We've had a busy week, including launching a new responsive website for Greensynergy Consulting!

What we love about this site, apart from the organic look and feel, is how the site architecture simplifies a complex series of services, making it very easy to understand what the offerings are, and where to find everything. Check it out!

http://www.greensynergy.com.au

Many of our new clients come to us because they need help with an existing website which isn’t ranking well in search and they don’t know what steps to take to improve its performance.

If this sounds like you, and your website isn’t achieving top rankings in search engines like Google, you need to make sure your website is fully optimised with nothing holding it back. 

1.)  Organise a website “health check” in the form of a Website Structural Audit to uncover any technical issues such as broken links, html code errors, missing meta data or any other issues that could interfere with your website's ranking. 

2.)  Today's consumers looking to buy a product or service start the process by using a search engine to find vendors and product information. So, using the right keywords on your website can make the difference between being found on the web or being invisible. Organise a Page Optimization Audit to see how well are your web pages are optimised for your keywords (the search terms people use to find you). 

3.)  Is your website set up for multiple viewing platforms? In other words, will your customers be able to view your website no matter what device they are using (mobile phone, iPad, desktop computer)? If the answer is no, this needs to be addressed as a priority.

4.)  Are your web pages converting? Do you have effective calls-to-action? Lots of traffic to your website doesn't really mean much if your marketing efforts are not converting visitors into customers. Calls-to-action can get your visitor’s attention and direct it to your offers and help you generate leads.

5.)  Do you blog? Blogging has become a powerful business tool, allowing companies to engage in a 2-way conversation with customers and at the same time improve their search engine rankings. Companies that blog have 434% more indexed pages (Hubspot). The more indexed pages you have, the greater your leads. To blog effectively, you will need to develop a communication strategy so you will know what to write, promote your blog via social media and other channels, and be able to measure the success of your blogging efforts.

6.)  Are you leveraging social media on your website? Together, social media channels and your website should work together seemlessly to promote your products or services. 

• Include visible social media buttons on your website that link to your social media accounts. 
• If you use social media to update your customers and clients on a daily or weekly basis, you should also showcase your twitter feed or facebook posts directly on your website. 
• Also include share buttons so that your visitors can share your content with others.

7.)  Are you using marketing analytics to measure your marketing? While web analytics can give you lots of insights and data into the technical performance of your website, you need much richer data to understand the performance of your marketing campaigns. Marketing analytics include data from your website and other sources like email, social media and offline events.

Take a look at an infographic just released by Online MBA titled "A Case Study in Social Media Demographics." It gives demographic data for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Linkedin, Reddit and Digg which could be useful when planning your social campaigns. The infographic also has data on how many people are using their mobile phones to do social, driving home the point of my article last week about the importance of Responsive Design for your website.

Via: Online MBA Resource

I have learned one solid truth on my life journey - that nothing ever ever EVER stays the same, and given the changes in technology just over the last couple of years, this couldn't be a more profound truism for business owners as well. No longer can businesses solely rely on developing a website for desktop computers because the Internet isn't something you only browse on your desktop computer anymore. It's also on your phone, your tablet, your laptop and who knows what other gadget from the future. 

Adapt or Perish

According to research firm IDC:

By 2015, more U.S. Internet users will access the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs or other wireline devices. As smartphones begin to outsell simpler feature phones, and as media tablet sales explode, the number of mobile Internet users will grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6% between 2010 and 2015.

Websites currently using flash for instance, are missing out because Flash is not compatible with platforms such as the iPhone and iPad, and Adobe is no longer pushing its Flash software format for use in browser programs that come with smartphones and tablet computers. 

So... What's the Answer? Responsive Design.

When you visit a website today using your iPhone, desktop computer, Blackberry, iPad etc, its design needs to take into account the platform you are viewing it on, and ideally it should match the size and shape of the screen you're viewing it from. This is called "Responsive Design". 

Responsive Design is a relatively new trend that's moved from the fringes into the mainstream. In a nutshell, it uses fluid widths in percentages and ems, scalable images and adjustable layouts. There are 3 very important elements in responsive web design:

• Flexible Layouts
• Flexible Images
• Media Queries

Take a look at an example below which illustrates Responsive Design across multiple platforms:
 (image by Shadow Song Designs)

Here's another example of a responsive website we recently completed:

Why Should Responsive Web Design Matter to You?

The bottom line is this... business owners can't ignore the issue of multiple viewing platforms. Your website needs to accommodate multiple viewing platforms so your customers can access your products and/or services no matter what device they're using.

Call us. We can help.

P.S. Yes we know our website isn't responsive. We're working on it!