How to Increase Website Performance and Page Ranking Pt.3
Previous How to Increase Website Performance and Page rank tips starting with part 1 here and part 2 here.
7. Define your competition
You need to know who your competition is and what websites they own and operate. Many of your competitors will have multiple websites; this is the new thing out there. They focus each website on a division of their business. Make sure you review each and every website that they have in detail. Not only review their products and services, but also the USP (Unique Selling Proposition), and find out how you can effectively compete on the web. This is an important aspect of creating a successful internet marketing campaign and winning on the web. Our SEO competitive analysis can accomplish this for your business and take out all of the guesswork.
8. Limit your fields on your “call to action” forms
Many studies have been done concerning submission forms. It’s been proven that 3 data collection fields are ok, however when you go to the 4th field, the ratio of completed forms drops by over 50%. This is a key determining factor in how many fields your form should be. In almost every case, you are going to be calling your prospect anyway, so why should you make it more difficult for them to get information or get you to call. Just get their name, phone number and email. That is sufficient. Then follow up with them as you normally would. I would rather call many people and find out more information, with the prospect that I will get the business, than call less than half of those people because I lost the opportunity to contact others due to a lengthy estimate request form.
9. Build Links from other prominent websites
Building links from other websites is a major factor in getting traffic to your website. Google sees links that point to your site as an indicator that your site is important. Very much like a popularity contest. It’s also important to note the text used to point to your site. Be sure to use the same text, when possible, to point to your site. The question I always get is who do I approach to get a link to my site? Instead of approaching other sites, simply do a search for “free directory” and you will find many different online directories similar to the yellow pages. Use these to gain inbound links to your site. Many of these directories permit free listing with no link back, which is ideal. Focus on adding at least one of these free links per week. The more links, the better. If you are asked to link back, that is ok, add it to a links page. However, if you are asked to pay, skip that site and move to the next one. Paid links are not worth it, there are far too many free options out there. Once you add your listing, many of the sites will offer upgrades for additional money, this is up to you to upgrade or not. Generally speaking, take the free link and move on to the next directory.
10. Add content on your site on a regular basis
Working on your site is not an incredibly difficult thing to do, especially if you are using a content management system, however getting the time to do it always is difficult. Rarely do you have extra time in your business day to do this type of work, therefore let me recommend the best way to do this. Schedule 1 hour per week. If you schedule the time to work on your site, then you will do something each week. If you miss an appointment with yourself during one of those weeks, at least you have worked on your site for 3 hours that month. The key to growing your site and making it more effective is to work on it. If you schedule the time, then you will be more likely to do something that is beneficial for your website. If you don’t have the time, or are thoroughly bored by such tasks, then you can contact Veritage Marketing Group to assist you in your maintenance. We can schedule a meeting with you to go over your goals for the quarter; you will be able to set an agenda for the work that you want to get done. Adding content on a regular basis to your website and implementing an internet marketing strategy is the best way to produce results; I cannot stress enough how important adding rich content to your site is; it’s the number one factor to having repeat traffic to your website on a monthly basis and improving your website ranking.