Sep 23, 2019 | Marketing, Marketing Consultant
Content marketing, without tools, is a bit like trying to whip up Thanksgiving dinner with a microwave and a wooden spoon. On the other hand, it can be counter to your financial goals to invest cash in tools that may or may not be a good fit. That’s why free tools are always a great choice.
RenoWebDesigner.com is the leading marketing company located in Reno Nevada, serving all of northern Nevada including Sparks Nv as well as the greater United States. Call or text 775-870-0488.
The good news is that you certainly have a wide selection. There are a virtually limitless number of free tools available for content marketers. Unfortunately, many are outdated. Others simply don’t work very well. It’s time to start fresh with a list of fifteen free content marketing tools that can help you reach your goals today.
View Sparks Nv Web Design ideas here.
- FollowerWonk
FollowerWonk is an analytics tool created specifically for Twitter users. It allows marketing professionals to learn more about their existing followers, identify potential influencers, and better plan their Twitter outreach strategies. Information you can glean from this tool includes follower, geographic data and timing of Tweets. There’s a limited version for free, or you can purchase one of the reasonably priced subscription plans.
- HootSuite
HootSuite is a tool that allows you to manage your social media platforms from a single location. While there are paid plans available, there is also a limited free version that is well worth checking out. Here are some features:
- Post Scheduling
- Content Curation
- Analytics
- Promotion
- Social Media Monitoring
- Filmora
Filmora is a free, meme generating tool that allows you to create and publish watermark free memes. Why memes for content marketing? Simply put, memes are memorable and people love them. Create memes here, then use them on your website, social media, or email campaigns.
- Canva
Canva is another great tool for creating a variety of visual content. It has a drag and drop interface, libraries full of visual assets, and allows you to create a variety of content. This includes:
- Flyers
- Brochures
- Logos
- Social Media Posts
- Infographics
- More!
You can use the images that come with the tool, or you can upload your own. There are even courses and tutorials to help you improve your skills, and create amazing, visual content.
- Post Planner
Successful content marketing campaigns depend on your ability to create and curate the right content at the right time. Post Planner helps with that. The tool combs the internet for content that may be relevant to your audience. In addition to this, you can use the tool to create a publishing calendar to choose exactly when your content will post. Finally, it has a dashboard that allows you to see your social media posts, and edit them all from one spot.
- Curata
Curata is another content curation tool for marketers. It was created to assist content marketers in their efforts to create, curate, distribute, and manage the content process. Marketers who are overwhelmed by the task of consistently outputting engaging content can use Curata to find the most relevant content.
- Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a popular, social media management platform that contains many great functions. Marketers who need help in the following areas should definitely consider a trial of this software. It includes:
- Social Listening
- Publishing
- Engagement
- Analytics
- Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer
The Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer tool is a free web-based tool. It’s simple to use. You just enter in headline text, up to 20 words long. Then, the tool tools you both your EMV (Emotional Marketing Value) score, and the predominant emotional classification expressed in your headline. You can then use the results to determine whether or not your headline has the intended effect.
- TrustMyPaper
A great content marketing campaign has several important elements. You have to identify and segment your audience, choose social media platforms, identify the right topics, engage with your audience, and analyze the results. With all of this going on, it’s easy to forget about the importance of one of the most fundamental things. You have to have well-written content to have a successful digital marketing campaign.
This is where Trust My Paper can help. They have a full team of professional copywriters. With their help, you can create top-quality content that generates leads and engagement.
- IFTTT
IFTTT (If This Then That) is a tool that automates a variety of actions across any number of tools and platforms. To use it, you simply connect your email, social media accounts, apps, even devices to your IFTTT account. Then, you can create recipes to be executed when certain conditions happen. While IFTTT has a variety of uses, it’s undeniably useful for content marketers. Consider using the tool to do the following:
- Send Twitter Mentions to a Spreadsheet
- Send an Email to Your Marketing Account When You Receive a Reddit Username Mention
- Receive an Email Notification When a Specified Hashtag is Used on Twitter
- Send Content You’ve Created on Tumblr to WordPress
- Share New Posts to LinkedIn
- Create Spreadsheet Entries of New Social Media Followers
- Send Reminders to Create And Publish Content
Essentially, if you’ve ever thought, ‘It would be nice if this happened when that happened…’, this is a great tool to have in your arsenal.
- BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is an excellent tool for finding great content, identifying relevant topics for your audience, and gaining insights into the content your competitors are producing. You can use the tool to find the most shared content, monitor your brand, and see which influencers are getting the most ‘play’ on their social media content.
- Getty Images
Your own, original images are always best. However, you may not always have a picture for every situation. That’s why stock images still have their place in content marketing. Unfortunately, free image sites are full of low-quality images that are often watermarked. This is why many marketing experts believe it is well worth it to use a reputable source of publicly available images like Getty.
- Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a suite of tools that allow you to boost SEO, boost traffic, and conduct competitive research. It includes a backlink checker, keyword research tool, keyword management, web crawling capabilities, and more. This is a great tool to help you identify the best focus keywords, and better determine how to build your content around those.
- Yoast
If you’ve chosen WordPress as your CMS for your blog or website, Yoast could be a huge asset for you. Yoast is widely seen as the premier, SEO plugin for WordPress. In fact, if you use this tool, you may not need anything else to maximize SEO for your website. Yoast will build your SEO sitemaps, help you identify duplicate content, title and image tagging, and more.
Final Thoughts
Each of the tools listed above has a proven track record when it comes to content marketing. Even better, they are either free to use on an ongoing basis, or you can try out a trial version. In any case, we are confident that you can use any one of these to boost your content marketing efforts.
About the Author: Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she works as a freelance writer at BestEssayEducation and GrabMyEssay.
Aug 14, 2019 | Nevada Advertising and Marketing Agency, Reno SEO Expert, Reno SEO Experts, SEO Expert, What is SEO
Is your company’s SEO strategy working? Taking the guess-work out of digital marketing is our specialty at Reno Web Designer!
Our unique approach to custom web design and SEO services has proven to work for our clients. The close relationships we build with our clients allows us to provide them with the best possible services. Beautiful websites, SEO strategy and PPC marketing are among our specialties. In addition to being an honorary Webby Award recipient for web design, Sandy Rowley with Reno Web Designer has been listed as a leading Nevada Advertising and Marketing firm for 2019 by Clutch.
Clutch is a Washington, DC-based verified review platform. The Clutch team has compiled rankings of the top firms in a variety of locations and industries. After analyzing industry data and conducting in-depth client interviews, we have earned a 5.0 rating by Clutch. Below, we have posted a preview of one of our most recent reviews.
The Manifest and Visual Objects have also featured Reno Web Designer on their sites. The Manifest, Clutch’s sister site, features business news segments along with company profiles. Visual Objects displays portfolio items from visually-oriented firms in order to give a buyer a glimpse into what that company is capable of.
Best SEO Expert
Sandy Rowley SEO Web Design is thrilled to be a Clutch recognized leader!
“As a woman owned business in a mostly male dominated field, I am honored to be selected as a Top SEO Expert by Clutch.co” – CEO of Sandy Rowley Reno SEO, Marketing & Web Design.
If you are in need of custom digital marketing services, contact us today to receive your quote!
The top 20 criteria that would define one of the best SEO experts:
- Deep Understanding of SEO Fundamentals: Understanding the basics, including on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.
- Knowledge of Search Algorithms: Awareness of how major search engines like Google, Bing, and others rank content, and the ability to adapt to algorithm changes.
- Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze data, understand website analytics, and derive actionable insights from them.
- Technical Proficiency: Knowledge of website infrastructure, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and server-side elements that can impact SEO.
- Content Mastery: Understanding how to produce or optimize high-quality, relevant content that appeals to users and search engines alike.
- Link Building Expertise: Knowledge of white-hat link-building techniques that boost site authority.
- User Experience (UX) Focus: Recognizing that a good user experience can positively impact SEO outcomes.
- Mobile SEO: Understanding the nuances of mobile search, including mobile-friendliness, mobile page speed, and mobile-first indexing.
- Local SEO: Expertise in optimizing websites for local searches, including Google My Business and local citations.
- International and Multilingual SEO: Ability to optimize websites for multiple countries and languages.
- Keyword Research Skills: Proficiency in uncovering high-impact keywords and understanding user intent.
- Continual Learning: The SEO landscape is dynamic. The best experts regularly update their knowledge and skills.
