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Company websites are a dime a dozen. Some might even say the Internet is overgrown with them. However, high-quality, effective company websites are like a needle in a haystack.
When you land on these front pages, there is a noticeable increase in quality and functionality — and this isn’t an accident. For one of these sites to exist, a team of experts had to design and implement each and every detail. Some consider this a technological miracle.
However, what is worth implementing on your own company website and what is unnecessary for your business’s success? Below you will find 10 ways to innovate your company’s website and boost organic traffic.
1. Run Regular Tests
Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason regarding why a newly implemented portion of your website works. The same can be said of elements that don’t work. This means you and your team of site developers must test for a variety of situations whenever you make significant changes to the site.
“A/B testing is common in email marketing but it’s also great for website testing,” says Gina Iovenitti, Growth Operations at Carda Health. “If you’re uncertain about anything you’re about to put online, put it through the testing wringer first.”
This advice goes for any change you make to your company site. From the simple act of moving the location of a few links to a complete design overhaul, don’t make anything official until you understand how it will affect your visitors’ user experience.
2. Keep Your SEO Updated
Even if you only have a weeks’ worth of training under your belt regarding website creation, you know just how vital search engine optimization (SEO) is to the effectiveness of any website. A website without SEO is like a website that was never created in the first place. Without SEO, only your friends and family might visit your site.
“The internet changes on a second-by-second basis. Once you have finished updating your company website’s SEO, it’s probably time to update again,” says Alex Novak, CEO of SLR. “Just make a habit of updating it often.”
You can choose to make sweeping changes or minor adjustments. Either way, these changes should be prompted by a need and not for the sake of making changes alone.
3. Produce New Content
At first glance, this suggestion may appear overwhelming: New content? Is there anything wrong with the old content? Just because your old content is still engaging doesn’t mean you should stop creating new stuff. The beauty here is you can create anything you believe will be effective, including podcasts, blog posts, videos and much more.
“Business, especially online, is as much a content game as it is a sales game,” says Ryan Rottman, Co-Founder and CEO of OSDB. “Anyone can play the content game, but not everyone will win.”
To win at new content creation, thinking outside the box must become a natural part of your working process. The idea is to stand out, not fit in.
4. Connect Via Social Media
Of course, new content will be rendered useless without a platform for audiences to discover it. To ensure these are in place, focus a portion of your efforts on connecting organically across multiple social media sites.
“Social media has become the largest driver of site traffic by a long shot,” says Nabeel Abdullah, CEO of Sapphire. “Failing to make this part of your company’s website growth plans is asking for disaster.”
It might sound appealing for your company to buy followers so as to appear more popular than you actually are. If there is one piece of advice you take from this piece, let it be this: Don’t buy your followers. A small, engaged group is much more valuable than a huge group that couldn’t care less.
5. Include Tactful Images and Videos
The glitz and glamor of the modern internet may influence you to go off the proverbial deep end and fill your sites with images, videos, and other graphics.. For the sake of your visitors, do not fall victim to this trend. At some point, there is such a thing as too many visual stimulations. You don’t want overwhelm (and subsequently )alienate potential customers.
“So many companies seem to evaluate their website design based whether it looks cool,” says Matt Miller, Founder and CEO of Embroker. “However, looking cool and working flawlessly are two different virtues, and the latter is far more important.”
The more images and graphics on your website, the slower it will load and function in general. This is nothing more than the simple rules of the internet where more content requires more data. In a near-instant world, you can see why slower load times might be an issue.
6. Only Include Necessary Items
Just as you should use discretion in regards to functionality when selecting the videos and other graphics that will appear on your company site, the same should be done with any element you choose to add to the site in general. Why, you might ask? Well, a company website should be a treasure trove of relevant information, not a treasure hunt.
“As you work through the steps of building and renovating your company site, remember that you are attempting to create an accessible hub of information, not a dissertation,” says Monte Deere, CEO of Kizik. “If there is one thing the internet specializes in, it’s rapid information and your website should hold fast to this tendency.”
Often, current traffic statistics for your website is the best place to discover if an unnecessary item is present. Say one of your pages or links is receiving far fewer clicks than those around it; this is good evidence it is an excessive element that should go by the wayside.
7. Don’t Forget Security
Every day, people across the internet lose their personal information to scams, human oversight, and security breaches. Though there is not much you can do for the first two, your company site can prioritize user security. Each person who lands on your homepage or utilizes your services should be confident their personal information is not at risk.
“Internet security should be on the top of your to-do list when you’re attempting to innovate your company site,” says Patricio Paucar, Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer at Navi. “It may not have the same visual influence as your latest ad, but it will give peace of mind.”
Customers are less likely to engage with companies which do not appear to operate on secure websites. Plus, if a company has suffered a data breach in the past, potential customers are more likely to turn elsewhere.
8. Collaborate With Other Sites
The backbone of the internet is connectivity. For your site to make waves online, it must be connected with others. To help nurture these relationships, consider offering your expertise to other websites in your sphere.
“The simple act of writing a guest blog post for a partner website can work wonders for the amount of traffic your site receives,” says Lyudmyla Dobrynina, Head of Marketing North America at Optimeal. “Obviously, the writing must have true substance. Assuming you know your stuff, this shouldn’t be an issue.”
Do not be afraid to be highly selective when choosing which companies or websites to partner with. A misstep in this effort could harm your reputation, but the right move will skyrocket your popularity.
9. Embrace Mobile Users
You would think after nearly two decades of internet-capable mobile devices, companies would understand they must have a fully-functional, mobile-specific version of their website. However, visits to websites across the internet show this is far from the case. In fact, you might be surprised at how few have paid attention to the rise of mobile browsing.
“At this point, more internet users are on a mobile device than not,” says Max Schwartzapfel, CMO of Fighting For You. “If you want to connect with these users, you have to meet them where they’re at with your own mobile web page design.”
Not only must you and your team create a near-flawless mobile version of your website, it must be updated constantly. Web pages have an unfortunate habit of breaking, and there is always room for improvement.
10. Make It Obvious
Due to the amount of time most people spend online, and the amount of content they consume, many have become desensitized to whatever digital items they put in front of their eyes. As someone trying their hardest to garner attention, you must do something to counter this. Going big or going home, as some say, could be just the course of action.
“Whenever you redesign a large aspect of your online presence, make a splash with it or no one will care,” says Ann McFerran, CEO of Glamnetic. “The internet has a tendency to be judge and jury. To win them over, your site changes must be great, obvious, and ground-breaking — a tall task, to be certain.”
Of all the ideas suggested in this article, this particular one may be the most abstract. However, if you manage to get a handle on it, it can make the biggest difference for your bottom line.
Conclusion
There really are no two ways about it: Running a business is tough. Innovating your company’s website and boosting organic traffic is that much tougher. Thankfully, these hints and tips can make it a little easier.
