Adding Content to Your Website Regularly

There’s really no reason why you should not be updating your website at least once a week! Even if you have a webmaster or a professional web design company that does not work for you directly on your staff, there are easy ways through online content management systems such as WordPress and Joomla! for you to manage your own content online right on your website. Don’t setup an external blog where your updated content is separate from your website. The content needs to be ON your website.

Some pages on your website rarely change. For example you may have a contact page, about us page, and maybe maybe a services page. But if your services don’t change that often then those pages should just stay optimized and unchanged with a goal to revise them once a quarter based on your web analytics and keyword reports. But surely there are things that you can contribute to your industry online whether you are a dentist, a heating and plumbing company, a cable installer, or whatever it is that you do.

It doesn’t take much work to have a WordPress blog installed on your website that YOU can manage and bring in house and not have to pay out of pocket expenses to create content for your website online.

By not adding content to your website for your industry online, you are giving your competitors the power to take over local search results which is where a good deal or a good amount of your leads should be coming from. I understand if you’re a business owner and you’re thinking “how will I have time to do one more thing on top of everything else that I already have to do?” But with the way that companies market themselves online in today’s market, it’s just not possible for you to ignore your website any longer without suffering consequences. Do I enjoy blogging? Not really. But I’ve found ways to streamline and make it easier to do. I have an app on my phone that allows me to dictate (speak) what I want my blog post to say, and it translates every word and emails it to me. Big time saver. When I don’t feel like blogging, I’ll ask one of my developers to write a post or two on our blog. It’s important!

Smart companies are pulling their phone book advertisements, billboard advertisements, and any print advertising, and are putting that money back into their websites. Think about it this way: how do YOU search for local providers? Do you reach for the phone book or call information? When was the last time you called a number or went to a website that you saw at a print ad or on a billboard? When was the last time you used a phone book? If your company’s current marketing efforts do not fall in line with the way that the majority of the consumer market looks for service providers in your area, then you need to re-think how you’re spending your advertising dollars.

It’s time to stop doing things the way that they have always been done and “jump on the bandwagon” so to speak. Swallow your pride and admit that there may be a more effective way to market your company online to increase your leads and sales from the Internet and actually use your website as a tool instead of it just being a static brochure online that never changes.

It can be overwhelming at first, but you don’t have to be an expert! Find a local service provider that knows what they are doing for search engine optimization, web development and video production and can effectively market your company online with proven results. I know it has been the case with Tulsa Web Design Firm, but depending on the service that your company provides, many web development firms will be willing to do a trade out for services. Don’t automatically assume that it’s going to cost too much or you can’t afford it.

Wouldn’t you rather spend a little extra money on your website with a professional web development firm that can show you a positive return on investment and can prove that the money that you are spending on Internet marketing is actually increasing your leads and sales instead of doing things the way you’ve always done them and spending money on marketing not knowing what your return on investment is?

Here’s the litmus test for your current marketing: Can you tell me how well your current advertising dollars are performing? If you don’t know, or don’t have a way to track the results, you are failing miserably. No one is perfect, but if you are throwing money at the wind hoping it will work, you are wasting your time. I dare you to hire a professional web marketing company (yes, like Innovated Media) for 90 days. Read an old post that I wrote about How to Find a Good Media-Marketing Company; it should get you started in the right direction.