- Effective Communication: Ability to communicate technical SEO topics to non-technical stakeholders.
- Problem-Solving: Quickly diagnosing SEO issues and formulating effective strategies to address them.
- Tools Proficiency: Familiarity with a wide range of SEO tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and others.
- Understanding of Related Disciplines: Familiarity with related fields like content marketing, social media, PPC, and digital PR.
- Ethical Practices: Adherence to white-hat SEO techniques and avoiding black-hat tactics that can penalize a site.
- Trend Awareness: Staying updated with the latest SEO trends and emerging technologies like voice search, AI, and more.
- Networking: Building relationships with other SEOs, digital marketers, and industry experts to exchange knowledge and stay updated.
- Track Record: Demonstrable history of successful SEO campaigns, case studies, and positive client testimonials.
Aug 1, 2019 | Healthcare Web Design
What value does a website provide if it’s inaccessible? How can you best serve clients if the site is a convoluted mess? How does the site convey my brand?
These are big questions to ask yourself when exploring healthcare website design.
Are you expecting to build a new healthcare site? Redesigning one? Stick around, we’re sharing four colossal tips you’ll want to follow to get the design just right.
#1: Curb Your Expectations
Business owners go into website design with best intentions. They hire great talent and offering the necessary resources & support. Yet, they soon become pixel pushers, micromanaging the talent and sabotaging the project.
Keep two items in mind when sourcing talent for the site design:
- Trust the experience and talent of your developer/designer
- Curb your expectations because it’s impossible to know what’s in your head
Letting the pros take over leans on years of design best practices. In doing so, you’ll keep site design costs low because you’re not tacking-on extras. Getting out of the way means a fast launch, and that means satisfied visitors.
#2: Make it Responsive
Think of who is accessing your website:
They’ll access the site through desktop, phone, tablet, and more. The site needs to adapt to these form factors while remaining intuitive. You’re also adapting to users who may have disabilities or are an older crowd, after all.
How do you make a site responsive?
- Use fluid layouts
- Scale the media
- Adap the typography
Place a high value in responsive design when talking with the developer. The adaptability, as a bonus, conforms to Google’s desire to make the Web mobile/responsive. Your forward-thinking design choice will improve search engine optimization.
#3: Optimize It
SEO begins at the foundation:
- Clean website code
- Proper keyword placement
- Smart site structure/layout
- Wicked fast site speed
Read our technical SEO basics guide to brush up on extras. But, at least aim for the mentioned above to lay the foundation.
Optimizing the site ensures it ranks for its appropriate keywords, terms, and phrases. It makes your site easier to find for clients, while available to build the brand and lead generation.
How else can you improve the site’s optimization? Consider:
- Easy-to-use navigation so people don’t leave out of frustration
- Optimizing content to include keywords, focusing on sought-after topics
You may want to spend time making the site ADA compliant, too, while in the site’s code. Usability can lend to a better experience, and with it come referrals and visibility.
#4: Add as You Go
A basic website needs to share business contact and basic information. It’s very easy to go off the project rails trying to add extra features. From an eCommerce module to AI chatbots and more, do know that you can add as you go.
- Work with a developer that’s Web compliant
- Build a site you can easily add to during growth phases
You don’t want to get “locked-in” to a site requiring a massive overhaul when redesigning. You also don’t want to take on too much, preventing the launch.
Get Your Healthcare Website Design from a Webby Award-Winning Designer
Look no further if you need a healthcare website design. We are Reno’s top web design, marketing, and SEO agency. We’ve worked with many clients, like you, in building great online sites and presences.
See our portfolio to get an idea of our work. Or, if you’re ready, give us a call at 775-870-0488 or request a quote for your next project.
Jul 30, 2019 | Web Design
We are reviewing your request…
Thank you for requesting our services. Sandy will be in touch soon. Download your FREE “How to vet an SEO Company”.
Providing quality digital services that empower businesses to grow.
Web Design, SEO, PPC, Social Media, Workshops, Web Development and Marketing Plans.
Jul 29, 2019 | Best Web Design Company in Reno
SANDY ROWLEY : BEST WEB DESIGNER IN RENO
RenoWebDesigner.com voted best web design company in Reno, 2 years in a row. Sandy Rowley is a Webby Award winning web designer located in Reno Nv. She has over 18 years experience in custom web design, development and digital marketing services.
