Securing competitive advantage in the digital realm can be quite a challenging task but if you set a good foundation for your official online presence by implementing smart web design and content creation practices, there’s no doubt you’ll achieve this goal.
For a website to generate a constant flow of traffic, it needs to provide a positive user experience, secure conversions, and follow a focused content marketing strategy. Here are five easy steps that won’t require any programming expertise.
- Develop a solid content creation tactic. To do this, it’s important to know who your target audience is, and to have a good understanding of their specific and unique challenges and needs. You also need to determine the methods to be used to effectively connect with users as they go through their journey as buyers. Your content should be able to be clear about these factors so your website will be deemed completely valuable. When it comes to content creation, always think with your users in mind and how to serve them more than selling to them.
- Establish how content should come together across the different pages of your website. Your sitemap should be arranged in an intuitive manner so users are able to explore your website smoothly. There’s no cookie cutter solution for this, you simply need to understand your users and how they are likely to consume the content of your website based on their needs. Determining the sitemap flow is crucial for figuring out the best strategy for site navigation.
- Combine everything for site navigation. This will guide users on where they should start consuming content and where to end with your CTA. The most important types of navigation for websites are top level and secondary. Top level navigation is usually the first place users go in deciding where to commence their exploration. Meanwhile, secondary navigation is in the form of dropdown menus and sidebars where users are led to supporting content or additional information.
- Implement Google Analytics reporting. This is the best way to validate the performance of the website. You can obtain information on traffic, retention, bounce rate, stickiness, conversions, and others. From these data, you can identify areas for improvement so your website can perform better. Likewise, you’ll be able to see what types of content are consumed most; this way, you can produce them more and lock in interest, as well as cultivate customer loyalty.
- Rinse and Repeat. Yes, a website just like any other marketing tool is always work in progress. It’s not a “set it and forget it” endeavor. You must keep up with technology and browsing habits. Once your website has been live for a few weeks, you can work your way backwards and revisit the above four steps. Google Analytics will tell you what works and what doesn’t work; Based on that, you may need to make some adjustments to your site navigation; next, you will revisit your content to make sure it follows a natural flow; finally, you need to make sure that your content is always interesting for your visitors (not just for search engines).
I am certain that you can improve your website traffic with just these 5 easy steps. And in case of doubt, remember, simple is always better.
Thank you for reading. Until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real (MGR)
