Is your website working hard for you?

Like many businesses you have probably had an online presence for a few years now  but are  you getting the most out of your website or is it time for a revisit? A few simple changes could dramatically improve the traffic to your website – and hence your potential revenue.        The answer lies in Search Engine Optimisation. Although the technicalities of SEO are outside the scope of this article, there are a few key ways in which you can improve the effectiveness of your web content. Keywords Most people are aware of the importance of including keywords into web content but too many companies make the mistake of trying to shoehorn as many as they can in here, there and everywhere – which only serves to dilute the overall SEO effectiveness. Ideally there should be one (or two similar) keyword phrases allocated per unique page. These should then be reflected both in the page title and the content. Content It may be well-worn but the old adage that “Content is King” still holds today. In order to be recognised by the search engines as an authority for your product/service it is essential that your website contains a large amount of relevant and original content – the more pages the better but quality should not be sacrificed for quantity. It could be that your site just needs ‘padding out’ with a few additional carefully chosen pages (each of which could target a keyword phrase currently not being addressed). Updates The simple fact is that search engines don’t like static sites. It is therefore important to keep your content fresh and regularly updated with new content, for example, press releases, news stories or diary dates. The added benefit of this is that you are also giving visitors a reason to return often to your website to check out what’s new. Solution One easy way to address all of the above issues is the ‘added value’ benefit of including articles or blogs on your website. These will not only help keep your site dynamic but will also improve its chances of being ranked by Google et al through the ongoing addition of more content. In short, the success of your website is largely dependent on both the amount and quality of the content, which should be optimised with appropriate keywords where possible. It’s not rocket science – a few small tweaks may be all that is required to ensure your site works hard for you. By Geraldine Jones >