National web design review board, Clutch.io, just announced Rowley and her web design company, RenoWebDesigner.com as one of the top web designers in the country.
Why is Sandy Rowley and RenoWebDesigner.com listed as one of the best web design companies in Reno Nv?
- Webby Award honoree x 2.
- Most experienced web designer in the Reno Nv area.
- Highest rated web design company in Google.
- Top ranked SEO and Web Development company in organic search on Google and other search engines.
- Trusted web ad visor to leading startups, celebrities and corporations.
BEST WEB DESIGN COMPANY IN RENO
Located in the heart of Reno, Rowley is available to meet in person at your office either in Northern Nevada or California.
She runs her small, but mighty web design company out of The Innovation Center located at: 450 Sinclair St, Reno, NV 89501.
A WEB DESIGN COMPANY YOU CAN TRUST.
Reno SEO, Marketing & Web Design has over 127 positive reviews online. Their Reno website design listing on Google maps has the highest reviews and ratings in the Reno Nv area.
Largest Marketing Group in Reno
Sandy Rowley leads the top digital marketing and web design group in the Reno Nv area. Currently at over 300 active, Reno business owners.
1. Reno networking opportunities to grow your business.
2. Free web design reviews with advice on how to improve sales.
3. SEO & Digital Marketing strategies.
Who is the best web design company in Reno?
Who is the best web design company in Reno?
Who is the best Web Design Company in Reno
Jul 29, 2019 | Website designer
So, you’ve got a web design business. You’re working hard and you’re hoping it will pay off, but you can’t help but notice that your business isn’t taking off the way you think it should. That may be because creative industry freelancers and small business owners tend to make a series of mistakes that can become real setbacks, over time. Here are 6 business mistakes freelancers make that you should avoid:
- They work for free or for “exposure”
“This project doesn’t pay, but it’s a valuable work opportunity and offers wonderful exposure!” Who hasn’t heard this one before? If you’re a web designer or otherwise working in a creative industry, you’ve surely had your work belittled, minimized, and straight-up mocked before, usually after you refuse to work for free:
- “Anyone can do that”
- “I can do it myself”
- “But it only takes you 5 minutes”
- “It’s not real work”
- “It’s a hobby, not a job”
- “That’s too expensive for a drawing”
- “You didn’t even do anything”
See what I mean? When you’re doing a creative job, everyone out there will be trying to swindle you and get you to work for free, and if you’re young and/or inexperienced, it might even work. The most frequent promise is that of the infamous “exposure” or working to pad your portfolio, but you can do that without making someone else money, thankyouverymuch.
If you work for free, not only will the clients not respect you or think your work is worth anything, but your business will never take off. You’ve got to be making money to call yourself a business, otherwise you’re just a guy who draws pretty pictures for free. We all know that “exposure”, “experience”, and “portfolio work” don’t put food on the table, so don’t take the bait and work for nothing. And blacklist the clients who ask you to.
- They do not market their business
If you want to get anywhere in any business, you need to start marketing yourself, your products, and your services. And that’s something a lot of people don’t do, especially novices. But when you don’t make an effort to let the world know about you and your work, your business can’t develop and will not reach its full potential.
Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive; it can be as simple as releasing a weekly newsletter, setting up a website that you post on frequently, or even buying ads in strategic placements that may expose your business to a new audience.
- They charge too little
Every freelancer falls into this trap: “The less I charge, the more attractive I will look to clients!” But that is, unfortunately, a mistake. The race to the bottom doesn’t benefit anyone, and it only ensures that you are actively devaluing your own work. Knowing how to value yourself and your work is an important step when establishing your business, and it will ensure that you will be taken seriously. Plus, it helps you establish a reasonable price for your time.
As you know, clients will try to get you to lower the price, but that doesn’t mean they respect or appreciate your work or you, as a designer. On the contrary – they see it as work devoid of value, and they won’t start paying you more or sustain a long-term work collaboration, because you become interchangeable with all the other cheap freelancers who are racing to the bottom.
