One important Calgary web design tip that is often missed with small business who setup websites – they’ve paid lots of cash getting themselves online, they have a fantastic product or service but now that its online they’ve chosen to sit back and wait for everyone to stampede on their front doorsteps online…

… and unfortuantely they’re going to be sitting there for quite some time wondering what’s gone wrong…

So have they missed something and have lost thousands of invested dollars?
Nope, but they have lost in terms of forward thinking planning to attract visitors (and customers) to their site.

Most businesses either have an existing marketing system or they might not, and rely entirely on their website to generate traffic to their stores or create sales for their business’ so a website acts as a full-fledged marketing (or salesperson) tool to the online public.  Imagine a large corporation like Nike – create product, universal world-wide but what if they didn’t run magazine ads, do sponsorships with major athletes, run TV advertising spots, etc. Retailers wouldn’t know of their product, wouldn’t stock it and the general public would flock to a business that does a better job of advertising and broadcasting themselves.

How can you avoid being left in the dust?

  • Create fresh content for your website – update page content, add in new sections featuring new products, services or information for users
  • Get up and running with Facebook and Twitter to keep more in touch with your audience
  • Add a Blog to your site and post interesting topics on your blog your users will learn from
  • Create back links to your site from social media sites online linking directly to your new articles
  • Add a YouTube video featuring a particular service or product you offer and visually demonstrate your experience and benefits to your user

Another few important reasons why its becoming super critical for keeping your site current:

  • Google has released its new search algorithm called ‘Caffeinated’ which means rankings on the Google search engine are determined not only by traditional search engine optimization techniques, but also by time frame. Reason for this came about by applications like Facebook and Twitter which give internet users real time updates, so Google has started incorporating that into who places where on their search engine. According to Google, Caffeinated allows new pages and links to be faster indexed on the Google search page… twice as fast as it was before.
  • And the MOST important reason why to keep your website fresh and current…. if your competition hasn’t already updated their sites, they will… and you’ll be left in the dust and watching your rankings fall…

Does this article sound dire and is leading you to believe your competitors may be getting the leg up on you? Probably.

Can your website succeed with fresh content, encourage users to keep visiting your site and keep up on the first page of Google? Definitely.

For more information on how you can update your site and encourage the search engines to better rank your business online, get in touch with your local Calgary web design firm today and we can discuss your ongoing marketing needs to keep your website up-to-date and performing to your needs!