InstantHDLogo.pptx25WEBSITE ‘MUST HAVES’FOR DRIVING TRAFFIC, LEADS & SALESCHAPTER ONE

Contents

INTRODUCTION 3

PART1:GETFOUNDONLINE 4

PART2:DESIGN&USABILITY 15

PART3:CONTENT 25

PART4:CONVERSION 39

CONCLUSION 52

Weallknowhowimportantawebsiteistoabusiness’sonlinestrategy.Almosteverybusiness,whetherB2B,B2C,non-profit,localorglobalneedsanonlinepresencetoreachbuyersintheinternetage.Acompany’swebsiteisitsvirtualstorefront.Shockingly,arecentsurveyby1&1Internetreportedthatupto40%ofsmall-to-mediumsizedbusinessess]lldon’thaveawebsite.Evenifyou’reonsocialmedia,opera]ngwithoutawebsiteisjustsilly.Awebsiteisanessen]alpieceofyouronlinemarke]ngstrategy.Whetheryou’relookingtobuildyourfirstwebsite,orifyourexis]ngsitejustisn’tge_ngthetrafficorleadsyouwerehopingfor,youmaywonderwhatitreallytakestohaveagreatwebsite.Havingawebsitealoneisn’tthekeytogreatresults.Instead,it’stheabilityturnyourwebsiteintoaninboundmarke]ngmachine.Yourwebsitehasaheaygoalanditneedstowearmanyhats.Awebsiteneedstonotjustexist,itneedstoperform.Itneedstoabractvisitors,educatethemandconvincethemtobuy.ButIknowwhatyou’rethinking-easiersaidthandone.

Introduc]on

Arecentsurveyby1&1Internetreportedthatupto40%ofsmall-to-mediumsizedbusinessess"lldon’thaveawebsite.

Today,thewebissocialandinterac]ve.It’snotsta]clikemostwebsitestendtobe.Assuch,awebsitecannolongersustainasitsownisland.Wenowneedtoconsiderintegra]ngsearch,socialmedia,content,blogging,andmorewithourwebsites.GonearethedayswhereallittookwasaURL,fancyFlashgraphics,andanexpensiveadver]singcampaigntotemporarilyboosttraffic.Thereasonforthisshiaislargelyduetochangingbuyerbehavior.Today’sbuyerwishestoconsumeinforma]onwhentheywantandhowtheywantandoaen-]meswithouttheinvolvementofasalesperson.Andmoreimportantly,theywanttobeeducatedandnotsoldto.Asyoucanseefromthefollowingchart,websitesandnewformsofinboundmarke]ngcontent(suchaspodcasts,bloggingandsocialmedia)

havebecomeaconsiderablefactorinthebuyingcycle.

You’llalsofindinHubSpot’s2011StateofInboundMarke]ngReportthatinboundmarke]ngismoreeffec]veinreachingtoday’sbuyer.Resultsshowthatinboundmarke]nghasa62%lesscostperleadcomparedtooutbound,ortradi]onal,marke]ng.Whatmightnotbeapparentlyvisiblehereistheroleyourwebsiteplays.It’sactuallyabigone.Inmostcases,trafficfromblogs,socialmedia,organicandpaidsearchendupconver]nginto

leadsorsalesonyourmainwebsite.Withoutawebsiteac]ngasanonlinebasecamp,itwouldbedifficulttoabractnewbusinesstoonesource.Thisiswhyhavinganeffec]vewebsiteissocrucialandthatitcontainskeyelementstodrivingmoretraffic,leads,andsales.

Sowithoutfurtherado,Ipresenttoyou25Website‘MustHaves’forDrivingTraffic,LeadsandSales.Tolearnmoreaboutapar]cularmust-have,you’llfindaddi]onalresourcesatthebobomofeachtopic.Definitelytakeadvantageoftheseifyou’relookingtomasterinboundmarke]ng.

PART1:GetFoundOnline

Agreatwebsiteisn’tsogreatifnoonevisitsit.Thisiswhythefirstchapterisdedicatedtoge_ngfoundonline,

whichcoverstheverytopofthefunnelofyourinboundmarke]ngstrategy.SearchEngineOp]miza]on(SEO)is

anabsolutemust-havetoanywebsitestrategy,butittakeshardworkandconsistencywhenaimingforthetop

spot.These]pswillhelpgetyouonyourwaytoincreasingyourorganic(non-paid)searchenginerankings.

