Crushing a Rock Star Website Design – Part 3 (Promoting Your Website)
by Kim Tonkovich; December 07, 2020
In the first 2 parts of our Crushing a Rock Star Website Design Series, we reviewed some Website Design Basics and how to Boost Your Search Engine Rank.
Once your website design is looking sharp and optimized, it still takes time for your site to creep it’s way up in the rankings.
Here some ways to increase brand awareness, promote your website, and drive traffic right now!
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Google My Business
If you have a local business, you need to add it to Google Maps in order for your business and website to show up in Local Pack “near me” searches. To get started, visit Google My Business to add your company, and click on the “Manage Now” button. Even if your site doesn’t rank high in keyword searches, adding your business to Google My Business might bring it toward the top of the Local Pack.
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Blogs / Vlogs
According to a 2020 Content Marketing Institute Survey, the highest performing methods of building brand awareness are blog posts and articles. Updating and re-publishing old blog posts can also result in a substantial increase in traffic, and doesn’t require creating new content. Refreshed content can help with your search engine rank.
Your blog and vlog pages on your website should be consistent with your branding across the other pages of your site. Be careful about use of and placement of images. Don’t forget to include calls to action. And you may want to consult with your professional graphics and website designers to help you with building your page templates.
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eBlasts
The 2020 Content Marketing Institute Survey suggests that email newsletters are the highest performing means for nurturing leads. Your e-newsletters can include snippets of descriptions of the products and services your offer, links to articles/blogs on your website, product or service advertisements, contests, links to social media, surveys, etc. And by all means should always include a link to your website and your phone number.
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Webinars
Free webinars and online events and courses rank as the second most effective method of securing leads, and the third most effective method of converting leads. These should offer informational and educational value to your consumers, as well as lead them in the end to make a purchase, take further action on your website, or engage in some other directed response.
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Social Media
It is widely understood that Social Media content is absolutely essential for and ranks high in effectiveness for building brand awareness. This might include FaceBook posts and ads, Twitter posts and ads, Instagram posts, LinkedIn Mail Ads, etc. However, Social Media has proven to not be effective for securing, nurturing, or converting leads. It’s important that you maintain a strong social media presence. But you shouldn’t expect to see high conversions from it.
It is important however to be sure to also include links to your social media pages either in the header or footer of the pages in your website. It is believed by some SEO experts, that Google’s page rank algorithm can spot sites with links to social media as well as how many FaceBook likes and Twitter followers you have. And it is widely believed that most “real” businesses have a LinkedIn page. It is said that more than 60% of traffic from social media to company websites is driven from LinkedIn.
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Customer Testimonials
In an article by Jacinda Santora of OptinMonster, he writes, “Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions are reflective of the correct behavior…According to research done by Nielsen, 92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer, and 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t even know. That’s why almost all big brands show customer testimonials on their website.”
Customer testimonials can be obtained by actually contacting them and asking for it, or by setting up a drip campaign to automatically email recent customers after their transaction with you. With your emails, you can request feedback about their experience, request a testimonial, and even ask for referrals.
Be sure to make it easy for your customers to provide the information by allowing them to either just reply to their message, or fill out a form on your website. Be specific about the information you’re requesting and avoid generic questions. Ask about how much money you saved them, how much time you saved them, about the quality of the product or service you provided, how they’ve benefitted from it, etc. And be sure to ask what you could have done better.
It is okay to paraphrase the feedback you receive in your marketing. However, if you make substantial changes, you should ask for approval from your customer. Their testimonials can be posted on you website, included in your eBlasts, printed and handed out with your marketing collateral, and even share them on your social media.
To help solicit the information, let your consumers know that their testimonial may be selected to appear on your website and other marketing materials, and that they are welcome to provide a link to their website, and a photo, logo, or video that may be used to promote their business as well.
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Contests / Giveaways
Contests and giveaways are a quick and easy way to increase traffic to your site. These can be posted on your social media pages as well as announced in your email blasts. Some options for criteria to be entered to win include “like our FaceBook page”, “follow us on Twitter”, “comment on our Blog”, or “sign up for our e-newsletters”, etc. Create short ad copy, add a photo of the prize, and it’s as simple as that.
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Google Ads
With Google Ads run of network targeting, your ad can appear anywhere in all the sites in the Google AdSense network. With placement targeting, you can choose where you want your ads to appear. With personalized targeting, you can choose users with particular interests, within a certain demographic, in particular locations, etc. To run an ad, you place a bid, and are able to set a monthly budget cap.
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Google for Retail
If you own a retail store and are selling specific products, you can list them on Google Shopping. To do this, you need to set up a Google Ads and Merchant Center account. Prepare a feed of your list of products including links to the online images, the prices, options, tax settings, shipping methods, descriptions, etc. in a format provided by Google Shopping. When your feed is uploaded and approved, your products will show up in the store (the “Shopping” tab at the top of the Google search page). Your product page will include a button linked to where to buy it on your website. And as of the end of April 2020, United States Google Shopping listings are FREE.
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Influencers
The price tag on influencer marketing can range anywhere from just giving the influencer a free sample to costing tens of thousands of dollars or more. Influencers with a large following on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram can potentially have a dramatic effect on traffic to your website as well as your sales. When consumers see influencers using your product, or better yet, they mention it and give it a good review, sales tend to follow.
If you consider influencer marketing, be sure to spend the time selecting an influencer that is a good fit to promote your business and will appeal to your target audience. Then also be certain to engage them in a written contract.
Now that you’ve learned some website design basics, some things that are necessary to optimize your website, and have some tips to promote it, how do you know if it’s working? In Part 4 of our Crushing a Rock Star Website Design series, we’ll review how to track and analyze your website’s performance.
< READ PART 1 – Website Design Basics
< READ PART 2 – Boosting Your Search Engine Rank
> READ PART 4 – Analyzing Your Site Performance
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References
- 16 Google SERP Features You Should Monitor For Better SEO; by Stasia Avet; SERanking.com; May 29, 2018
- B2B Content Marketing 2020 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America; by Content Marketing Institute;
- Google Ranking Factors for 2020 (10 Are Most Important); by Aazim Akhtar; MonsterInsights; May 18, 2020
- Google RankBrain: The Definitive Guide; by Brian Dean; Backlinko.com; 2020
- Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List (2020); by Brian Dean; BackLinko.com; January 22, 2020
- How to Get 260.7% More Organic Traffic in 14 Days (New Strategy + Case Study); by Brian Dean; BackLinko.com; November 28, 2016
- Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines; Google Support; October 14, 2020
- 9 Strategies for Using Customer Testimonials in Your Content; by Sujan Patel; Content Marketing Institute; June 14, 2017
- 30+ Proven Ways to Use Social Proof to Increase Your Conversions; Jacinda Santora; OptinMonster; May 13, 2020
- How to Increase Your Website Traffic Without SEO; by Neil Patel; neilpatel.com; 2020
- 27 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website; Rebecca Riserbato; HubSpot; 2020
- What Will Influencer Marketing Look Like in 2020?; by Kristen Baker; HubSpot; 2020
- 23 Proven Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website; by R. L. Adams; Forbes.com; April 10, 2017
