Not using Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools
These days, it’s fairly uncommon to see websites not using Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. Unfortunately, there are still a few websites that don’t use the power of these two Google tools to their advantage. Without Google Analytics, you’re robbing yourself of valuable insights that can improve your website’s visibility on Google’s search engine. You can track so many metrics, ranging from the number of visitors that come to your website to more nuanced information such as visitor demographics, geography, and even affinity information.
Out of the two, Google’s Webmaster Tools is probably the least used, but it still provides a tremendous amount of information relating to how Google sees your website. It tells you if you have any errors on your website that you need to fix, and more importantly, the types of keywords visitors are using to find your website. It even shows you your website’s click-through rate (CTR) for each keyword. Armed with this information, you can create content for certain types of keywords that will generate the most visitors.
When interpreted correctly, the information these two tools provide allow you to align and adjust your online marketing strategy where you can generate the most traffic and ultimately, more online sales.
Not having a mobile version of your website
You probably know by now that mobile users have eclipsed desktop users, and that more people are now relying on their mobile phones to search for products and services. Not having a mobile version of your website places you at a tremendous disadvantage, especially if you want to target visitors who are already on-island looking for things to do. This also brings us to…
Not taking advantage of local search
So you probably have a mobile version of your website. Great! Are you taking advantage of local search as well? If you’re not, then you’re missing the other half of what makes mobile one of the fastest growing segments of e-commerce.
Not having social media links and sharing buttons (or not having any social media accounts at all)
If you’re looking at your Google Analytics data correctly, you’ll probably see that Google is also looking at social media engagement as one of its ranking factors. Generating content on social media and growing your social media communities not only gives you the advantage of having a captured audience for your products and services, it also serves as a defensive strategy against search engine updates that may affect your website traffic in the future.
Having social media links on your website also encourages social community participation, shares, and incrementally increases visitor trust. And speaking of trust…
Not using trust icons
Are you a member of A3H? How about the BBB and the HVCB? All these organizations provide a badge that you can proudly display on your website to convey trust with your visitors, and shows that you’re a reputable company. In addition to these, your website’s secure certificate provider (Verisign, GeoTrust, Thawte) and payment processing providers (Authorize.net, PayPal) are also good additions to have.
Are your TripAdvisor and Yelp badges trust icons as well? Of course they are. These badges are great when it comes to showing off that you’re a great company with great services and products. They’re also great in showcasing your company’s online reputation.
Not having a blog
Having a blog on your website provides several advantages. Perhaps the most important reason is that it generates more content for search engines to index, thereby increasing the number of entry pages for visitors to reach your site. It also allows you to establish your company as an authority in a specific subject area, and gives you more content for your social media posts. From a visitor immersion standpoint, your blog posts can showcase the quality of experience you provide for your customers by showcasing photos and videos of your products and services.
These costly mistakes hinder your website from giving your visitors an immersive experience. What is an immersive experience? Find out in my next blog post!
And by the way, if you’re an A3H member and you need help with any of these, give the A3H office a call and find out if we can help you help your business get on the right track with your online marketing efforts.
Did we miss anything important? Tell us through the comments below so that we can help other A3H members improve their web marketing initiatives.