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Every business needs online visibility to grow. Whether you sell products exclusively online or operate a brick-and-mortar storefront, having an online presence can be a significant asset for both direct purchasing and as a referral source.
Once you have your website in place, your next step is to direct people toward it. What good is having a website if you’re not getting any traffic or leads?
Here are five simple tips to increase your business’s online visibility.
1. Optimise your website for search engines
Even if you don’t have the first idea about website design or marketing, you’ve more than likely heard of SEO. It’s been a big buzzword since the late 90’s when people realised specific actions would help them rank higher on search engines.
If you are serious about improving your online visibility, you must take an active interest in SEO best practices to stay ahead of your competitors. Look at these on-page SEO tips as a starting point, and try to keep abreast of the latest algorithms Google releases. The digital world is constantly updated, so it’s essential to keep learning about search engines’ requirements.
2. Be mobile friendly
Speaking of search engine requirements, having a mobile-responsive website has become the norm after Google revealed in 2015 that sites that are not mobile-friendly will rank even lower than before.
As smartphones and other mobile devices are fast becoming the preferred internet browsing method, you need to get one soon if you haven’t already got a mobile website. If you continue to run a website that isn’t mobile-friendly, you’ll likely see a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search. This is because it will directly affect your ranking and because people are no longer willing to squint at their screen to try and read text that doesn’t automatically adjust for viewing on a mobile phone or tablet.
3. Fast-loading pages
How often have you visited a slow website and given up before the page fully loaded? We expect websites to load instantly and refuse to wait longer than necessary—the same goes for your website.
Whether it’s the wrong hosting provider, poor code, or too many unoptimized images, there are many reasons why your website may be running slowly. Whatever the reason for a sluggish site, it’s essential to get to the bottom of it to improve your user experience and ensure you’re not deterring traffic.
Not only does a faster website lead to a more significant user experience, but it also helps ensure your business maintains a high search engine ranking. Google’s search algorithm includes page load times in determining how well websites rank, so be sure to test and monitor yours regularly.
You can test your site’s current page loading times here.
4. Strong social media presence
Having a social media presence is another way to boost your online visibility. The population of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter continues growing, making them valuable business tools.
Maintaining a consistent social media presence should become a priority. You don’t need to master every platform; instead, focus on the ones your target audience is more likely to use and do well.
A solid social media presence efficiently builds your company’s reputation and creates a loyal community of prospects. It can also boost your website traffic and improve your search engine rankings, which, in turn, will lead to more traffic and visibility.
5. Keep your website secure with HTTPS
Security is a top priority for your online presence. A lack of trust can compromise your reputation and cause clients to do business with your competitors instead.
In most cases, we trust that our data will be protected through a secure connection. Those savvy enough to understand the difference between HTTP and HTTPS will only do business with companies that use the latter.
As consumers trust sites that utilize HTTPS and are more likely to buy from them – it is worth investing in making the switch.
Google has also started using HTTPS as a ranking signal, which means your website will rank better if it uses the protocol. Over time, Google is thought to place higher importance on this as a ranking factor to ensure all websites have switched.
At WP Tech Support, we can help improve your online visibility through our WordPress support and maintenance monthly plans. We will review your site’s performance, SEO, and security to ensure you do everything possible to stay visible to prospects and search engines. Sign up today to see continuous improvements to your WordPress site.