One of the main things a successful business must have these days is a website. Without it, the chances the audience will get suspicious of your company are solid. Dedicating your time and efforts into your digital marketing strategy is crucial, but in 2020 the competition online is higher than ever.
To succeed, you need to pay close attention to all the ways you can be relevant and stand out, and your website can be a good tool in helping you acquire new clients. This article lists the best ideas on how to optimize your new or existing website for better rankings, conversions, and engagement.
1. Invest in appealing visuals
90% of the information the human brain perceives is visual, so it’s no surprise that visual content on the internet is doing way better than text-only content. Investing in trendy and authentic images is the key to the success of your digital marketing efforts as they significantly boost engagement. You can always rely on stock photography websites like Depositphotos as your safe and cost-effective source for visuals, especially when the means to produce your own content can be limited.
There is a common stereotype that stock photography is boring and obviously staged, but that’s actually far from reality in 2020. Many stock sites have a wide collection of interesting and artistic photos and illustrations you can use for content and ads on your website.
2. User-friendly website design is a must
Your website can radically influence your brand image – both positively and negatively. If it’s well-build, easy to use, and informative, you have much better chances to convert visitors, but if your website is hard to navigate and boring, your potential clients will most likely leave without a second thought.
Always try to put yourself in the shoes of your website visitor. Does your website have all the information your potential buyer might need? Is it intuitively clear how to use it? Aim to make your website as user-friendly as you can. It goes both for navigation and loading time. If your website loading speed is too slow, there is a higher chance that users will simply close it since they don’t like to wait.
3. Add prominent CTA-buttons
Apart from clear navigation and straight-forward copy in line with the tone of voice of your business, you should include clear triggers. Aim to make your website more interactive and ‘clickable’ to appeal to more of your potential clients. Call-to-action buttons are of great help for businesses since they allow you to engage the audience more and track your conversions more easily.
CTA-buttons are also very convenient for customers themselves since they are just one click away from the products they need. Add CTA-buttons to graphics and banners on your website since they might further persuade users to take the desired action and make a purchase.
4. Don’t overlook SEO
Search engine optimization is a powerful tool for bringing in traffic to your website. Well-optimized websites can receive up to 90% of their traffic through organic search. That’s why you need to research some SEO basics and make sure your content, on-page elements, and meta descriptions contain keywords that are realistic to rank for. You can check out the search volume and competition of the keywords you want to use on online platforms such as Ahrefs.
Don’t forget that the images you use on your website should be optimized for SEO purposes too. That means that pictures should have a clear and concise file name and meta description that reflect the content. Avoid random lines of numbers or symbols.
5. Great content can bring in more traffic
Although SEO plays a crucial role in the success of your website in a competitive online environment, you should always remember that your clients are humans, not artificial intelligence. Your website shouldn’t be a pool of important words for Google’s algorithms but also be tailored for better user-experience. The content of your website, blog, or other articles should be of value for your target audience.
Don’t forget to update the content of your website regularly. Aim to publish relevant and quality content that reflects the values of both your company and your customers. You can try out different types of content for your website and see what works best for you. For example, some companies start a blog with useful insights and their updates, while others share informative articles relevant to their niche and specialty along with infographics and other engaging types of content.
6. Use social media and email marketing to improve your conversions
Your website is important, but in 2020 it can’t be the only tool to generate leads. Having a solid presence on social media and investing efforts into proper email marketing is crucial for your brand image and your reputation. Both channels can help you build a community, a loyal following, and eventually new clients.
If you still don’t have a proper email marketing strategy, dedicate some time to create a weekly or monthly newsletter with all the latest updates, offers, and discounts that direct to your website. The nice-looking and insightful newsletter might convince the recipients to go to your website and see what you have to offer. It’s also easy to post offers on social media platforms if you have special discounts and seasonal offers. Always try to ask yourself the question of why you would revisit this particular website if you were a customer.
Conclusion
Your website is your brand’s heart and soul, and in 2020 you can’t overlook all the advantages it can bring to your business. Take some time to adjust your website for better user experience and try some of these ideas to help your business rate higher in Google search.