- They take on nightmare clients
Okay, back to the awful clients, because we’re not done talking about them yet. Many freelancers, and creatives, in particular, make the mistake of taking on any client who offers them work, for fear of missing out on the opportunity. And perhaps some would say that’s the right way to do it and that passing on clients is a mistake. However, the reverse can also be true: taking on difficult clients is counterproductive and a waste of time.
Here’s why: when you’ve got a client who doesn’t respect your work, like the ones we exemplified earlier, one who doesn’t seem to like anything, or one who doesn’t know what they want, you may be in trouble. Clients like this may sometimes pay well, making a collaboration very tempting. But when you’re stuck with vague briefs or redoing the work for the 42nd time because they still don’t like it, you’ll see why avoiding them from the get-go works out to actually be more cost-efficient. Think of all the time you sunk into this client and how many other projects you could have taken on.
- They work non-stop
Unfortunately, overworking is a symptom present in many entrepreneurs, small business owners, freelancers, etc. When you work for yourself, you are tempted to keep working at all hours of the day and night. When you don’t, you feel guilty, or anxious, but all that work isn’t actually helping your business; in fact, it may be actively damaging it.
Why? Because the quality of your work is suffering, not to mention your mental health. Burnout is a very real thing, and as an artist, you can very well start feeling it pretty soon. Not to quote “The Shining”, but we know what all work and no play do to a person. For one, it depletes your creativity, so you will find yourself unable to focus or come up with new ideas, so both you and your clients will become dissatisfied with the work. Plus, you won’t be all that excited about working, in general.
- They take on too many projects
The old adage of picking quality over quantity rings true in this case, as well; it’s always better to take on fewer, bigger projects than to accept a million little projects that aren’t very well paid. You may think that it makes more sense, financially – take on 10 easy projects instead of two more complicated ones, but more often than not, you will actually find that the small projects end up taking way more time than you bargained for.
And while you’re redoing the same crappy job for a client who is perpetually unhappy, you’re still getting paid the same $15 you agreed on, even though you’re working as hard as you would have on a bigger project. Plus, think about it this way – the more high-quality the projects are, the better they look in your portfolio. Those small logos that you redid 8 times and the basic websites won’t impress anyone.
What’s the bottom line?
Setting up your own freelance business can be quite difficult, especially as a web designer or otherwise as a freelancer in a creative industry. It’s uncharted territory from many points of view, and learning how to deal with clients, value your work, use your time efficiently, and market yourself takes time. You just need to be aware of these 6 mistakes and hopefully, your business will flourish.
Jul 2, 2019 | Website designer
Redesigning a website is part of a regular marketing strategy for most successful businesses. Even if you have a well-functioning website, after a few years, you will notice that competitor websites are improving their sites with updated styles, content and services, thus increasing their organic rankings in Google. In order to compete, you will need to keep up the pace and update the look of your existing website.
Deciding to move forward with the redesign is one thing, but actually doing it is something else entirely. Here are some important things that you should consider before you start the actual process.
1
Back up your old site
When doing a redesign, a lot of things can go wrong. A small mistake in the code on a page might disrupt the functionality of several other pages. For instance, a new slider you were very excited about might render the entire website unusable.
In these scenarios, it is a good idea to revert back to the old version of your website while you pinpoint and fix new issues. So, before you start with the new design, create a backup for the old one.
2
Redefine your goals and target audiences
https://images.pexels.com/photos/990818/pexels-photo-990818.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=1&w=500
This is an excellent opportunity to get back to the drawing board and see if you can improve your business goals with the new design. In many cases, a website redesign happens when a business is experiencing growth. So, it is important to use this momentum and improve the very core of your business.
Talk about setting new, bigger milestones and work on redefining your target audience. The new design will welcome a whole new customer demographic, so be prepared.
3
Create relevant content with SEO in mind
With the new design, you should also work on new content – a new homepage text, new articles for your blog, new texts for the services page, etc. Of course, the content you have on your old site will be of use, but – again – this is a new beginning. You should focus on creating content that is better than what you had before.
Your goal is to reach a better rank in terms of SEO, so creating a new set of keywords and defining a new marketing strategy is not at all a bad idea.
4
Think about making an explainer video
https://images.pexels.com/photos/313691/pexels-photo-313691.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=750&w=1260
The new design will hopefully introduce new features and services. There might be some new functionalities that you want to showcase. Your customers, both old and new, might have issues identifying these innovations.
