Yay, you have finally gotten your new (or revamped) website up, so bring on the leads right? Your website is live... so now what? It's magical, your website just needs to be out there and millions of people are going to find you, hire you and your business will be booming.
WRONG.
First off, provided your website designer has put in your title tags, alt tags, keywords, analytics and your SEO is great, you should automatically be generating the leads from your website without any effort right,
WRONG.
If websites were that easy, then everyone would be in first place, every website that is launched should float to the top as tough there was never any competition. That's not exactly what happens.
We all like credit for our work, so websites that have had people working on them with a long history of domain name and activity will always float tot he top, so its not fair if we put in all that work that a new website should take over. > That's part of the reason why you are not automatically moving to the top of the page in Google listings.
WORK FOR IT.
If you want your website to work for you, you have to start by working for it. You need to understand the multiple facets that go into the rankings on Google and how all of your work can help you move up the ranks.
1. Yes, you have a domain, but if you have only owned it for 3 days whereas your competition has owned their domain for 3 years, they have a bit of history on the internet, and we all respect relationships with history, so does Google. But ... thats not all Google cares about.
2. Old sites don't often get updated, they may be missing nuggets and changes that have affected how they rank. The most common issue is a lack of a mobile responsive site - if you are not mobile responsive, you will be quickly taken over by a website that is, Google HATES non-mobile responsive sites and they are not afraid to demote your website because of it.
3. Contribute to the internet. Like a one sided conversation, it can get draining, if you are not contributing to the internet through useful blogs, social media, updating your website content and driving traffic, then you are that boring one-sided conversationalist, and Google loves good content, so drive people to your site and give them good content.
4. Pay attention to your analytics. If you notice unusual traffic, drop offs, low time on page or a high bounce rate (these are just a few) then it could be time to look at your website and find out how you can be better and provide a better website.
5. Don't just sit there, do you have a strategy to drive traffic to your website, help people find you through Google+ pages, social media updates and customer reviews, then it's time to develop a strategy.
6. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket, your website is not the end-all be-all of the internet. While its a great first impression, utilize other platforms and areas to promote your business (including social media).
If you are dealing with an old website, there is no better time to update it than now, if you find your traffic is slipping and you are not getting the results you once were, take a look at how customers see your website and make a change.
Julie Boake
Awedity Creative
403.560.6554