You’ve invested time and money into your business website, but you have no leads, no sales, and no idea what’s going on. Or maybe you’re running marketing campaigns that keep falling flat. On top of all that, you just can’t seem to rank on the first page of Google.
Sound familiar? At our most recent Small Business Success Series, our speakers tackled these issues with expert advice on website performance, SEO, and marketing momentum. If you can master these few things, you will see your business start to soar!
My Website Isn’t “Performing” – Zach Webber, Big Red Jelly
We hear this phrase all the time here at Big Red Jelly; businesses come to us looking for a solution as to why their website isn’t “performing.” What exactly does a performing website look like?
Zach Webber, Co-Founder and COO of Big Red Jelly, talked about website “performance” and gave some tips on what you can do about poor performance on your website.
Gathering the Data
For small businesses specifically, a performing website means the website is converting and bringing in money. Of course, we all want our websites to bring in money! It’s important to track website traffic so you know how customers are using your website. Google Analytics should be installed on your website already, so if you haven’t used it yet, log in and take a look at what the numbers are saying!
Analyzing Website Data
Once you have data to look at, check your conversion rate. You can estimate your conversion rate by tracking page visits. How many customers are visiting your “thanks for purchasing” page versus the homepage?
A 2-3% conversion rate is normal, so if your conversion rate is lower than that, something is wrong with your website. If you do have a normal conversion rate, you can reverse-engineer the number of conversions you want within a specific timeframe to see how many visitors you’ll need on your website.
Fixing Low Conversion Rates
The first things you should check if you have a low conversion rate are:
- Site speed
- Navigation (make it SIMPLE)
- Mobile optimization
- Calls to action
If all these things look fine, there may be a disconnect between what your customers are expecting from your website and what it actually provides. Take a step back and step into the mind of your customers. What information are they looking for when they come to your website? Provide the content they want, not just the content you want them to see.
Also consider if there might be an issue when it comes to pricing. Your pricing may not necessarily be wrong for what you’re offering, but if you have poor messaging on your website, potential customers may not truly see the value of what you offer. If they don’t see the value, the price could scare them away.
Working with a Normal Conversion Rate
Once your conversion rate is looking normal, growth is easy. It’ll probably cost you some money, but that’s because everyone wants more website traffic! Consider investing in ads, SEO, and other forms of strategic marketing to help scale traffic. When nothing’s broken, the strategy is simple for growth, you just have to learn what will work for your business specifically.
Best Practices for SEO – Stefan Grant, Upward Engine
Ranking high on Google can make or break your business. Since over 80% of online searches happen on Google, ensuring your website is optimized for SEO is more important than ever.
Stefan Grant, Partnerships Manager at Upward Engine, shared with us SEO best practices including catering to Google’s crawlers, optimization strategies, and how to use AI to boost your rankings and visibility.
What does Google look for when rewarding rankings? At first glance, it might seem random. But if you want to rank higher, there are some specific steps you can take to maximize your traffic with Google specifically.
The EEAT Principles
83% of what goes into rankings is on-site content. Only 17% is off-site. That means it’s important what kinds of content you implement on your site. Google rewards content that shows:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trust
As you create content on-site, keep these principles in mind and make sure each piece of content has a purpose. As you do, Google’s crawlers will recognize your website as more reputable, and will list you higher in organic rankings.
Why Ranking on Google Matters
If you’re running other marketing efforts, why is it so important to rank on Google, anyways? Google searches account for 80% of the search engine market share. This means that whatever Google does, other search engines are going to follow suit. If you appeal to Google’s ranking system, you will likely start to gain traction on other search engines as well. Adhering to these requirements can also help your company get listed in AI recommendations.
Generative AI’s Role in SEO
Generative AI is a hot topic in marketing right now, and will continue to be in the future. Some marketers are worried that Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) will replace SEO entirely. However, while GEO has its place, it only really takes care of informational and navigational keywords which are top of the marketing funnel and won’t convert anyways. Optimizations to rank in Generative AI search will continue to be built on a foundation of excellent SEO practices, meaning SEO will stay relevant.