A good idea here is to make an explained video where you will showcase your new design to everyone.
5
Broken link management
And, finally, when the new site is up and running, chances are that some broken links will emerge. Your new site map will be different than the old one. You should cross reference all links and see if there are any broken pages.
When you identify them all, create a redirect system where these broken pages will directly be diverted to the new ones.
Conclusion
A website redesign is a sign that you are moving forward as a company. Make sure to consider the aforementioned tips and be extremely careful. You want your new design to be a success, but if you don’t pay attention, it might end up hurting you more than you can imagine. So, play it safe and you won’t have anything to worry about.
Jun 25, 2019 | Web Design, Website designer
Are you planning on launching a new website? Whether it is a personal blog, business portfolio, or e-commerce website, you have to know all your options to make a smart decision. One of the most important factors to consider when building a website is: “How much will it cost?”
To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of several ways to get your hands on website design and how much it will typically cost you.
Drag and Drop Website Builders
Drag and drop website builders are developed to streamline the website design process. These tools are designed as online platforms which you can use to create and launch a website without even knowing how to code or how to design a website. The most popular drag and drop website builders include Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace.
Design Cost
Designing a website via a drag and drop website builder won’t break the bank. In fact, if you don’t want to use any of the premium features, you can get your website up and running completely free.
Pros and Cons
The pros of using drag and drop website builders include:
- No design skills required
- Very cheap
- No coding skills required
- Get a website up and running in no time
The cons of using drag and drop website builders include:
- Generic templates make it hard to achieve a unique look
- Bad user experience due to slow loading times
- Questionable customer support
- Pricey premium features
WordPress Website Design
WordPress is the most popular content management system. Launching a WordPress website is also considered simple, but unlike drag and drop website builders, it requires some technical knowledge.
Design cost
WordPress comes with a completely free theme that users can use to build a website. Apart from the default WordPress theme, users have access to a number of free and paid ones. The design cost depends on your choice. If you go with a free theme, the overall costs will be minimal, but even purchasing premium themes won’t set you back much, as they usually come with an average price tag of $70.
Pros and Cons
The pros of using WordPress include:
- WordPress and the majority of themes are free
- Complete control over website files and data
- Access to free plugins and extensions to enhance the user experience
- Easy to customize
The cons of using WordPress include:
- Maintenance requires technical knowledge and experience
- You need at least some basic coding knowledge
- Expensive managed WordPress hosting services for those who want to automate updates
Custom Website Design
Designing a website from scratch is also a viable option.
Design Cost
The design costs depend on the overall functionality and number of elements of a new website. According to the current prices on the market, it’s safe to assume that hiring a web designer will cost you approximately $2000, $6,000 and up.
Pros and Cons
The pros of using custom website design services include:
- Get the exact design you want to
- Achieve a unique design and unique brand experience
- Outrank competitor websites with SEO Web Design strategies.
- Have complete control over the brand of your website.
- Mobile Friendly
The cons of using custom website design services include:
- Medium to High up-front cost
- It’s difficult to find a trustworthy web designer
- You’ll need long-term cooperation for updates and maintenance
Hopefully, this information will help you make a better decision and get the website that gives you the biggest bang for your buck.
Jun 24, 2019 | SEO Audit Website, SEO Expert
Redesigning a website is a detailed project with hundreds of steps requiring thought and decision-making at technical, financial, creative, operational, and strategic levels.
Months of planning, designing, writing, and developing are involved before your website is ready for the world.
Knowing this, it helps to avoid mistakes rather than make them.
One key to making sure your launch goes off without a hitch is to ensure your website speaks the language of search engines—or SEO. You need to ensure that any SEO value you’ve built up with your old website is both retained and enhanced on your new website.
Here are five SEO mistakes to avoid to prevent disasters and unnecessary delays in revamping your website.
Mistake #1: Redesigning Without Goals
Before you start designing or mapping out content, you need to ask yourself what the primary goals and objectives for the new website are.
If your website intends to generate sales leads, your content and user experience need to align with your conversion paths. Inbound marketing programs rely on this. You generate awareness and therefore leads by increasing traffic. This means high-quality content creation, chiefly in the form of blogs and vlogs, social sharing, and creating reasons to keep people coming back to the website.
