One of the more frequent questions I get asked is “How can I get my web site working better?”
The answer is simple: just do 2 things. These things aren’t difficult and there is no great secret involved. With just a little time and effort your web site can be the great asset it ought to be.
Step 1
# 1: Develop a web site that has whatever it is your prospects want. It shouldn’t be any harder than that. We once redeveloped a running event web site that received 780 visitors a year.
Finding out what people want is easy: just ask. Before redeveloping the site we did a heap of research and found out exactly what the runners wanted from the web site:
- Articles from running experts (and lots of them)
- Downloadable training diaries
- Online entry
- Forums
- Ask an Expert section
- Athlete Profiles
- Interviews with star athletes & age groupers
- Regular newsletters
- Screensavers
- Photo gallery
- Event merchandise
- Race results
- Course information
- Travel & accommodation info
- and lots more content (entertaining, ever-changing and informative)
That was # 1.
Give your visitors lots and lots of relevant and interesting content. And keep adding relevant and interesting content as often as you can.
Step 2
# 2 is letting your target market know about the site. This was achieved with the running site via search engine optimisation, pay per click advertising, links from other sites, print media ads and encouraging word of mouth (mainly due to the great content).
In a nutshell, find out what your prospects want and then figure out the best way to get under their nose so you can make your offer/let them know about your site.
My biggest recommendation is always to spend some time and effort on search engine optimisation.
If you don’t have the skills, knowledge or time to complete your own search engine optimisation, consider engaging the services of a professional. Understand that quality search engine optimisation isn’t cheap, but can be the best money you’ve ever spent.
Search Engine Work
Search engine optimisation is a nice bit of jargon that just means developing a web page in such a way that it gets high rankings when someone types a phrase into a search engine.
Achieving a high search engine ranking for the most appropriate keyword for your web site is, without question, the number 1 factor for ensuring a steady stream of visitors.
Search engine optimisation requires a range of strategies being implemented to be successful. It’s about knowing what search term to optimise for, what to write on the page, what to call the page, getting lots of links to the site, being listed in directories…..and much more.
Good optimisation requires you to develop a high content site with plenty of incoming links – and those 2 aspects are great to do anyway to develop a successful site.
2 simple steps.
- # 1: Develop lots of relevant content.
- # 2: Get your site in front of your target market.
By the way, the running site went from 780 visitors a year to over 1,000 a day. Told you it was easy :o)
Cheers
