Website Resolutions 2016
Are you all set to go with your digital marketing plans for 2016?  Surprisingly, many marketers begin their annual marketing planning in January!  By the time you plan, develop, and implement, it's almost February, leaving you 11 months to get 12 months of results.

Start Digital Marketing on Day 1

Here are 3 website resolutions to get you started for 2016.
  • post 2 blog articles a month
  • commit to responsive website design
  • add easy SEO content once a month

2 Blog Articles a Month

A good blog article should take you between 1 and 2 hours to write.  Up front, spend a little time on researching any facts you want to include in your blog post.   For example, here's a researched fact: a blog post which takes 7-minute to read will have around 1,600 words.  A little simple math then and if you think you can hold a reader for only 3-1/2 minutes, shoot for about 800 words. Need some blog post topics?  Go talk to your customer service or sales team and ask them to tell you the most interesting story they have heard from a customer in the past week.  It may be a problem waiting for an answer, or a problem your company solved in an interesting way.  Use it!  Make it your inspiration to pass on some meaningful real-world helpful advice. Need another blog post topic?  Walk into the accounting department and ask someone what was the last supplier invoice they just paid.  Then go and write an article about why that supplier is important to your business, and how their product makes your product better.

Commit to Responsive Webdesign

Okay, this is not a 2 hour project like writing a good blog post.  This may be the most important challenge you take in 2016.  In a recent study we performed on our own customers, the device used to access our customer's websites the most often was a desktop computer, followed closely by a mobile phone.  Depending on the nature of the customer's business, the two devices are now approaching equal use for searching and browsing the web, including your website. A responsive website design adapts the display and navigation to the device, making for a better user experience.  Also, Google now tests your website for it's "Mobile Friendly Test" and factors this in the search rankings on mobile searches.  If your website is not yet responsive, add this to a project you need to start in the first quarter of 2016.

Add Easy SEO Content Once a Month

Search Engine Optimization is about convincing Google that your website pages offer value to users, on topics they consider important.  Nothing influences Google more than providing great content to your users.  We have already talked about writing a couple blog posts month, above.  Now let's talk about more permanent content.  Page content tends to come in a few forms, promotional, transactional, reference, and educational.  Promotional content includes your pages on your product descriptions, generally explaining what your widgets do and why your widgets do them best.  Transactional content helps to instruct users through a process or series of actions, such as ordering a product.  Reference content may be certifications or standards that your business conforms to and posts for credibility.  Educational content is different from all these in that the purpose is simply to inform, to help your customer better understand the how and why of your products, or other products like them.  Consider adding content to your website which explains common terminology in your industry, which may not be common language for your customers.  Something like a glossary of terms or definitions.  If you offer products, include pictures of the items or components.  An educated customer is further along the buying cycle and if you provide the education, your brand is associated with being an expert.  This itself is a great benefit.  Now add to this the fact that Google loves this kind of content, and you have a double win. Need another page topic?  Grab any instruction manual your company provides and read it twice.  Now write the second page of instructions from memory.  Did you get them right?  If you can't remember the instructions, then they are to complicated.  Write a supplement to the manual in easier language to make it easier to use.  Again, easy SEO content that is useful for your customers.

It's 2016, Get back to Work

Now you have a few ideas.  Get to work on your content, and get your website set up for any device.  Don't wait for February!