WordPress, WordPress, WordPress – convert your site or install it now!
Really not much else to say, but let me walk you through the reasons.
We have been building websites exclusively on WordPress for 2 years now.
Why?
I can’t even count all the reasons but let’s start with a few.
1. Search Engine Friendly – Google LOVES WordPress. That in itself should be reason enough, right? WordPress is a dynamic blog platform that automates many of the SEO functions necessary for achieving front page Google results. WordPress comes with self ping feature. This feature sends pings to different search engines every time the blog is updated calling search engine robots to your site like an invading army.
2. Fully integrates with all social media applications. When you have your WordPress site fine tuned it runs like a well oiled machine, humming along on it’s gears like it is supposed to.
3. Built in RSS feed – incredibly useful for marketing.
4. It’s a platform for interaction. With the comments section, you can interact with your prospective customers right on your website.
5. The power of plugins. Plugins are basically individual software routines that install on WordPress that can do all sorts of things for you. SEO plugins, Message board plugins, popup plugins, plugins for the easy addition of images and videos – the list is endless, providing you a way to customize your website for your needs.
6. Ease of use. Once you site is finished you can update it yourself. No more need to waste money on website designers and paying them outrageous fees for any little change you need made. WordPress comes with a built in WYSIWYG editor that makes it simple for you do do changes in a heartbeat, add new posts/pages, etc.
You can view a few of our clients websites here and you will quickly see WordPress lends itself to any design you might desire:
Clover Island Inn
Dr. Kim Chi Vu
Chick Lingo Signs
Shelly Lynott, Online Life Coach
Mental Golf Confidence
As you can see….they don’t necessarily have to look like a blog, there are thousands of themes available, although we recommend and use Thesis.
So what next?
First and foremost, you need to research your market and define your website objectives.
How will people search for you online? Are people even looking for your business type online?
You can learn more about keywords here on our ROI Page
Once you have identified your keywords, you need to define the objectives for your website.
Is it:
1. Informational only
2. A lead generator
3. Actually selling products online
At our firm, we believe #1 is old school. You simply must, at a minimum, be generating leads and building a mailing list from your website. We believe in building marketing machines in our neck of the woods. So should you!
Once you’ve defined your objectives, it’s time to get started.
How To SEO Your WordPress Site (or any website).
SEO is not an art, and is only about 10% of the puzzle to be on the front page of Google. What really counts is what we do best – the Search Engine Marketing.
But everything else being equal, proper SEO will gain you the advantage over your competition.
Here are 7 tips to help you SEO your own website. It is critical for proper SEO to make sure you use your keywords so Google knows what your website is about.
This will get you started.
1. Keywords in Title (the title shows in your browser and is in your source code in the “title” tags.
2. Make sure your keywords are in your main headline on your page, and make sure you are using H1 tags for your headline, this tells Google these are important keywords for your site.
3. Use your Keywords in the first paragraph of your website copy
4. Use your Keywords in your sub-headlines and use the H2 tags.
5. Use your Keywords in 2% of your body copy, but write for people, don’t write for the search engines. Make it sound conversational and use your keywords naturally.
6. Use your Keywords in the alt tags of your images.
7. Use your Keywords in the last sentence of your last paragraph.
Copy Is Still King
The most critical part of your site is your copy. This is where people make a critical error. If you website begins with something like this:
Hi, Welcome to our website. Here at XYZ company, we have the most qualified staff available….etc.
YOU CAN COUNT YOUR VISITOR GONE, a.k.a. Website Abandonment.
Believe it or not, people ARE NOT on your website to learn about you (at least not at first).
There are there looking for a solution to a problem or need, and you must address that need immediately by connecting with them emotionally.
People buy everything from services to products based on emotion, and nothing else.
Let me give you a few examples.
People don’t just put themselves under the knife of a plastic surgeon because they enjoy it. They spend large sums of money because they want to recapture their youth, look better, regain self confidence and self worth and look great in a bikini again.
People don’t find a good accountant to just fill out tax forms, they could do that themselves. They find a good accountant so they can save money on taxes and have more for their family and themselves, to do with as they please.
People don’t hire a landscaper just to put in a yard. They hire a landscaper in order to have a relaxing, restful and beautiful sanctuary to escape to and spend time with their family.
See all the emotions that can be addressed and played upon in those scenarios?
The problem with most websites is they scream about the business and do not speak to the emotions and needs of the visitor.
When people first visit your website, they don’t care who YOU are, they care about what’s in it for them. They need their needs addressed, need to know you understand those needs, and you need to address those needs or that visitor is gone forever.
Are you doing this with your site?
It’s imperative that you do.
Need some help? Let us ignite your internet marketing and make you a dominant force in your neighborhood.