Define the ideal customer and your target audience(s). Define the core phases that potential customers experience when deciding to purchase your product.
You will be able to define these key elements by asking what the must-have features and components are that will help you accomplish your goals?
Mistake #2: Not Capturing Analytic Benchmarks
You need to establish metrics based on your old website’s performance. Analytics benchmarks can be found in HubSpot or Google Analytics will assist you in goal setting for the new website.
Benchmarks will include time spent on site, overall visits, and average banner click-through rates: B2B publishers who monetize based on ad revenue are chiefly concerned with these.
Visitors to sales conversions of a certain product is another benchmark to note. A B2C company should waste no time and focus the entire user experience toward this right away.
A service-based organization may be more concerned with lead generation and therefore prefer to spend more effort raising awareness outside of its brand.
From an SEO point of view, to retain link equity and any value you’ve built on your current domain, you should benchmark the following metrics at least:
- Total traffic (from organic search, referrals, etc.)
- Conversion rates (ideally each step between traffic and customers)
- Which pages are getting organic traffic (usually mapped to the best keywords)
- Usage metrics (geography, bounce rate, time on site, etc.)
- Inbound links (sites that are linking back to you)
Mistake #3: Choosing the Wrong CMS and Hosting Provider
The right content management system (CMS) is perhaps the single most important factor for a website. Taking the scope of the new site into account, you also have to consider cost, functionality, support, security, reliability, and speed.
To ensure a perfectly optimized website a CMS should have:
Responsive design
Is the website responsive? Can it work seamlessly across any computer, tablet, mobile device, or browser? Google watches for this as an SEO signal.
Functionality
Can you add the right meta tagging or rich schema that search engines use to understand the layout, context, and content of your website?
Analytics
Does the CMS allow you to add analytics functionality or have analytics functionality built in? You need to be able to easily track visits, leads, bounce rates, time on site, and user flows, and build custom reports to answer specific marketing questions.
Support
Do you have access to a support team or an online community if an issue comes up with the CMS? Make sure you know what SMS customer support is going to cost in advance.
Speed
Make sure your website is using an up-to-date CMS with a fast hosting provider, since search engines use site load speed as a ranking factor. HubSpot has a lightning-fast hosting provider
Mistake #4: Not Submitting a Sitemap and other SEO Mistakes
Every website should submit a sitemap to search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. These can be submitted through the respective search engine’s webmaster tools feature. A sitemap shows the URLs for your entire site and helps search engines understand the organization of your website.
And before that, during the web redesign phase, make sure your use redirects properly. Another of the more common SEO mistakes either using 302 (temporary) redirects, or using 301 (permanent) redirects the WRONG way.
If you’re eliminating pages from your old website, you need to redirect your old page to the most relevant new page with similar keywords. This is a much better option than just sending people to your homepage or your blog.
Mistake #5: Not Telling Search Engines About Your Domain Change
You need to tell search engines like Google that your new website is no longer the same. In addition to submitting your new sitemap, use the change of address tool in the Search Console for Google to give them an update.
When submitting your change of address to Google:
- Move your content over to the new domain.
- Verify Google Search Console on the new domain.
- Submit your change of address in Google Search Console.
One More Thing
If you’re not using secure hosting (HTTPS) yet, you need to get with the program. Seriously.
Bad security practices are detrimental to SEO. Search engines will remove your website from their index if your website has been hacked. Make sure your CMS has the right security built in or you are using a security plug-in to avoid this.
Some browsers draw the visitors’ attention to a non-secure warning if your website is not using secured hosting.
As of April 2017, 50% percent of page one search results were on https, so this is the new industry standard. It is important to the website’s ability to rank and to users in general alike.
In summary, when redesigning a website you cannot cut corners and you cannot afford to make SEO mistakes. Every other website designer worth their salt is paying attention to every detail – and you need to do the same.
Apr 15, 2019 | manufacturing web design
You know how they say “don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, it doesn’t apply to websites. This is why manufacturing companies are designing new sites or redesigning old ones.
As soon as they arrive, visitors make instant judgments based on how your website looks and how easy it is to use. And they’re making the decision to stay or bounce in less time than it takes to snap a finger.
