If you’re new to building a website and aren’t sure what you need, what’s out there and what questions to ask – this article is for you!
Even if you hire someone else to build your site, it’s important to know what should be going into your website. Don’t miss something important that will help your website succeed.
Choosing a Website Address
For local businesses, you want to pick something that’s easy for people to say and remember because people may be sharing your info through word of mouth. For the same reason, something easy to spell is preferable. You may also want to pick something in the name that has keywords that pertain to your business, but this should be after you’ve picked something that’s easy to remember and spell.
Read More:
How to Choose a Domain Name
Keyword Research
If you include the right keywords on your pages, Google will be more likely to rank your site, which means more people will find your website.
Keyword Research is how you figure out what the right keywords are. Some keywords get more searches than others. Some keywords are easier to rank for. To get the most traffic the fastest, you want to pick keywords that are somewhat popular, but not as competitive. This will give you the best chance to rank quickly and start getting business asap!
Read More:
Beginners’ Guide to Keyword Research
Content – the words and images on your website
Just like saying “location, location, location” in real estate, content is the most important part of your website.
- If you have good content, you will rank well in Google.
- If you have good content, your customers will want to buy from you.
This is also one of the hardest parts of putting your website together. We are not all writers! When you are first starting out, keep it simple. Remember: people want to be able to find information quickly and easily. Headlines, short paragraphs and bullet points make a page easy to read. When you are writing copy for your site, remember that people are looking to solve a problem with your product or service. Let them know how what you offer solves their problem.
Read More:
4 Things to Put on Your Website (and 3 Things to Get Rid of Right Away)
10 Things Customers Want on a Website
12 Critical Elements Every Website Homepage Must Have
On-Page SEO
You’ll want to place your keywords in the Title Tag, Meta Description, Image Alt Text and Headings. If this all sounds confusing, don’t worry; your designer should be able to explain what these mean. If you ask your designer about “On-Page SEO” and they don’t know what it is or don’t offer it, you will probably want to find someone else to build your site. People don’t just show up on the doorstep to your website when you publish it. The effectiveness of your site depends on having these elements in place.
Read More:
SEO Starter Guide for Small Businesses
Tips for On-Page Optimization with Yoast SEO
Getting Found on Google
Google My Business
This is the free map listing that Google displays on many of the search results pages and where people leave you a review on Google. Create an account, fill out your profile and start getting reviews. Positive reviews will make your business stand out.
Read More:
Guide to Optimizing Google My Business
Tracking & Monitoring
Once your site has been launched, you will want to set up a Google Search Console and Google Analytics account to track how google is seeing your site. You can get direct feedback from Google if they think something is wrong with your website (which could affect the ranking). Google Analytics will show you how many people are visiting your website, how they are finding you, how long they are staying on each page and much, much more!
Social Media, Links & Reviews
Reviews and links back to your website from social media will help your overall ranking and visibility. Google My Business, Facebook and Yelp allow you to link to your website and provide a place to collect reviews from customers. Depending on the type of business you have, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter could also be good places to go — but research first so you don’t spend hours setting something up that won’t get you any business.
Read More:
Social Media for Small Business in 10 minutes a day!