Challenge 1: Finding New Customers

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It's no secret that finding new customers is one of the top challenges for small businesses.  Without customers, there is no business, right?

At Sidekick Web Studio, we hear this concern a lot and have integrated a few of our top solutions into our website development and email marketing services to help you gain the edge you crave.

Code-Level SEO Optimization

SEO is something you probably hear about a lot.  It stands for Search Engine Optimization, and is the set of algorithms Google uses to  rank your web page in organic search results.

There are many factors which play into long-term, strategic SEO, but many of the basic requirements for solid SEO  can be built right into your website. At Sidekick Web Studio, any website you purchase from us is fully SEO-optimized, including:

• Setting unique Open Graph settings for each page. These are used for social network sharing, such as when you copy a link into Facebook and it pulls in a unique image and few sentences
• Using proper HTML semantic structure (such as headings, sections, links, paragraph elements in the code)
• Forcing SSL on every page. This is for website security and ensures all website traffic is thoroughly encrypted
• Using image alt attributes on all images
• Placing canonical tags in the code so Google knows explicitly which site version to look at
• Having a robots.txt file and sitemap that Google can easily find.

These factors ensure you have the solid base you need as you engage in other external, ongoing factors to improve your search rankings to allow customers to find you online.

Keyword-Rich Meta Tags

Meta Tags may sound boring, but their role is undeniable. When you conduct a search on Google, the website’s page name appears (this is the meta title), and a description appears beneath each website name (usually a one or two sentence description), which is the meta description.

Think of meta tags as a billboard on the interstate.  When someone performs a search for a product your company sells, they begin scrolling through the pages of the search engine.  As they are scrolling, much like driving down an interstate, they are reading and viewing each site’s meta tag before they decide which website to click.  

The default meta tag (for Google’s algorithm) is a short snippet from the text body of your website.

However, you can also override this function, and TELL Google exactly what you would like your potential site visitors to see when they Google you.

This increases the attraction of your website, improves the chances you’ll appear in specific search results based on keywords you insert into your meta tags, and makes it more competitive when someone goes to click on it.

At Sidekick Web Studio, we always make sure there are clean, keyword-optimized meta tags for every site we build.  If you’re worried about yours, give us a call and we’re happy to have a look at it!

Google Analytics

Did you know that Google Analytics is a free service provided by Google for any website on the internet? (Yes, even yours).

In many cases, this is a fantastic marketing resource, that many small business owners either forget to consult, or fail to use properly.

Your Google Analytics account has great information on how your website is performing in searches.  It also has valuable insight into which parts of your website are most viewed, and how users found those specific pages (ie: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Search, Referral).

All of these analytics can be used to help refine your user experience, and better target your marketing efforts = more new customers!

All Sidekick Web Studio new website builds include Google Analytics integration, and that is exactly the reason why: your business runs on Google.  You deserve to know exactly how it is performing!

For help setting up your Google Analytics account, view our HOW TO article HERE.