Users also love responsive websites. Which is probably why they dislike referring others to websites that look awful on mobile devices. This is why you can no longer throw up a substandard site.
Like it or not, a badly designed site is bad for business. If you care about your business, a mobile-friendly website is no longer optional. You need one designed by a reputable seo website design company.
Here’s why:
Prepare Your Website for the First Contact
What’s the first impression that people have about your website? You see, people decide if they want to stick around within a few seconds of landing on your site.
If it looks like something out of the 90’s -most manufacturing companies have crappy sites like that- most people will bail.
A seo website design company will design or redesign your website so it looks modern, is user-friendly and optimized for the search engines. They’ll also tweak the site so it’s mobile-friendly and responsive.
This is important because 8 out of every 10 sites are viewed on mobile devices. Statista reports that over 50 percent of all web users access the web through mobile devices. So, you cannot afford to ignore mobile.
More importantly, they’ll deploy web design and seo best practices like simplifying website navigation, providing a clean look, optimizing your website and combining texts and visuals.
These will provide an overall, pleasant experience for your audience.
Makes or Breaks Your Business
Almost 80 percent of web marketing firms claim that poor website design affects their clients’ businesses. Most people check out manufacturing company websites before even deciding to do business with them.
A poorly designed website communicates poor brand management. This tells them that you’re not running a serious operation.
Customers are put off by poorly designed websites. They’d rather do business with your competition, just because their website inspires more confidence.
A seo web design company will give your company that facelift it needs, thus making your website one that’s appealing and attractive.
Increased Search Engine Rankings
Many regular web design firms only do a good job of building you a pretty, functional website. They hardly do anything for your website rankings on the search engines.
Yet, this is where the bulk of traffic comes from. Your website must be seo optimized so that it enjoys increased search engine visibility.
We’ve heard some manufacturers ask why is seo important. Well, a seo expert makes sure that your website gets ranked in the top 10 listings for all targeted search results.
Websites ranked in the first position get 33 percent of all traffic from keyword related searches. That’s huge. Even more, those same visitors hardly every scroll past the top 7 listings.
Manufacturing companies who are able to snag the top 3 positions get far more work and inquiries than they can handle.. all for free. The best part is they don’t have to spend a dime on paid advertising, that may not even work. How cool is that?!
Many manufacturing companies websites are there just for show. Don’t be one of those websites. Learn what is the best budget for Manufacturing Marketing & SEO?
Optimizes Websites for Higher Conversion Rates
With increased search visibility comes more traffic. But, lots of traffic to your website isn’t enough. You need all those visitors to take action.
This is why your site must drive more leads, phone calls, and business. If it’s not, then you’re doing something wrong.
When people visit your website, they should be compelled to take actions like making inquiries about your products, hiring your service or buying your products.
As a manufacturing company, you want those prospects to do business with you. The best way to do that is to have a website that gets people to take action. An SEO web design company will design your website with maximum conversion rates in mind.
This means they may have to do a lot of A/B testing, test your website copy, and switch things around until you get the best value for your money.
An average web design company won’t do this, as they’re only trained to just make your website “pretty”.
Good seo web design companies ensure that there’s a bold clear call to action on every page, reinforce the actions through persuasive texts, include visuals where necessary, improve website loading speed, and select the right colors for better conversions.
Constant Updates and Maintenance
Every website requires consistent updates and maintenance. If your website is wordpress based, you’ll need to update the version quickly to prevent security breaches.
They’ll carry out code and security upgrades, monitor bandwidth usage, ensure your website is live at all times, and so much more.
Your website’s content must also be fresh and in keeping with the times. It’s no secret that constant content updates help improve Google rankings. It helps drive traffic too.
A competent seo web design company can easily create a content schedule that will help refresh your old content or post new content with targeted long tail keywords.
Google’s freshness index constantly ranks newer content above older ones in a bid to continually provide fresh information. You should take advantage of this.
Is That All a Seo Website Design Company Does?
Not at all. They do so much more, including deploying effective marketing strategies that will keep you at the top of the search engines.
If you want to know more about why you need a seo website design professional, check out this article. We cannot overemphasize the importance of a seo website design company for a manufacturing company.
If you’d like to talk to a professional seo web design firm about this, get in touch with Sandy at Reno Web Designer.
