5 Things to Do This Year to Supercharge Your Website

We all know we need to have an online presence for our business or brand but, in such an oversaturated and distracted environment, how do you help your website win in your unique space?

There can seem to be so much conflicting information out there. All the experts will have differing advice when it comes to performance online, depending on their individual niche. So, how do you know where to invest your time, money and efforts?

This month I’ve put together my top five priorities for online performance – the five things you should do, before anything else, to supercharge your website for 2018.

Keyword research

Foundations are the basis on which houses are built, and the same should go for keywords when it comes to your website. Whether you’re creating a new website or want to improve the one you’ve got, start with keyword research. Use a tool like the Google AdWords Keyword Planner and undertake relevant keyword research to determine what your target market is searching for.

Content calendar

From there, once you have your keyword phrases pinned down, plot them out on the calendar as topics you can write about. Generating and publishing regular content is key to your website’s performance. Aim for weekly or at least fortnightly posts. They’re so much easier to maintain if you’ve planned them out in advance too. Resolve to take your research to the next step and then get blogging.

Social media

If you’re in an industry where social media is relevant (and let’s face it, who isn’t in some way, really?) make sure you’re utilising it well. Look at those who are leading in your social space and some of the things they’re doing, or do some reading up about what’s working. At the very least, try to add some video content or things like Facebook Live to your feed, and take the time to repost and engage with other high-quality, relevant posts.

Leverage influencers

Find people with some clout, and audiences of their own, who can write for your website. This does the double duty of getting you great online content and amplifying your reach as those people share the content they’ve written for you (and hence, your brand) through their own channels and with their audiences.

Live chat

Consider installing a live chat on your website; it’s a great way to personally engage with your website visitors and make things easy for them – and that’s what we all really want as customers, isn’t it? We recently added this functionality to our website (pureseo.co.nz) and our enquiries went up by nearly 30 percent. Totally worth it!

Whether you’re new to getting your business or brand online, or know you need to give your site a little TLC in 2018, think of it as one of your sales channels. You get out what you put in and, although there are lots of things you could invest in online, focusing on the five basics above will see your site start to achieve greater results in the coming year.