Planning Your Digital Strategy.

Have you thought about your website lately?

Was it a passing thought or did you sit down and really think about it?

If you are starting a website, blog, social media or planning to update your current site then you should take some time to think about what you want it to do. Do we want more traffic to the website? Do you want to increase the amount of leads it generates? It’s time to start to build a great digital strategy and get your website working for you.

Most people get websites designed and opening social media accounts with no plan. It is because everyone else is doing it. If you are a business owner you are not running your business because it’s trendy. You do it because you have a passion for what you do. Make sure your website reflects this.  Don’t just get the website built so that it soon becomes an afterthought.

When we are thinking about our digital strategy today we have so much more to think about. Because people no longer just use PC’s and laptops to search online. They are using their phones and tablets as well. Do you know if your website is responsive? Does it work on a smart phone? If you haven’t updated the website in the last two years the chances are it is not mobile ready. People are searching for things differently and are using social media to find products and services.

Your digital strategy should be a combination of

• Content
• Website
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social media
• Pay per clicks
• Web analytics

When we combine the points above we are on track to create a great digital campaign. The content is the most important thing to any website or social media campaign. It needs to be relevant and engaging? SEO will get us to the top of the search engine rankings. This will take time so we can use Pay Per Click (Google Adwords) to increase our position. Then we use analytics to track our website. We have lots of data to help improve the content. We use this data to build up a following using social media and start to engage with our customers.

If you are missing any of the points above then you need to start thinking about your digital strategy.   Over the next weeks I will step you through the process. We will look at how to create content, choosing a web designer, what social media suits you and all the other points.

If you follow these steps then you will be on your way to creating a great digital strategy.

Author: Paul Murray