6 Reasons Series: #6 Lack of Momentum

There are over 1 billion websites online today. If your website doesn’t have the momentum it needs, it will get lost in all that noise and not be effective for your business.

In the sixth and final article of this series, I will talk about the importance of promoting your website to get momentum going. I tell you how to determine if your website is moving in the right direction or not. Finally, I will go over how to build momentum by using social media and a blog together.

Building a website using holistic design principles will give you the best shot at being effective. However, without active promotion, your website will not gain the momentum it needs to be effective. Think of it this way. You can buy the fanciest car in the world, but without fuel to run the engine, your car is not going to take you anywhere! Promotion is the fuel that gives your website momentum on the web.

Be sure you are not staving your website’s engine of fuel or grinding it to a halt by making these following mistakes:

• Being antisocial on the web (not using social media);
• Failing to keep your website’s content fresh;
• Failing to promote and drive visitors to your website;
• Failing to use the holistic design principles covered in this 6-part series. Getting visitors to take action once they get to your website is critical to success. Don’t waste that traffic! Be sure to read the rest of this series.

Webster’s dictionary defines momentum as “… the strength or force that allows something to continue or grow stronger … as time passes.” We would all like to have that kind of power behind our web presence wouldn’t we! But, how do you even know if you have momentum on your side or not? If you can answer yes to the questions below, congratulations, you are going in the right direction. If your answers are no, you have some work to do:

• Are your web pages rising or maintaining position in search engine results (SERPs) for your most important key words?
• Are you attracting new, unique visitors on a regular basis?
• Does your website maintain a low bounce rate?
• Do people share or link to your articles or other content on your website?
• Does your website convert leads into sales? In other words, is your website profitable for you and your business?

Of course, in order to be able to answer some of these questions you will need to have Google analytics installed and access to your analytics account. If you don’t have that, there are other helpful tools online to help you find the answer some of the questions above. One that I recommend is SEM Rush. I am an affiliate for them, but you can use many of their tools for free. Start your research by using the search box below to see how your website is doing right now.

Any good sales person will tell you that you must get others to care before you can make the deal. It has to meet some need they have, real or imagined. Marketing a website is no different. If no one cares about what you have on your website, you won’t get many visits. If you don’t get any visits, your website will not be effective for you no matter how well it is built! This is why I put so much emphasis on quality content throughout this entire series.

The good news is that once you do get your target market to care, they will become your best source of promotion. If they care, they will most likely share. Sharing content on the web is a digital form of referrals. And, we all know how important referrals are!

If referrals aren’t enough to convince you how important sharing on the web is, take a look at what Google has to say about it.

“Google search works because it relies on the millions of individuals posting links on websites to help determine which other sites offer content of value.” (Google – “10 Things We Know: Democracy on the web works“).

These inbound links are also an important part of a balanced SEO strategy. I hope you are beginning to see how all these things work together to build momentum on the web. Remember, holistic means that all parts are interconnected!

You may still be thinking, great, but HOW do I get people to care about my business website? You begin by producing content that people will want to share. This is worth repeating. Without quality content, it is unlikely that you will ever gain the momentum you need.

Awareness is critical part of any sales funnel. It is also an important part of getting people to care about your website. If people are not aware that you have something valuable to offer, they will never benefit from it. But, how to do you make people aware?

The most obvious answer is advertising. Pay-per-click, AdWords, and promoted posts are just forms of online advertising. Yet, even these tools can be ineffective if not executed well. So, let’s take a look at three alternatives to traditional advertising. Each of these will not only make people aware, but will help your website gain the momentum it needs.

The first way is to make people aware you exist is through to rank well in search results. The benefits of this are obvious. If people search for keywords that apply to your business, they will become aware you exist. However, we all know this is not as easy as it sounds! Over 77% of the clicks on search results pages go to the first three results. So, unless you have put a lot of time and effort into your content and SEO, you may not want to rely on this method for awareness.

Over 70% of the U.S. population now has at least one social media profile! Moreover, according to business2community.com, “Social media presence is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018.” These numbers mean that using social media to promote your business is becoming more critical than ever. At the end of this article, I will give you some ideas on how to make the most of social media for your small business.

Blogging is not only the best way to keep your content fresh, it also keep visitors engaged with your website. If you have read the rest of this series, you will know that both of these things also help your SEO. Remember, Google likes fresh content and low bounce rates. I don’t have to tell you know what a good position in search results (SERPs) can do for your awareness factor!

Blogging is also a great way to inform people of the benefits of what you offer (services or products). This is yet another form of awareness. As you will see next, you can leverage your blog posts as part of your social media marketing strategy.

Not all social media is created equal. This is because some social media platforms will reach your specific target market better than others. Therefore, making the most of social media will take some research on your part. Avail yourself of the many online resources to discover which social media platforms will work best for your specific market. A good place to begin is to read this article by Entrepreneur Magazine® on finding a match for your market on Social Media.

There are different ways use social media to promote your website and business. Just like with SEO, the more time and effort you put into it, the more successful you can become. The following are four of the most common ways to use social media to promote your business online:

• Create inspirational posts to gain new likes or followers. This helps create synergy for future posts.
• Create special offers on your website. Then use social media posts to drive traffic to the offer using compelling text (CTA’s).
• Create content on your website that will help your target market in some way. Then tease that content on social media with a link back to the full article.
• Create posts with links to resources your target market may be interested in.
• Create posts with a common pain point for your market, then link back to the solution your provide for them.

There are three goals at work here. The first is getting people to click back to your website. The next is getting people to share your posts with others. In doing so, you will be obtaining those all-important links back to your website. And, finally, you will be reaching potential new customers.

Think of momentum as synergy. The effects of which will make itself evident all over the web for your small business! However, as you have seen, gaining momentum takes time. It takes a concentrated effort to plan, build and deploy properly to be effective. If you do a little each day to promote your business online, you will be surprised at the synergy you can build and how much impact you can make on your overall web presence.

Below are some important action steps you can take over the next week to help get your momentum going right away. Remember, all of this means nothing if you don’t take action:

• Setup at least three social media accounts. I suggest you start with at least a FaceBook business page and a Twitter account.
• If you already have social media accounts, make sure you have as many details filled in as possible. Preferbly using some of you keywords in the descriptions. Use pictures that represent what your main product or service is offering.
• If you have not posted to social media in while, begin with some simple inspiration quotes then post on a consistent basis. Remember, you are trying to build momentum here!
• If you don’t have a blog on your website, set one up.
• Create a short blog post about something you think will benefit your target market. Be sure to determine your post has a focus!
• Create a FaceBook post and a tweet that links to the blog post you just created.

Congratulations! You are now on your way to promoting your small business website and getting some of that momentum going! As a final note on this series, don’t be afraid to ask for help. I am here to help guide you through the complex world of marketing your business online. From one-on-one coaching to implementation, I can help leverage the power to the web to grow your small business. Give your business the boost it needs! Give me a call today (714) 662-2203

Back to the “6 Reasons Your Website is Ineffective” introductory article.