7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help You Update Your Website

Virtual Assistant, Websites0 comments

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Why Updating Your Website is Crucial for Online Success, it’s essential to keep your website updated if  you want to drive more traffic to your site and rank highly in the search engines.  An out of date website looks unprofessional and can stop visitors from contacting you as they may think that you are no longer in business.

So here are 7 ways that a virtual assistant can help you to keep your website updated on WordPress.

Add latest news about your business. If you have a “latest news” section on your site, then a virtual assistant can keep this updated for you with any current offers or news about your business.   There’s nothing worse than seeing latest news on a website that’s over 6 months old!

Update web pages. If you make changes to your services or hire a new team member, then you’ll want to update your website as soon as possible.  Your web designer may be too busy to do such a small task straightaway, so this is where a VA can really help.  They can make quick changes to web pages or design new ones with text, images and links.

Format images. The images on your website should be of the highest quality and have “alt tags” on them for people who have images switched off by default.  A VA can do this for you and ensure that the alt tags are SEO friendly and the images link through to the appropriate pages on your website; this all helps with search engine ranking.

Check for broken links. Broken links can make your website  look very unprofessional.   A VA can check that all the links are working on your website – either manually or using a plugin that checks for broken links automatically.

Add social media links. If you are using social media to promote your business then you’ll want your website visitors to be able to connect with you.  A VA can add social media icons to your website that link through to your profiles, such as  Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.

Update copyright. A lot of people forget about this, but it’s a good idea to have a copyright date on your website and ensure that it’s current.  If it’s out of date, then your visitors may wonder if you’re still in business.  A VA can set this up so that the date automatically changes each year.

Add and update plugins. One of the great benefits of using WordPress for your website is the additional functionality that you can add with plugins.  A virtual assistant can suggest the plugins that you need for your website, such as social sharing, backup and caching –  and ensure they are updated as necessary.
 

What does your website say about you?

Online marketing, Websites0 comments

I’ve just updated the design of my website and was therefore interested in reading this recent study which showed that 70% of people don’t trust badly designed websites.  In fact two thirds of business owners believe that the look of a website is more important than where the business is located.  So it is essential that business owners ensure that their website is promoting themselves professionally and effectively, especially as more and more people are looking online for products and services.

Like everything else, web design changes and what was fashionable 5 years ago now looks outdated.  So if your website hasn’t kept up with the times, it can look neglected and visitors may wonder if you’re still in business.  As I mentioned, I’ve recently reviewed my own website and it’s made me realise how designs have changed from when I first put my site together nearly 18 months ago.  Then most websites had all the information on the home page which people scrolled down to read. Now the layout is simpler, with boxes of text which summarise the key points and a link to a separate page if the visitor wants to read more.

So regularly review the layout of your website to keep it looking fresh and modern.  Keep the navigation simple and clear so visitors can quickly and easily find what they want.  Once you’ve updated the site, remember to check that all links are working and that the text and images are displaying properly in the various browsers.

Don’t change the design so much though that returning visitors don’t recognise that it’s you.  Your branding is an important part of the relationship between your business and your contacts, so it’s a good idea to keep the same colour scheme and images on your site as you had before.

Another important point is to make sure that your website doesn’t take too long to upload; otherwise people will bounce straight off it.  I significantly reduced my bounce rate after adding a plug-in to my WordPress site which helped to speed up the page load time.

When you refresh your website, you may also need to update your SEO, especially if you’re adding new services or products.  So check that your text, keywords and title tags etc still reflect what you want to be found for on the search engines.

As I’ve mentioned before in “To blog or not to blog?”, blogs are a good way to refresh your website content and if you have a WordPress website then you can integrate the blog into the site itself.  But make sure that you post regularly otherwise it’s a waste of time – an out of date blog is just as bad as an out of date website!

There are many virtual assistants who have the skills to either design a whole new website for you, or update an existing one.  So if you think your website is in need of a spring clean, then check out our website content management service.

Are you losing potential clients through your website?

Email marketing, Online marketing, Small business, Websites1 comment

Most small businesses nowadays are expected to have a website to promote their services or products online.  This is a good way for people to find out more about you and what you do.  However, most businesses don’t add something to their website and by doing so, are missing out on a massive marketing opportunity.

What is it?

Well, it’s a sign up form.

As part of your online marketing plan, you should already be tracking how many visitors are coming to your website, what they do when they get there and then where they exit from.  But do you know who they are?

