Scaling the vast opportunities of the virtual space invariably requires you to have a website that ticks every checkbox in the UI and UX section. It is estimated that there are over 1.74 billion websites, but ask yourself how many websites do you know about? This is where the importance of ranking higher to be visible becomes important.
One other important stat is that of the 1.74 billion websites only 200 million are active. This piece of information might just ring a bell about the importance of creating the groundwork for a successful website.
Yes, the world of the internet is expanding with nearly 4 billion internet users across the globe. However, there are specific ways to grow your website, it's not abracadabra. Let's talk about some of the ways.
Web development: Strategic suggestion for a successful website
1. Having a vision for the website structure
You must have a vision for your website to create a website strategy. It doesn't matter whether you are just starting or have thousands hit on the page per day, the only thing that matters is vision. Vision lays down the roadmap for the future and gives you a direction on which you can work on.
One other important thing that vision does is that it safeguards against the pressure of external competition. With a clear vision, you work on a straight path without swaying away to envy and fear of what other players are doing.
2. Choosing the best hosting service
Unless you are completely new to the tech world, you would know the importance of having a good hosting service provider. A strong web hosting service provider gives you ample cushion to work with a greater degree of freedom. You do not have to worry about having a backup in case of website issues.
Reaching out to professional web hosting services also saves you a dollar. The reason being experienced service providers can gauge your requirement, and tell you the plan that's appropriate for you.
3. Focusing on web page optimization for small devices
Small screens win the race over the desktop version not by a slight whisker, but by a huge margin. It is estimated that more than 80% of the search queries are made on the small screen. This explains why more than 50% of the company is focusing on developing websites based on responsive technologies.
The above stat might have made it clear to you about the importance of website optimization for small screens. One last stat. More than 40% of online transactions are made using mobile phones.
4. Taking care of site load speed
A fast loading website any day enhances the overall user experiences of the visitors. The ideal load time for websites should be around 2-5 seconds anything beyond that needs some work.
To find the details about the load speed and other key factors you can use the GA option. The test result not only shows you the outcomes but also provides you with a list of ways to improve load speed.
5. Making an intuitive appearance
The user interface has a dual effect on visitors. On one hand, with a neatly structured UI, it becomes easy to explore crucial pages of the website with a few clicks is an important aspect of the website strategy. On the other hand, an impressive UI structuring improves the look and feel of the page.
So, how can you go about achieving both? For one, you can use a search tag within the website to allow users to find what they want with just a few phrases.
You can also add breadcrumb which makes it easy for the users to navigate. To make the UI look more pleasant to the eyes, use consistency in size, and style of font. Also, add uniformity in the colors used for components.
Digital marketing: Strategic suggestions for successful reach
1. On-page implementation
On-page SEO optimization is undoubtedly one of the key aspects of a successful website strategy. The idea behind on-page SEO is to fine-tune components of the page to promulgate the ranking chances.
Some key factors that you need to look into for on-page optimization are Schema, robots.txt, meta tag, and meta title. Each of these factors has its importance, for instance, schema markup helps the search engine to return more info about the page in the SERPs match like snippets.
2. Website content
Website content is important to provide visitors with a complete overview of the brand in the most effective manner. Categorizing website content is the key to letting know people about the company, explore the products or reach out to you.
One other thing that website content does is that it intrigues the audience to click on the CTA button, something which we will discuss later in the article coming points.
3. Blogging section for engagement
If we consider different marketing options as part of a website strategy to reach the target audience or to expand the user base adding a blog section is one brilliant option. Blogging essentially creates organic leads that have a better chance of conversion.
Blogs are multifaceted; they can update the audience about the new event or the latest development. They also provide room for advertising new lines of products or testing a new idea most subtly.
4. Content marketing
Content marketing has a two-fold effect. On one hand, it conveys a message about the brand with a compelling story-line and facts. On the other hand, it boosts the SEO prospect if the right set of keywords are used. So, you are pushing in new traffic to reach a new audience, which later shows up as a conversion.
Short-form content can be a great vehicle to promote social media presence while allowing other websites to integrate your content pieces for promotion.
5. CTA for all services
CTA or Call-To-Action is one of the important elements that define the purpose of having a website strategy in place. Every ounce of effort put in preparing the page is done to increase clicks and thereby leads.
