Website management plays a vital role in online success so it should be an important part of your business marketing strategy. The internet has become the first port of call for consumers in search of products, services and information. Therefore, for your business to be competitive, it is beneficial to have a top-ranking website.
A successful website ranks high and captures the target market, inspiring them to engage, bookmark, share and return time-and-time again. The best way to achieve this is through continuous website management.
To be effective website management should regularly be performed with strategic planning. It is worthwhile to invest in a website management package from an experienced web designer. They can manage your website efficiently and offer more than the basic website management tasks to give you an edge over your competitors.
Basic Website Management Tasks
Update Contact Details
It is crucial that the contact information on your site is correct and up-to-date. As simple as this sounds, it is often overlooked. Any changes to relevant phone numbers, addresses, emails or change of personnel need to be updated on your website immediately.
The way in which you should be contacted should be clear – do you want them to call, email or sign up for a newsletter? Whatever you decide, it needs to be clear and accessible. Users should never be more than two clicks away from finding contact details – if they need to search they won’t bother.
Update Content Regularly
It is no secret that content plays a crucial role in the success of a website. Search engines such as Google recognise that users respond to clear, concise content and will reward you with better rankings. Up-to-date content also lowers the number of users that visit your site and immediately leave after a few seconds (your bounce rate).
Posting regular, fresh and informative content encourages users to click through your site, sign up for a newsletter, contact you or return to your site in the future. Conversely, stale or non-relevant content will reflect badly on your business and users will click away quickly, affecting your standing in search engine rankings.
Blogging is a great tool for adding fresh content to your site. Blogs are an excellent way to gain credibility, optimise for targeted keywords, and engage users. Offer room for comments or feedback to build a rapport.
Maintain Links
Links play an important role in SEO and website management. Links that lead in or out of your website to quality content can increase your credibility and widen your audience.
However, broken links (result in an error when clicked on) are frustrating to users and viewed negatively by search engines. Content on the internet constantly changes so check regularly that your links are still active.
A web designer can manage links easily and ensure that all links are quality, active links leading to relevant sites or content.
Connect with Social Media
Social Media has a huge pool of potential clients. Knowing your target market and which social media platforms they are most likely to use can be a great marketing avenue. Ensure there is an easy-to-find link to your social media pages so that users are encouraged to ‘follow’.
Regular posts via social media such as Facebook and Instagram can expand your audience and feed people back to your website. Implement social media into your marketing strategy and reap the benefits of a relatively cheap way to advertise directly to your target market.
Monitor Analytics
Google Analytics is an underused website management tool for monitoring your site and user behaviour. Insights are available on how long users are on a website, how long they spend on each page and how they navigate from page to page.
This information is invaluable as it analyses which pages are effective and which pages aren’t. Changes can then be made accordingly to improve weak spots on the site. Website Analytics are quite comprehensive, but it is a good idea to get your head around the basics.
A web designer can analyse all the data and offer invaluable advice and strategies which can be implemented to improve the overall performance of your website.
While website management is a crucial part of your business, it can take precious time away from everyday operations. An experienced web designer has the knowledge and experience to perform regular, essential website management tasks efficiently so you can focus on your business.
F1RST offers a range of service agreements to suit Coffs Coast businesses of all sizes and industries. Our Website Management Plans are tailored so that your website continues to evolve as your business grows. All plans include ongoing search engine optimisation, updates, monthly performance reports and more. We go beyond the basic website management tasks to enhance your website’s performance, so your business continues to stay fresh and competitive online.
