Are you looking at your website and thinking, “It’s been a while since this has changed” or “This is really looking outdated”? Well, then it might be time to make a few changes. But don’t make those changes without a plan in place. You want to make sure your website is truly working for you. So, let us share with you some of our tips for updating your website in 2021.
What is website content?
The first thing you need to think about is what is going to be on the website. That is called the website content. Website content consists of three specific things. Your website can have:
- Text
- Images
- Video
You should be including all three types of content on your website. If you are not utilizing all three you are doing yourself a disservice. Text and images are pretty standard, but video is just as much, if not more important especially right now in 2021 going into 2022. We’ve talked a lot about video. In Episode 20 of Marketing of the Minds we talk about 7 different types of video ads you can create. The same type of videos could be used as content on your website. People are consuming information through video, and if you are not providing that information in video format, you are missing out.
If you want to know what Google search topics are showcasing your website, a great place to look is Google Search Console. If you are not already utilizing this tool, we highly suggest you start. And another fantastic resource to see what keywords your website is ranking for, giving you an idea what your audience is looking for, is SEMRush.
Utilizing both of these tools can help you know what type of information people are searching for and coming to your site looking for answers to. Use these websites and cater to the questions and topics your audience is looking for.
What’s old and what’s new in website content?
Oftentimes when we are putting together a website for a client, we come across a few questions or concerns that arise and we want to put them to bed once and for all!
The hot thing to have on the top of your website used to be a slider. Trying to get as much information crammed into the top (above the fold) of your website as possible. That is not the situation now.
We see a lot of homepages where a company has a spot designated to talk about how cool their office is. Bragging about some of the fun things they do, or stating that they are the best. These kinds of statements are not what gets someone to take the next step. If they are already looking at your website they probably already know or assume that you are good, but what makes you stand out and what is a reason the customer should click on further?
The biggest change that you see now, and the website visitors are looking for, has to do with being as concise and direct as possible. Most service industries think that “I can service anybody” so everybody is their audience. This is not the case. First and foremost you want to identify exactly who your key audience is. Pin point that persona and then speak directly to them. In Episode 21 of Marketing of the Minds, we talk about questions to ask in order to identify your key audience.
Your homepage should be condensed. Oftentimes when we work on websites, we end up moving information from the homepage of the website, to an “about us” page. That way it is still available to find but not front and center.
What information should be on a website to benefit the customer?
One of the most powerful things on a website is a FAQ page. The reason is: if you are being asked a question either in person or by phone call the chances are very high that they have already googled that question. If you are able to answer that question in your own way on the website, you are both gaining a customer’s trust but also gaining other customers who found you through a Google search.
On the homepage it is helpful to keep it straight to the point and on topic. State specifically what it is that you do in just a few brief and quick steps. Create a good elevator pitch that includes point one, point two, point three. Then follow that up with a call to action.
What is a call to action?
- Give us a call
- Set up an appointment
- Fill out a form
- Read more
- Checkout
- Subscribe
A call to action is anything that can create a lead or sale rather than having them just exit the website.
Another important part of your website is to include a blog.
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Why should you have a blog on your website in 2021?
Look at your blog almost like a personalized homepage on Facebook. But instead of having that information on someone else’s platform and being controlled by text length, content etc., you have complete control over it. You can put anything you want on it.
Your blog is a great way to give a voice to your brand and connect you with your customers. While you are writing your blog, give a call to action. They are waiting for you to give them instruction, so tell them something to do. You’ve already got their attention and have them there, let them know what to do next. Don’t spend all of your time sharing information without getting them to perform an action as well.
One thing that people forget to do with their blog is to use the internal linking option where you can then send the visitors to a product page, or a services page or even back to the homepage. Utilize that feature to bring the reader to another productive part of your website. There should be no less than a couple of links in each blog, and it is ok if some of those are to other websites. Linking to an external site can help your SEO and is a great way to share information with your customers.
In episode 17 of Marketing of the Minds, “How to Increase Customer Engagement on Social Media”, we share ways to come up with social media content ideas. You can use these same ideas to come up with blog topics as well.
If you want to get a little more technical about what a blog is, it is essentially just another page on your website full of information that will help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and can increase the chances of your website showing up in Google searches.
Continuing to look at the technical side of things, let’s quickly discuss the important things that Google or other search engines look at on your website. The title tag is important because it should include the keywords that are specific to your industry and are what you want to rank for.
John Mueller, the the Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, says that the #1 factor for your website that determines rankability is the quality of your content. You can go into the technical parts of the website, but none of that will matter if the content on the page is not good.
John also says that there’s no such thing as content that is too long. But instead of having a 10,000 word blog that nobody wants to spend the time to read, you can incorporate an infographic showing some of the data, a video where you talk about and share information and combine that with the text on your site to create that quality content.
Lastly we would say to make sure you remember who your audience is. Use words and analogies that are on their level. Don’t write content that will go over their heads.
Our final piece of advice on this topic would be to not be a slave to your website where every time you want to make a change you have to have an agency do it. Have it hosted on an easy platform where making quick changes is simple for you to do on your own.
We hope that these ideas and suggestions can help you when making changes and tweaks to your website.
WARNING: What every business owner needs to know about why their digital online marketing isn’t working as well as they’d like it to be.
While more than 50% of U.S. businesses use marketing agencies for their advertising, less than half of them actually see a positive ROI.
There are three big reasons why so much marketing money is being wasted:
- Poor communication between the agency and the company.
- The marketing campaigns are being managed by inexperienced college interns.
- Marketing teams aren’t paying attention to their client’s ROI metrics.
Are you seeing a positive ROI from your marketing agency?
If not, let Arcane Marketing guide you step-by-step in the process of improving your online marketing with our complementary website analysis and marketing campaign evaluation.
It is 100% free and there is no obligation. Click here to request a free website analysis and marketing campaign evaluation today and let’s start increasing your marketing ROI today.
Arcane Marketing
675 E Anderson St,
Idaho Falls, ID 83401
(208) 938-5988
We have a lot of really helpful information that we’d like to share with you. All you need to do is reach out.