For instance, you add the ‘buy products’ CTA on a page that has a detailed description of the product to create more chances for the visitors to click on the ‘buy now’ button. But it is more than just about creating a CTA button.
There is a certain guideline that needs to be followed for initiating the click in the first place. You need to place the CTA button strategically to ensure maximum click. One of the ways can be to generate a heatmap, based on which you place the CTA. One other important thing is that the CTA should be direct and compelling.
6. Keyword research
Keyword research is a phrase that is thrown around quite a lot in the digital marketing space. But only a few have mastered the craft of using keywords. Certain standard rules are followed in the alley of SEO about the use of keywords. To further help you in selecting high-ranking keywords there are also plenty of online tools & parameters for keywords.
The one which we would like you to check out is Ubersuggest, which helps you to check the details of the keywords. This forms the reason behind your competitor's high rank in SERPs. There are various forms of keywords, the list is quite long. But we would like you to focus on short-tail and long-tail keywords depending upon the audience segment that you are targeting.
7. Social media presence
The world is a web of interconnected people, a revolution that is powered by SMPs. You have the - Facebook friends, Twitter netizens, and Instagram folks - all of them combine to form the virtual presence of the globe.
With the rise in the relevance of social media, it has become a hotbed for new leads. Thus, it comes as a complete no-brainer to pay more attention to social media presence.
A strong social media presence boosts the brand value of the company and makes it more accessible to the general mass. Once that trust is built with a good social media repute, most of the new advertising campaigns launched in SMPs gather innately good response.
8. Organic optimization
Organic SEO is a crucial cog in the domination of the digital space amongst the ocean of competitors. To fully use the potential of organic SEO, you need to first ingrain the fact that not all SEO techniques that improve search ranking are paid. This is where the role of organic SEO comes into play. SEO must be a part of the website strategy from the beginning.
So, how do you begin with organic optimization? Well, first and foremost you need to add keyword-rich content to allow the search engine to rank your page for popular keywords. After having done that, you can employ techniques like link building, directory listing, and ORM.
Link building is an effective SEO technique to increase traffic through external sources. In this case, you create a repository of backlinks that leads back to your page through a third party website like Quora, etc.
Things to remember
Consider a scenario where you had clicked on the link to this page, but the page just did not load up, say, in a couple of seconds or more, what would you do? For all money, you will navigate away from the page.
This is where you need to hire developers who can develop you a robust website with quick load time and a stellar UI & UX. Let us share some of the things that you need to keep in mind for letting your web presence speak of your excellence.
1. Focus on web analytics
You must pay close attention to the findings of web analytics. Look for the readings of key ranking determiners like load speed, and bounce rate. The latter is a more accurate parameter based on which you can gauge the user experience of the platform.
These are just two of the various other factors that determine the ranking and effectiveness of the platform. We would recommend you to check the official Google Analytics documentation to know more.
2. Don’t compromise on quality
With the rise in the level of competitiveness, there is no room for having resources that lack the skill and expertise to deliver the results. The nature of the digital ecosystem is such that you need to hire professionals with stellar track records. Further, it is also necessary that the developers are trained regularly.
Cloud space is another area where prominent internet players are giving-in to store their data safely and securely, without putting a strain on the internal resources thus it is important to adapt to new trends.
3. Set aside a budget
There can be a situation, where you lack funds to go on full throttle with the web development project. In such cases, you must not part with the quality of resources and try to fit-in all under the stringent budget.
The temptation of cheap sources may suck you in and suddenly, the short-term goals for expansion may seem to be well within reach, but the long-term prospects get sidelined.
4. Communicate with the developer for transparency
Most of the skilled developers are very good with the technical stuff, but they lack soft skills.
A decentralized channel of communication is one that we suggest to embed in the work culture. This fosters complete transparency, which in turn leads to quick results with minimum hassle.
Conclusion
Looking forward, we believe the list of tips and tricks for having a successful website strategy might just expand, with the insurgence of AI and ML. However, the basics like SEO, SMO, interactive UI, and effective UX will never go out of fashion.
Ultimately, it all boils down to developing a website strategy with a target audience in mind. It is also about doing everything that you can do under Google’s guidelines to make the online presence felt amidst giants in your domain. To cut the long story short, SEO know-how levels the playing field between, say, your e-commerce website, and e-commerce giants like Amazon.
- Arijit