How can you leverage AI to streamline marketing efforts without making your business look like an AI bot itself? There are plenty of AI-assisted tools to help with SEO. Tools like SEOQuake can help give recommendations on how to improve your on-site content to rank higher in search engines.
You can also use generative AI to help you write content for your website, but be careful! If you copy and paste AI content onto your website, website crawlers will notice, and your rankings will be penalized. Think of it like plagiarizing an essay in college – your professors will notice it isn’t your content.
No matter how technology changes, SEO will continue to be a crucial aspect of growing your business. When you create on-site content that is valuable to your audience and positions your company as trustworthy, you will see an improvement in rankings and drive meaningful traffic to your business.
Gaining & Maintaining Marketing Momentum – Lexi Elswood, Big Red Jelly
As a small business owner, you likely find that some (or many) marketing efforts are difficult to keep up with. Posting regularly on social media can be seen as daunting or a complete waste of time, and running ads or investing in SEO can be a financial sacrifice for your business at first. Even keeping up relationships with existing and potential customers can feel like trying to get a date with someone who is actively ignoring you.
Lexi Elswood, Growth Strategy Lead here at Big Red Jelly, acknowledged these challenges for small business owners, and provided hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Regarding these common marketing struggles, Lexi said, “Marketing efforts are torturous without marketing tactics giving your marketing strategies momentum.”
“Marketing efforts are torturous without marketing tactics giving your marketing strategies momentum.”
Lexi Elswood, Growth Strategy Lead, Big Red Jelly
Building Marketing Momentum
Marketing strategies and tactics should be the backbone of all your marketing efforts. What’s the difference between the two?
- Strategy: Your long-term vision and overarching plans for marketing
- Tactics: The action items you need to take to help you achieve your strategy
(And no, “I want to rank on the first page of Google” is not a strategy.)
Building marketing momentum requires building out strategies and tactics and being consistent in executing them. At first, it can be overwhelming. Especially for one-man marketing teams. If you don’t take it one step at a time, you might burn out pretty quickly. When your habits don’t have momentum, you end up with inconsistent content creation and poor reputation management.
Here are some ways you can combat this burnout and build marketing momentum:
- Ditch the old marketing funnel and stick to the new Marketing Flywheel. When you are able to attract customers, turn them into your biggest advocates. At that point, they’ll help market for you!
- Take a step back. Build out processes, have a system, hire someone; do whatever hard things you’ve been avoiding. It will pay off!
- Utilize content repurposing. Let the strategy carry you forward! Make sure everything you create has value and can carry over into other assets. When you write a blog post, turn it into a free downloadable. Share it in a series of social media posts. That way, one piece of content can turn into lots of content!
Marketing Holy Grails
Need some help as to where to start with your marketing efforts? Lexi shared some of her marketing “holy grails” – surefire ways to make the most of your efforts and maintain that momentum:
- Relevant search blogs: Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. What do they want to see when they come to your website (Hint: it’s probably not just sales content)?
- Lead generation marketing: Attract qualified leads with freebies or downloadables with low-commitment actions to get them in your sales funnel. Everyone likes free tips!
- Email drip campaigns: Nurture the leads you have as they come in. There are so many different types of emails you can send to engage your audience! Welcome emails, educational content, success stories, and special offers are a great place to start.
- Retargeting ad campaigns: Re-engage visitors to your website who viewed your content but didn’t engage. Oftentimes, users aren’t ready to buy the first time they visit your website. Continue to send messages their way so when they’re ready to buy, you’re the first place they think of going.
When you’re starting out, marketing can feel overwhelming. With the right strategies, tactics, and consistency, you can build marketing momentum that will drive real results. Put in the work to create a system that works for you, not against you. And eventually, you’ll turn marketing from a burden into a powerful tool for growth.
Need advice on how to grow your business? Our team of experts is ready to assist. Check out our free resources, and when you’re ready to change the trajectory of your business forever, you know where to find us.
