So many people put their website together and then just let it sit there. You have spent a lot of time and money to put your website together so make sure it works for you. Every business is different which means that every approach will be different, but here are some ideas to get you started.

Blogging

I feel like this is a dirty word for some people. Blogging is one of the most effective ways to improve your reach. However, it takes time. Because our lives are so busy we tend to discount the effect of blogging because there isn’t an immediate, obvious effect. But, it improves the ranking of your website and the reach of your social media in ways that you don’t necessarily think of. For example, when you share an article that isn’t yours (which is what most people do), people don’t go to your website to read it, they go to someone else’s website. That doesn’t help you, it helps the person who wrote the article. The way to get started is to “get started”! I find that scheduling 1 hour a week to generate a blog post works really well. Here is a great video from a full-time, successful blogger, that might help get you started.

Newsletters

Newsletters are another way to engage your audience. The great thing about a newsletter is that the people who sign up are people who WANT to hear from you. You aren’t just taking a stab in the dark at hundreds or thousands of people. You can even connect your website blog with your newsletter and publish your articles automatically. I usually add a simple signup form in a static place in the footer of the website where people can signup. You can use your list to notify people of a sale, new offering, or change in hours.

Forms

Forms on your website can be very powerful. It is a great contactless way to get a lead or to fill up your appointment schedule. We have just created some forms which can pass information from the button someone pushed to the form itself to refill the form making it even easier for someone to complete. You can add signatures to forms, integrate payment options, surveys, and conditional statements that let you show different options depending on a selection by the user.

Calendars & Booking

You can easily display your Google Calendar or add an Event page to your website. You can even use some great Booking software to allow people to book appointments. When people book an appointment you will receive an email with all the details. It takes less time for the user and less time managing appointments for your staff.

Social Media

Social media is very important when it comes to your website. Just because you don’t use some of the social media channels on a regular basis does not mean that you can’t gain advantages by being on the platform. If you don’t have a Twitter or  Linkedin account, you should. You can have your website automatically post content to it from your blog posts. I rarely post directly to Twitter, but my website does and I see traffic coming to my website from Twitter regularly. If you don’t have a YouTube channel you should. You don’t have to post videos, you can create a playlist of some videos you find that others might be able to use. Then you can even show that playlist on your website.

There are so many ways you can leverage the power of your website. Don’t let it sit idle. Put it to work!

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