You could be potentially losing all these people who are interested in your offering but are not ready to buy now.

By having a signup form with an incentive such as free guide or eBook, you can capture the details of those people who visit your site and would like to stay in touch with you.  Then you can market to them softly (not spam!) with newsletters and autoresponders and, over time, you will build a relationship with those people.  They will see you as someone who knows what you are talking about and will begin to like and trust you; then when they’re ready to buy, you will be forefront in their mind.

So get a sign up form on your website today and start to capture that untapped market of potential clients.

Smart VA provides website content management services, including creating and updating web pages with text, images and links, as well as designing and adding sign up forms for your website.  In order to have a sign up form, you will need to be signed up to an email marketing program such as MailChimp or Aweber.

How to Hide Your Email & Say Goodbye to Spam!

How to, Websites1 comment

An essential part of your web content is to ensure that your contact details are easily accessible to visitors to your website.  In fact, it’s required by law if you’re a limited company.  This obviously not only helps people to contact you if they want to buy your products or services, but it also promotes you as a credible business.  However, you need to ensure that you add your email address properly because if you don’t, you may end up getting inundated with spam!

If you put your email address on your website then it will automatically be added as a link.  This is not a good thing to do as it will be picked up by spam bots.  What are they?  Well, they crawl through the web and harvest any email address links they find which are then used to send out junk emails.

So here are 5 ways to add your email address to your website and not fall foul of the spam bots:

• Spell out your email address: valerie [at] smartva

  co

  uk.

• Put spaces in your email address: valerie @ smartva.co.uk
• Hide the email address in an image, by either creating an image yourself using software such as Photoshop, or using applications such as emailcover.com:
  or Safe Mail: .
• Hide it using an application such as scr.im which turns your email address into a safe and short URL – when people click on it they will have to answer a question before being given access to your email address.
• Use a contact form to send enquiries direct to your email.

By doing any of the above, you will save yourself a lot of hassle.  In fact, someone put my email address as a link on a website and I got inundated with spam.  It got so bad that I had to go through and delete a good third of my inbox before I got to the messages that I wanted to read.  Luckily someone suggested I use a spam filter which removes the junk emails before they hit your inbox.  This has saved me so much time and hassle that I can certainly recommend anyone who’s being plagued by junk emails to invest in a spam filter.

So by following the advice given here, you can finally say goodbye to spam!

5 Things That Spell Disaster for Your Website

Marketing, Online marketing, Websites0 comments

A lot of people set up a website for their business and then forget about it, thinking the job has been done.  Well, maintaining your website is an ongoing process (see my previous blog on this topic: Why Updating Your Website is Crucial for Online Success) and if you don’t get it right, it can actually deter people from doing business with you.

Here are five things that can spell disaster for your website but can be easily fixed for very little effort and far less money than you might think.

• No call to action.  When visitors arrive at your website, they only stay a few seconds before they decide whether what you’re offering is for them.  That’s why it’s important to have a call to action on each page so people know what you want them to do.  This can be a telephone number to call, contact form to complete or free eBook to download.

• Slow upload.  Images on a web page are a great way to attract the reader’s eye and break up the text.  However, remember to optimise your images before uploading them on to the site.  If your page takes ages to load, then the visitor will bounce right off it.

• Broken links.  One of the worst things you can have on your site is links that don’t lead anywhere.  It looks totally unprofessional and makes you look like someone who is not serious about your business.  So if you redesign your site or change the structure, make sure that all the links on your pages still work.  If you’re using WordPress, there are plugins that can check broken links for you.

• Out of date content.  Whether it’s an old copyright date at the bottom of the page or latest news which is over 6 months old, out of date content can look like either your business has closed down or you don’t care enough to keep visitors to your site updated.

• No contact details.  You must put your full contact details on your website if you want to look credible, eg phone number and business address.  This is actually required by law if you are a limited company.  Be careful with email addresses as spambots can pick them up so either add your email as an image, or put spaces in the address.

All the above are easy to fix without breaking the bank.  You can either do this yourself if you have a content management system or you can outsource it to someone else.  In fact, many virtual assistants now offer either a web design service or understand HTML.  Here at Smart VA, we can edit web pages with keyword rich content, add and optimise images, and check links, and all this at a far lower rate than a web designer.  So if your website is looking a bit tired and outdated, then find out how our website update service can help you.