Last week we joined together at the monthly HITMC Tweet chat to dive deep into “The Golden Rules for Website Opitmization.
It seems as though we all have had our fair share of experience with building, refreshing, maintaining and even over-hauling a website. There were so many great tips and tricks shared with us from the community, that we had to narrow it down.
So for this week’s chat summary, we are doing something slightly different. We will be listing the answer that appeared the most for each question of the chat. Scroll down to get the # 1 answers for optimizing your company’s website:
T1. What are some of the first things to look at when giving your website an over-haul?
# 1 Answer: Speed & Usability
Be sure that your users can quickly and efficiently get the information they need. A site that takes forever to load and is bogged down with is not effective. If it takes the user too long to get what they came to the site in the first place for…consider them goners.
Usability & Load Speed – Is there a clear action that the website wants to user to take? And does the website load quickly to allow the user to start browsing immediately? –@altos, Aria’s web/design partner #HITMC https://t.co/KDKFikrqOg
— Aria Marketing (@AriaMarketing) October 13, 2020
T2. What faux-pas should be avoided when designing, redesigning or refreshing a website?
#1 Answer – Stay Classic, Don’t Overthink it
Over stylizing is more cumbersome than anything. Stick a look and feel that speaks to the persoality of your company. Trying to build something “on trend” will not gain you any ground in months or years down the road.
T2: Do your homework, research and choose a look/feel and style that has some staying power. Do not go with what is trendy today. Think 6 months-18 months down the road before you finalize navigation, aesthetics and your own scalability needs. #hitmc https://t.co/dro9Bm1iju
— Chintan Shah (@chints2) October 13, 2020
T3. How can you successfully tackle SEO on your website?
#1 Answer – Create a SEO Plan
SEO is a living and breathing thing, so important to have a plan and adjust where necessary:
- Perform your keyword research first
- Take note of what your competitors are doing
- Keep SEO top of mind when writing your content
Many from the community also use tools/plugins such as Yoast and All in One SEO to help ensure each page or piece of content is packed full of keywords to opitmize for SEO.
Create an SEO plan. This might include a competitor analysis, keyword search ranking, etc. Having a longer home page with more keywords and meta descriptions can increase relevance. #HITMC ~Jemma https://t.co/jkh3fbxpqY
— KNB Communications (@KNBComm) October 13, 2020
T4. What ways can you ensure your website navigation and usability is intuitive and consistent?
#1 Answer – Keep it Simple
Be sure to follow B2B navigation norms. Trying to be cute with navigation options is a no-no. Keep with the classics: About, Contact Us, Products, Customers. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to site navigation.
T4: Websites that frequently change their terminology in their navigation infuriate me to no end. As a consumer, I will dismiss you and your products immediately if I have to constantly search for the same thing. #HITMC https://t.co/liHCr7KWB8
— Matt DiVenere (@Matt_DiV) October 13, 2020
T5. What type of content generates the best traffic and conversions on your website?
#1 Answer – Blogs, Press Releases and Case Studies
If you’re not doing any of the above, stop what you’re doing and re-evulate. Press Releases work to get your brand out to the masses, blogs establish you a thought leader, and case studies help you convert.
this varies for us. Press releases being huge traffic and depending on the topic, our blog posts. Case Studies are also a huge draw. #HITMC
— larrykaiser (@LarryKaiser) October 13, 2020
BONUS: Do you use a live chat service for your website? Is it helpful to your users? What other tools can you incorporate on your website to ensure users are getting the best experience?
#1 Answer – Live Chat is Better for Customer Service
Many of our peers from the community use or have used a live chat tool on their website. However the majority of them said that it was best used for customer service rather than converting leads in the B2B market.
I loved the experience that @Drift had to register for its virtual event. Having a chat bot help me fill out the form made it seem less daunting of a task and more conversational. It was awesome. #HITMC
— Matt DiVenere (@Matt_DiV) October 13, 2020
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