I recently read an article that stated that most small business owners think that they have an as-seen-on-TV “Set-it-and-forget-it” website. Today, I decided to run an analysis of the search engine optimization for about eight of my clients sites today.
Many of their scores have dropped by as many as ten points. YIKES! This is not good news, folks.
Here is the problem: they have EXTRAORDINARY sites which still rank higher than most of the sites out there. However, they have not even posted to their blog in as much as six months! The folks that stick to our easy-to-follow instructions do very well in driving traffic to their site.
You will NEVER compete in the organic searches online without doing a little bit of work or paying someone to do it for you. One of the best things that a small business owner can do is to update ones own site at least one time each month. Schedule it, and stick to your plan. Luckily, we have a system to help you with that… more on that later.
Like fruit, meat, or fish as the grocery store, you occasionally have to rotate stock and remerchandise, prune off what’s not working or what’s expired, and get new fresh product on the shelves. Here are three easy things you can do to update your site to keep it fresh:
Add pictures: Whether you are a chiropractor, a lawyer, a graphic designer, a store owner, or a work-at-home business owner, you have been out there in the world. Take some pictures and share with the world. Pictures provide two things: interest from your readers and the ability to put more content on your site–make sure you provide alternate text or tags that are keyword-rich when you post pictures.
Blog, blog, blog: Add fresh content to your site weekly (I recommend at least twice weekly) by giving tips, updates, etc. to add value to the lives of your readers!
Add video: Get yourself a nice web cam (around $50) or inexpensive portable camcorder (under $200), get yourself a FREE YouTube account, and broadcast yourself. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. This is the next best thing to meeting them in person to get them to know you, like you, and trust you.
Keep Moving Forward!