Part1:GetFoundOnline

BuildingInboundLinks

Everywebsiteontheinternethasthegoalofreachingthe#1posi]oninsearchenginesbutbecausethereisonlyonetopspotperkeywordphrase,noteveryonecanmakeit.Sowhatgetsafirstplaceranking?Off-pagesearchengineop]miza]on(SEO)isthemostimportantfactortoincreasingyourrankingresults.

Off-PageSEOisaboutbuildinginboundlinks,essen]allyge_ngotherqualitywebsitestolinkbacktoyou.Searchenginescallthisauthorityor“linkjuice.”Themoreinboundlinksyouhave,themoreimportantyoursitemustbe,thusthehigheryou’llrank.

Linkbuilding,whendoneright,isn’teasysinceaddinglinkstootherwebsitesissome]mesoutofyourcontrol.Herearesome]pstobuildinginboundlinks:

•  Createhigh-quality,educa"onalorentertainingcontent.Ifpeoplelikeyourcontent,theywillnaturallywanttolinktoit.•  Submityourwebsitetoonlinedirectories.Thisisaneasywaytostart.•  Writeguestpostsforotherblogs.Thisisawin-winforbothpar]es.Peoplewillwantextra(quality)contentfromothersandinexchange,

it’sagreatwaytobuildinboundlinks.

•  Researchinglinkbuildingopportuni"eswithotherwebsites,butalwayschecktheauthorityofthewebsitesthatyouaretryingtogetlinksfrom.Therearemanytoolsonlinethatallowyoutocheckdomainorpageauthority,includingHubSpot’slinkgradertool.

•  Anddon’tborrow,beg,barter,bribeorbuylinks.

Whileoff-pageSEOishugelyimportant,wecan’tforgetabouton-pageSEO.Thisconsistsofplacingyourmostimportantkeywordswithinthecontentelementsofyouractualpages.Theseon-pageelementsincludeHeadlines,Sub-headlines,BodyContent,ImageTags,andLinks.Oaen]meson-pageSEOisreferredtoas“keyworddensity.”It’sverycommonthatbusinesseswilldotoolibleon-pageop]miza]onortoomuch(keywordstuffing).Whileit’simportanttoincludeyour

keywordasmany]mesasnecessarywithinapage,youdon’twanttogooverboardwithiteither.Foron-pageSEOdoneright:

•  Pickaprimarykeywordforeachpageandfocusonop]mizingthatpageforthatword.Ifyouoversaturateapagewithtoomanykeywordsononepage,thepagewillloseitsimportanceandauthoritybecausesearchengineswon’thaveaclearideaofwhatthepageisabout.Thisisverycommononhomepagesinpar]cular,wheretoomanykeywordsareused.

On-pageSearchEngineOp]miza]on(SEO)

•  Placeyourprimarykeywordsinyourheadlineandsub-headline.Theseareasofcontenthavegreaterweighttosearchengines.

•  Includethekeywordsinthebodycontentbutdon’tusethemoutofcontext.Makesuretheyarerelevantwiththerestofyourcontent.

•  Includekeywordsinthefilenameofimages(e.g.mykeyword.jpg)orusethemintheALTtag.

•  IncludethekeywordsinthepageURLandkeeptheURLclean.

•  Andlastly,writeforhumansfirst,searchenginessecond.Alwaysprepareyourcontentforyouraudienceandthenlooktoop]mizeitforsearch.Contentwribenintheotherorderwon’treadnaturallyandyourvisitorswillrecognizeit.

WhilethismaybetheleastsexiestcomponentofSEO,itisadefinitemust-have.AMetaTagisalineofcodethatiscontainedinthebackgroundofawebpage.Searchengineslookatmetatagstolearnmoreaboutwhatthepageisabout.Metatagsdon’tquitehavethelevelofSEOimportanceastheyusedtobutares]llveryimportant.Backintheday,websites

abusedmetatagstoincreasetheirrankingsbyincludingfartoomanykeywords.Nowsearchenginesaresmarterandgivemoreweighttoinboundlinksandpagecontentforrankinginstead.However,theys]llplayanimportantroletoanSEOstrategy.Makesuretousetheseonallofyourpages.

