Website strategies will vary depending on the specific needs of your small business. However, some key components should be included in any website strategy. In this blog post, we will discuss the four most important aspects of any website strategy, and explain what they mean for your small business.
Before we dive into the components of a website strategy, it is important to understand what a website strategy is.
A website strategy is a plan for how you will use your website to achieve your business goals. It should answer questions such as: Who is your target audience? What are your website goals? How will you achieve those goals?
A website strategy is not a one-time task; it should be reviewed and updated regularly. As your business goals change, your website strategy should change with them.
Now that we have discussed what a website strategy is, let’s take a look at the key components that should be included:
Step 1: Define your target audience
The first step in creating any website strategy is to define your target audience. This may seem like an obvious step, but it is important to be as specific as possible. Ask yourself: Who are you trying to reach with your website? What are their needs and interests? Think about their demographics, age, gender, how they engage online, what blogs do they read?
We call these buyer personas – and while it might seem overkill, or pedantic, and you might ask the question “I already know who my audience is”, it’s worth aggregating that information into a single document that you can share with your website designer or content writer.
If you are not sure who your target audience is, consider conducting market research. This can be done through online surveys, focus groups, or even just conversations with potential customers. The more you know about your target audience, the better equipped you will be to create a website that appeals to them.
Once you have defined your target audience, you can move on to the next step: setting website goals.
Step 2: Set clear goals
The next step is to set clear goals for your website. What do you want your website to achieve? Do you want to increase sales, generate leads, or do something else entirely? Once you have identified your goals, you can begin to create a plan for how to achieve them.
Some common website goals include:
- Increasing website traffic
- Improving website conversion rates
- Generating leads or sales from the website
- Improving customer satisfaction or loyalty
Of course, these are just a few examples; your website goals will be unique to your business.
It is important to note that your website goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. This will help you to create a website strategy that is realistic and achievable.
Remember, your website is a living, evolving thing. You don’t need to achieve everything all at once. Feel comfortable taking small, manageable steps towards your business goals.
Now that you know how to set website and marketing goals, it’s time to move on to the next step: Your website audit.
Step 3: Conduct a website audit
If you have an existing website, you’ll want to take inventory, and now that you understand your audience and goals, you can objectively look at what you have. An audit of your website should look at some key areas:
- Current Search Engine Optimization ranking and performance
- A review of the existing keywords and their search volume
- Identifying any key ranking factors
- Website design and user experience
- An audit of your existing content and how well it works with your keywords
- Website security and performance
- Analytics information – how many visitors do you get, and what’s your conversion rate?
It’s important to get these baseline metrics for a number of reasons:
First, it’s important to understand where you are, so you know where you’re going – Especially when it comes to your search ranking. If you have an established rank, you don’t want to negatively impact it. Check out our post on how a redesign can negatively impact your search ranking.
Second, you want to be able to measure success metrics. With a baseline, you have something to compare to in the future. A website audit is an excellent first step when you’re considering any website changes. If you’re not sure where to start auditing your website, we’d be happy to help, give us a shout.
An audit is essential before you tackle a redesign
Does your website have clear marketing goals? What will your website achieve? How will you measure your website’s success?
Sometimes it can be overwhelming and you might want to achieve “all the goals”. Try to avoid this feeling, instead focus on one or two core goals, and avoid any overwhelm.
Step 4: Create a content plan
After you have conducted a website audit, it’s time to move on to the next step: content strategy.
This is where you’ll start to think about what kind of content you want to create and how it will help you achieve your website goals.
The first step here is to look at your keyword and SEO strategy. You can use tools like SEM Rush’s Keyword research tool and get an idea of what topics you should be writing about.
There are many different types of content you can create, but some of the most common include:
- Blog posts
- Long form content, like whitepapers or ebooks
- Infographics
- Case studies or testimonials
- How-to guides or tutorials
The type of content you create will be determined by your website goals and target audience – see how it begins to come together?
For example, if you want to increase website traffic, you’ll want to create content that is shareable and informative. On the other hand, if you want to generate leads from your website, you’ll want to create content that is more in-depth and focused on your product or service.
Remember, an excellent piece of content provides value to your audience. It’s important to write for your people, not for the Google machine. Ultimately, if you’re creating content from the heart, that people will love, success will follow.
Your web strategy should also include a plan for how often you will publish new website content. A good rule of thumb is to publish new content at least once a week, but more frequently is even better. This will help you to maintain a consistent presence online, and keep your website fresh in the minds of your target audience.
At Stiff Upper Lip, we built a content marketing calendar using Monday.
Your content strategy should go hand in hand with your overall digital marketing strategy.
As you can see, many different components go into creating a solid website strategy. By taking the time to plan and research your website goals, target audience, and key website metrics, you’ll be well on your way to achieving success.
If you need help devising your perfect website strategy and building a roadmap to success, give us a shout. With a simple 30-minute consultation, we can help you get right on track.
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