I recently did a presentation on the importance of a current website and a social media presence. Hope you enjoy!
A website representing your business is what creates credibility among your fan base and visitors. When someone visits your website, they make a quick decision of whether or not to trust your business. If your website is not well maintained or is outdated, it gives the wrong impression to your visitors.
Additionally, an outdated website creates an impression of negligence which can bring your publicity to a downfall. Visitors may also connect the quality of your services with the quality of your website, thus it is very important to maintain the website and update it on a regular basis.
Five essential elements of a current website are:
1. Content Management System
A content management system (CMS) provides a graphical user interface which allows for the editor to create content, add images and multimedia files, as well as create content schedules, among other things.
One example of a CMS is WordPress. There are currently over 56 million websites that use WordPress. It is extremely popular and originated as blogging software; however it is currently the platform for many major corporations’ websites including CNN, Ford, Volkswagen and Sony.
2. Unique and informative content
Content is the basis of all websites. This is the reason people visit your website – for valuable and quality information. This can include text, images and video. If your content is updated on a regular basis and integrated with current web technologies, it will prove to be very effective to engage site visitors.
3. Video
There are currently 4 billion daily views on YouTube alone. Video brings a richness of engagement to the online experience that drives visitors to linger on your site. The challenge is knowing what consumers want to watch. Video on the web is exploding with record numbers of people tuning in to watch videos at work and home. The rapid rise of user-generated video and social media-based promotion and distribution of the rich content is changing all aspects of development and distribution.
By 2014, it is believed that 90% of all online traffic will be video-based. From an SEO perspective video content is 50% more likely to be ranked on Google than text-based content. This means it will be much easier for people to find your website and learn about your business.
4. Encourage Engagement with Visitors
This is the main goal of all websites; to engage with your visitors. There are many ways to achieve this, as mentioned earlier with quality and up-to-date content, pictures, current news, and video among other things.
One excellent way to promote engagement is to allow for visitors to comment and contribute on certain sections. This encourages conversation and will positively reflect your brand. Thank visitors for their contribution and feedback, whether it’s positive or negative. Respond to any criticism and use the information to improve your site.
5. Social Sharing
With the rise of Social Media, social share buttons should be prominent on your website. Share buttons make it easy for your site visitors to, at the click of a button, share your websites content with friends and family across a multitude of social media sites. This allows you to leverage the friends, fans and followers of your sites visitors to increase your brands visibility and reach.
Some examples of social sharing buttons are a Facebook Share, a Twitter Tweet, Google+ +1 and Pinterest Pin.
Coming up in Part 2….The importance of a Social Media Presence! Check back soon!