Ifyou’renotawebguru,mostwebsiteeditorsandcontentmanagementsystemsenableyoutoeasilyeditmetatagswithoutcodingknowledge.Ifyoudon’thaveaneditor,youcansimplyopenawebpagefile(endingin.htm,.html,.aspor.php)inNotepadoraplaintexteditorandthemetatagswillbefoundnearthetopofthedocument.

Titletag&Metatags

HereisexampleofwhatmetatagslooklikeinanHTMLdocument:

Title:The]tleofthepageseenatthetopofawebbrowser,alsothemainheadlinedisplayedinsearchengineresults.<]tle>HubSpotInboundMarke]ngSoaware</]tle>

Descrip]on:Aconcisedescrip]onofthepage.<metaname=”Descrip]on”content=”Stoppushing.Startabrac]ng.Stopinterrup]ng.Startengaging.HubSpot’s

InboundMarke]ngSoaware...”>

Keywords:Wordsthatiden]fywhatthepageisabout.Keeptolessthan7keywordsperpage.KeywordsinmetatagsarenotvisibleinthesearchengineresultslikeTitleandDescrip]on.

<metaname=”keywords”content=”inboundmarke]ng,marke]ngsoaware”>

Thegeneralincen]vebehindanXMLsitemapistohelpsearchenginecrawlers(or“spiders”)siathroughyourpagesmoreefficiently.AnXMLsitemapissimplyan.xmlfilecontainingalis]ngofallyourpagesandwhentheywereupdated.It’salotlikeasubwaymap.Itshowsthestructureofyourwebsiteandwhereareyourpagesreside.Crea]ngasitemapiseasy.Youcanfindsitemapgeneratorsonline

thatwillcreatethe.xmlfileforyou.Onceyougetthe.xmlfile,simplyuploadittotherootdirectoryofyourwebsite(e.g.www.website.com/sitemap.xml).Ifyourwebsiteisupdatedregularly,makeitagoodprac]cetoupdateyourxmlfileatleastonceamonthsosearchengineshavethefreshestdata.

AddinganXMLsitemapisacomponentthatiscommonlyoverlooked,whileitmaynotbethedecidingfactorinimprovingyourSearchEngineOp]miza]on,itwillcertainlyhelp.

XMLSitemaps

We’ve all experienced a time when we clicked on a website link thatended up being broken. Typically you’ll see a “404 message” or“Page Not Found.” A lot of times this is caused whena page is moved to a new URL and the old linkhasn’t been directed to the new page. Thinkabout the lost opportunity when your customersor potential buyers want information that they can’tlocate. If you choose to move a page on your website, make certainthat you use a permanent 301 Redirect, a method used to change an old URL to a new one.

In addition to keeping visitors happy when navigating your website, permanent 301 redirects are also important for SEO. When a user can’t find a new page, nor can a search engine, and you’ll lose any SEO status the old page once had. To keep the SEO juice following to new pages, set up a 301 redirect for pages that have been moved sosearch engines know where to find it.

301Redirects

Theinternethaschangedeverything.Internetusageisgrowingrapidlyandyouneedtobetherewhenpoten]albuyerscomelooking.Abusinesswebsitemaybethemostimportantfactorinyourinboundmarke]ngstrategy,butit’smorethanjusthavingawebsite,it’stheintegra]onofSEO,socialmedia,blogging,content,CTAsandlandingpagesthatwilldrivetraffic,leadsandsales.Aaerallitisthesecomponentsthatgeneratesalesandrevenueforyourbusiness.Inboundmarke]ngisthekeytofillingyoursalesfunnelwithqualifiedleadsandyourwebsiteiswhereeduca]on,engagementandconversiontakeplace.Followtheseguidelinesandyouwillsoonhaveagreatwebsitethatgeneratestraffic,leadsandsales.Butdon’tstopthere.Awebsitenevertrulystopsgrowing.Keeplearningandstaytunedformoreupdates.Thanksforreading.

Conclusion

FirstBaseisoneofLondon’sleadingcontentmarke]ngagenciesforB2Bbrands.Foundedin2013,weexisttohelpclientsbemoreeffec]veandgetbeberresultsfromtheirmarke]ng.Wedothisbycrea]nggreatcontent,mixinginlovelydesign,harnessingthebestdigitaltechnologies,connec]nganaly]cs,execu]nginboundacquisi]onandnurtureprogrammes,andpu_ngstrategiesinplacetomaximisereturnonourclients’contentmarke]nginvestment.

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