7 Steps to Successful Website Marketing in 2013

2012 was a year of many developments for SEO and website marketing.  From the Penguin and Panda Google updates to the rise of data visualisation and social media, 2012 was truly a challenging time for SEO. 

2013 is shaping up to be an exciting year for those who may have fallen short in their website marketing efforts last year. The new year is the perfect opportunity to position your business online, particularly in the areas of social media, mobile and local search. In this article we provide 7 steps that will help you get on the right track to successful website marketing in 2013!

1.    Take a closer look your website

What do you want to achieve with your website?  Do you want your customers or prospects to purchase your product, sign up to a newsletter or to fill out an enquiry form?  Create clear call to actions on your website to help increase your conversion rates.  If you have analytics set up, review the data to see if you are reaching your targets or make changes with your analytics data in mind.  If you haven’t set up analytics and conversion monitoring setup for your website yet, ensure this is done as a high priority.  Analytics will allow you to draw insights into how Internet users arrive at your website and what they do, including the pages they visit, how long they stay and if a conversion or goal is reached. Many businesses use Google Analytics, which provides analytics for free, or you can also look into other paid analytics services.

Also take the time to look closely at the design and structure of your website.  Is it easy to navigate?  Does it reflect your brand?  The focus in design in 2013 continues to be on clean, open websites. Creative yet highly useable, ensuring that your website is user-friendly while effectively representing your brand and your company.

2.    Make your website mobile friendly

In 2012, we have observed the increase of mobile phone and tablet users who browse the Internet with their mobile devices.  In 2013, we can expect the number of mobile users to continue to climb.  So it is crucial you have a website design that is tested for mobile devices, or a separate website that is specifically designed for mobile users.  Ensuring that your design works well on the small screen of a tablet or mobile device is crucial, so users can easily navigate and engage in your website.

3.    Review your SEO strategy

Last year, Google implemented the Penguin and Panda updates which challenged businesses to take a closer look at their website marketing plans.  We had to create fresh, relevant and engaging content to rank well in Google search results versus spammy websites.  This year, look at how you can earn links instead of building or buying irrelevant ones.  Continue to create amazing content that others can share and link to.  Set-up Google Local for your business as this can help you rank well in local searches. Start being active in social media sites to really engage and interact with your customers and prospects.

4.    Invest in visual content

Photos and images are a great way to engage your customers and prospects online especially with the growth of photo sharing sites such as Instagram and Pinterest.  Invest in relevant and beautiful graphics and start sharing these widely.

If you have complex data such as numbers or statistics you would like to share with your customers and prospects, break these down into infographics.  Infographics is a breakdown of complex data into creative and interesting graphics that make it easy for viewers to understand.  It has increased its popularity over the last year as it is easy to share in social media and photo sharing sites.  It’s also a great way to earn links.  Set-up a page in your website for your infographic and encourage users to share it.  

To learn more about infographics, we share one with you here.

5.    Keep your social media pages updated

Make sure your social media pages such as Facebook, Google or Twitter are updated with your latest news or promotions to keep your customers or fans connected with what’s happening in your business.  Or if you haven’t gone social yet, then 2013 is the year for you to be active in social media sites that are relevant to your business.  

Facebook has recently released a new feature called Facebook Graph where in Facebook users can now search for pages, images or profiles that match the keywords they have entered the search query.  For example, if you are a restaurant in Sydney and a Facebook user searches for “sydney restaurants”, then your page will be among the search results.  This new feature is a great way to gain new fans or prospects.  Even Twitter has released Twitter Vine which allows users to share 6-second videos.  This is now being used widely by many brands to promote their brand story.  Take advantage of these new developments in social media to gain new customers and drive traffic to your website.

6.    Create relevant and high quality content

We cannot stress this point enough: create fresh, relevant and engaging content in your website that your visitors can share with others.  Content marketing could be your most important investment this year.  Fresh and relevant written or graphic content can be your key to earning links and ranking well in search engine results.

7.    Create a brand story and share it widely

How did your brand come about?  Earn your customers’ trust by sharing your brand story.  By giving your brand some personality, you give your business credibility and you can gain the trust of your clients and prospects.  So create interesting and engaging stories about your brand and share it widely on your website and social media pages.

Some final words

With all these steps above, it’s important to remember that the real key is building a relationship with your customers, be it online or offline.  Ensure that you move from online to face-to-face or phone as soon as you can, in order to develop a real client relationship. This approach is important no matter what the year!  Happy new year and happy marketing!

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