"We all make a list of resolutions for ourselves, but how about for your poor website. It’s a great time to have a think about what you could do differently next year to make your online presence even better."
~ Nicky
Put Others First
Is your website a bit self-centered? Don’t be ashamed. Most of them are.
What this sounds like is a pushy networker, you know, the type that shoves their business card in your hand, tells you about their business at the speed of light and then pushes you to buy.
Your website is (most likely) the centrepoint from where your potential customers research all about you, but really, they’re researching what’s in it for them. We’re all selfish shoppers! So try adjusting your website text to reflect what people are seeking, rather than what you think they should know.
This comic from xkcd illustrates the point perfectly:
Engage The Community
We see too many social media profiles with tumbleweed blowing past.
It’s like a faded cracking sign, graffiti on your front door or a lipstick mark on your glass. It shows you just don’t care enough about your business.
If you’ve got yourself a Facebook page, a Twitter profile, a Google+ page or a LinkedIn profile this is the time to get them cracking!
You’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands a bit dirty, but keeping your social media vibrant and interesting is thankfully really easy.
So this year attend a few workshops, or get some free mentoring over at Dive Into Digital, or rethink your social strategy over a coffee with us.
If it’s really much too hard, either ditch it completely, or outsource it to someone who can take control for you. We know a few specialists in this area, so you can bug us about this too.
Learn New Things
Here’s a shortlist of what a great website owner should know how to:
- Win an auction on eBay
- Buy books from Amazon
- Leave a review on TripAdvisor
- Take a great photo from your phone
- Search within a site on Google
- Use images legally
- Operate a digital calendar
- Use Google Maps to find directions
- Recommend a business on Facebook
- Contribute to Wikipedia
- Follow a bunch of blogs
- Shoot some video of your business
- Send email without being a spammer
- Get your head around ‘the cloud’
Check Under The Hood
Your website is keeping tabs of what people are doing with it. What pages people look at, how many people are looking every day, where people are from and what they search for. Not just this, but loads more useful stuff.
At least once a month you need to tear this data apart, like a deconstructed Greek salad, and see what’s working, and where things can be improved. You probably have running, and this is a great place to start.
Us geeky people would open the hood and struggle with
even a basic grease and oil change. So if your web stats make you feel bamboozled, have a coffee with us and we’ll straighten you out.
Show Your Expertise
You are awesome at something. Probably even the best. Or close to the best. That’s probably why you went into business in the first place. It’s time to show off that expertise because the Internet age has reduced the amount of customer service, but increased our access to knowledge. More than ever before people want to buy from the best, the people that know their stuff.
So here’s how to show that you’re the best online:
Start a Blog
Write often about what you know. This means showing
off your product knowledge and revealing where people can go wrong in their purchasing decisions. You could probably write a whole book about your industry, so blogging
is going to be easy for you. Keep the posts short and snappy, under 200 words, then people can quickly digest them. We call this snackable content.
Shoot a Video
YouTube is the 2nd biggest search engine, people are always in there finding out how to do things. So, it’s time to get you behind a camera talking about what you do best. Video is much more cost effective than it used to be, and we’ve even seen decent videos shot from iPhones. You can get a professional video company to make you an intro and an outro, and this ramps up the professionalism.
(Nicky learnt how to debone a rabbit on YouTube, so really, people can make a video about anything.)
Proactively Answer Questions
There are so many online spaces for answering questions, and there’s probably an online space within your industry. Forums are definitely alive and well, but social media has really built a culture around people seeking answers from peers. Even better, they trust the answers they get.
LinkedIn is definitely the centre of attention for business discussion, but there’s also Quora and TripAdvisor. Lots of sites allow you to leave comments too; your newspaper, other people’s blogs and YouTube videos. Get out there and find places to leave your expertise. Be like a dog and go lift your back leg on every pole.
Write downloadable things
Anyone who is an expert has downloadable documents. These are awesome ways of boosting your credibility, and providing a lasting impression. For example if you’re a hotel, have a downloadable list of nearby attractions. Brand these documents as your own, and include good calls to action throughout.