business owners can do it, or you can hire someone to do that for you. Business owners quickly realize that their website is worth every penny, especially when they start seeing sales add up. As well as being fairly cheap, it’s also very easy to maintain your website as long as you choose the right provider. There are numerous debates surrounding Squarespace vs Wix, but it’s really up to you to see which you prefer. They both offer simplistic, but professional templates that will make your website user friendly and effective.

4. Your Reach Grows

If you have a mom-and-pop shop in your community, your reach is rather small. But, once you open up a website, your reach can grow exponentially. Customers in other states and countries can find you and place orders. This can be an exciting prospect for many business owners.

5. Your Customer Demographics Grow

Along with growing your reach, you can grow your customer demographics. With a website, you make yourself available to people who shop online. Your brick-and-mortar shop might have a customer demographic that is older in age, as older people tend to frequent local shops. But, once you open up a website, your business immediately attracts a younger demographic, simply because young people use the internet. If you can make your website design mobile-phone friendly, then you are certain to grow your demographics to a younger customer base.

How to Boost Your Website Traffic Organically

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, How to Boost Your Website Traffic Organically

The most important challenge, and usually the biggest, for any business, is to make sure they stand out from their competitors. This is especially true in the digital landscape today because consumers are constantly bombarded by content and different marketing messages from brands. You want to make sure that when people are searching for a service or product similar to what you offer or sell, they find you and not your competitors.

Sure, you can engage in paid advertising like pay-per-click and search engine marketing, but there are plenty of excellent SEO strategies that can help boost your website traffic organically. When your website traffic increases, your sales increase as well, so of course it’s in your company’s best interest to engage in organic strategies in addition to any paid strategies.

Here is a how-to guide on how to boost your website traffic organically.

Write for humans, not robots

Assuming you know exactly who your target audience is already and you have taken the time to create buyer personas, you should write all of your content on your website and blog for readers, not search engine algorithms. If you’re spending all your time crafting content for search engines, your content will read poorly, will be full of keywords, and will ultimately turn customers off.

Instead, focus on writing for your audience and speaking to them as if you were having a conversation in real life. Be personable and offer them information that they can use, instead of trying to please Google’s algorithms. If your audience finds value in your content, the search engines will automatically take notice.

Create a website blog

If you haven’t already, what are you waiting for? Blogging is one of, if not the most, effective way of increasing organic website traffic. It fosters better relationships between you and your target audience, it builds trust between your brand and your potential and current customers, it improves brand awareness, and it can even help establish you as an industry thought leader or expert in your niche.

Regularly publish content

Maintaining an active presence on both social media and your own company blog is an essential way to maintain good SEO and boost organic traffic. Having a consistent posting schedule will reinforce your brand as a strong voice and a good place to find solutions among your audience. Moreover, your content should always be high quality, so don’t sacrifice quality for quantity because this can do more harm than good.

Use the right keywords

Choosing the most popular keywords in your market is not always the best way to go about this practice. Instead, you should focus on the keywords that are most relevant to your audience. This usually means using more long-tail keywords than short keywords, especially in the age of voice search, since that’s what audiences are shifting to when they’re searching for solutions online.

Your use of keywords is important because top search engines will use them to recognize your website as the right destination for specific questions in a particular subject or niche. Over time, your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) will increase, making it easier for your audience to find you instead of finding your competitors.

Why A Redesign Could Be The Next Option For Your Business Website

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Why A Redesign Could Be The Next Option For Your Business Website
 
Maintaining a website can be challenging, but could it be time for a complete refresh? Whether you are noticing a slow loading speed or outdated content, this can all harm your Google ranking and negatively affect any marketing efforts that you may already have in place. In this article, we will be looking into whether or not your website needs a redesign.

Lack Of Mobile Optimisation

One of the main reasons that your website may need a redesign is through the lack of Mobile optimisation. Due to Google’s implementation of Mobile-First Indexing it is crucial to the SEO efforts that you have a website that is optimised for mobile. Whether this is on a separate URL or under the same URL, this needs to be seamless as this can dramatically affect your ranking on Google.

Without a website that is mobile optimised, you are less likely to rank on page one of Google or even outrank your competitors, therefore, it is crucial that your business has one. If you are using a web development agency to help you rebuild a website, it may be worth developing a mobile version of your website during the design process.

In Need Of Updated User Experience

Another reason for a website redesign could be the need for updated user experience. If your website looks outdated or is running slowly, it may be time for a well-needed refresh. Whether this is a complete rebrand or just altering the content on your landing page, this can all help to introduce an updated user experience. This is beneficial from an SEO perspective as this will help to reduce the bounce rate and give users the information that they need within just a few seconds.

A number of recent studies have shown that users will click off of your website if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load, therefore it is important to address this issue as a top priority to improve the bounce rate.

Not Generating The Leads You Need

A redesign is also the perfect way to ensure that you are generating the leads that you need as a business. Whether this is due to bounce rate or lack of user experience, this can all contribute to the loss of potential leads as you will not be ranking on page one of Google. By redesigning your site, you can then begin to work on optimising content and coding to rank higher in Google. Keyword mapping, content gap and site audits can all then be conducted to further optimise the site and increase overall ranking.

Though it will take time to index the new site and crawl up the search results, a new site will lay the perfect foundation for the increase in traffic that you may well be receiving. Additionally, implementing chatbots and contact us forms can help to generate the leads needed to achieve smart goals. This is key to the success of a business as you can then begin to implement an effective inbound marketing strategy to close sales.

Outdated Design

The final reason your site could be due to a redesign is because of the overall look of the landing page. If the colour theme and font clash or the overall design have not aged well, this can lead many to click off. This could be a problem when looking at customer acquisition rates as this could jeopardise the chances of successful conversions.

By updating the design and even the layout, you can then create a customer experience that encourages them to spend a longer amount of time on your site. This is great for SEO as Google will then see these levels of engagement and rank you higher.

Whether you are looking to completely redesign your site in the near future, or you are considering a refresh of the content on your site, this can all help to boost ranking and benefit you in the long term.

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