Think about any new goods and services you’ve procured lately, where did you find out about them? Chances are it was online. According to Google 80% of consumers rely on the web to find and choose local businesses.
What this means for your digital marketing strategy is that you have no digital marketing strategy without a solid website, after all your digital marketing efforts need to direct your potential customers somewhere. In this two-part post, we look at 6 web tips that will drastically improve your digital marketing efforts.
Update your website
If you haven’t updated your website since the 2010 Fifa World Cup, it’s long overdue. A fresh, modern design that reflects where your company is now is essential to a successful digital marketing campaign plus it will ensure that you meet today’s best practices. Your business, the web and digital marketing have all changed since then so why are you hanging onto an outdated site design?
Responsive web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and an intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from their laptop to mobile, the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. In other words, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences. This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market.
Make it mobile friendly
Eighty percent of internet users own a smartphone and nearly eighty percent of local mobile searches end in a purchase so why wouldn’t you make your website mobile friendly? A responsive website allows you to access a large portion of the market so don’t ignore it’s important when redesigning your website.
Complete your metadata
Throughout the Web, metadata is used to describe individual pages on a website, allowing search engines to understand what each page portrays. Ensure that your sites metadata, which includes title tags, descriptions and alt text, is completed accurately. Not doing so can negatively impact your visibility on Search Engine Results Pages.
Look out for part two of our post where we look at three more questions you should ask your potential web design company.
