When a small business hires a content marketing agency, the agency often suggests (or requires) a total website redesign. A website redesign isn’t just the agency’s way of making more money – it’s part of a comprehensive SEO marketing strategy. A website must have a specific structural foundation for a content marketing strategy to be successful. Frequently, a website redesign is necessary for optimal results.
Does your domain name match your brand?
Promoting your content on your own blog or across the internet is better when your domain name matches your brand. You might have the best content in the world, but if your domain name makes people scratch their heads, it will be a subtle disruption in the continuity of how your brand is perceived.
If you search for ideas on a domain registrar’s website like Godaddy, the domain name you want will probably be taken. However, it might be for sale and you can hire a domain name broker to get it for you. Don’t be shocked by the price if it is for sale. Some people price domains much higher than their actual value, hoping someone will just buy the name outright. A broker knows how to assess the value of a domain name and will negotiate the price down on your behalf. Brokers are experts at bringing greedy domain owners back down to reality because they know the game better than anyone.
To get a brand match, you don’t need a domain name that matches your company name. Your domain name only needs to perfectly reflect your brand. For example, say you run a business teaching people how to fish and your company’s name is [your city] Fishing Lessons. You don’t need a domain name that matches your company’s name. Depending on your company name, an exact match domain name might look awkward. Instead, choose a domain like thefishman.com or thatfishguy.com to maintain your brand and make your domain memorable.
If you start calling yourself “that fish guy,” you’ll build a reputation for being the fish guy and people will perceive your content as authoritative. You can’t do that with a domain name that matches your business name.
Does your website platform support your content marketing strategy?
First and foremost, your website platform plays a critical role in your content marketing strategy. Using the wrong platform hinders your progress more than you know. For example, say you expect your content creators to format and publish the content they create for your website. If you’re using WordPress, the learning curve will be small compared to complex platforms like Drupal, Joomla, and Umbraco.
If you expect your content creators to format and publish the content they create, that process should be easy with limited potential for mistakes. Allowing content creators to publish in WordPress is easy and you can restrict their admin panel access to limit the potential for wandering curiosity. WordPress is easy to learn and has fewer options than complex platforms. However, WordPress isn’t the right platform for every website.
If you must use a specific platform that isn’t intuitive to the average person, don’t torture your content creators – change your content submission/publication strategy instead. Don’t ask content creators to publish content. Create a simple submission process and hand off the publishing task to someone who has the time and patience to thoroughly understand your platform. Your content creators will probably produce better content when they’re not frustrated trying to navigate a complex platform.
Are you collecting email addresses?
Collecting email addresses on your site is essential. You can market your content through the search engines and guest blogging, but it’s not enough.
Running an email marketing campaign allows you to stay in touch with your visitors so you can continue developing rapport, notify them of new content and special deals, and close sales.
If you’re lucky, your content will be enough incentive for people to join your mailing list. However, unless you’ve already got a large social media following, you’ll need to create a lead magnet your visitors want. For instance, nobody wants a free e-book or “ultimate guide” unless it’s so valuable that you should be selling it instead of giving it away. Use that model to create your lead magnet. Develop something you should be selling and then give it away for free in exchange for email addresses.
If it’s time to redesign your site – just do it
If you’re struggling to fit your content marketing strategies into a website design that just doesn’t work, bite the bullet and redesign your site. It’s tough to think of losing the time and money you’ve already invested, but every day you stick with a non-functional site is a day you’re losing sales.
