Over the last decade, and even the last five years, the online environment has gone to a new level. Google is incorporating artificial intelligence in understanding search query intent, and websites now provide just about every service imaginable, not to mention the fact that products tend to be cheaper online.
High streets are struggling to compete with the online environment and even bricks and mortar businesses now need to develop an online presence in order to be successful. Consumers are busy, and the online trend helps them to make the most of their free time. It’s fair to say that some markets move faster than others into the online environment, and New Zealand is certainly at a growth stage where you need to be fully focused on an online presence in order to compete.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some top tips to help you become more successful in your online efforts.
Optimising Your Web Content
You obviously already have a website! everyone does! If you don’t, then get a website, or at least start leveraging social media to your advantage.
In all of your online content, you should focus your copy on the language that make up a topic. Take a look at natural language processing to understand how search engines now understand what you write, and deliver search engine rankings that match the queries people are typing into the search engine.
Google is significantly better at understanding language, and that means that you need to understand how they understand the topic you are writing for.
The basis of much of what you should produce online should be around solutions to search queries. If you provide solutions in your content, and answer questions, then you will be rewarded with higher rankings than if you don’t. This may sound over simplistic, but when you combine a solution-focused content approach with the right language, you will increase your rankings and get more visitors.
Develop Website Authority
As well as looking at the relevance of your content to search queries, Google wants to know who you are and whether you are authentic. That means building authority, and, ideally, building relevance in the New Zealand marketplace. As well as producing grammatically perfect content, you should sign up with review sites and put their badges on your website. You should get referrals from websites through inbound links, focusing on quality New Zealand based websites, as well as the best sites around the world in your niche.
By building your online presence in this way, you will be improving your trust score and Google will be more likely to rank your pages. The domain authority of your website is even more important if you are in a niche that it Google considers sensitive. For example, where there is a big financial, health or life decision. If you run a mortgage website, then you are less likely to rank a page without domain authority than if you are in a niche selling blue widgets. Google looks to protect visitors from websites that may not be authentic, and also provide the best possible search results. Domain authority is a bigger factor when they know the wrong website could cause harm to their users.
Think about Website Usability and Study Analytics
Google uses the data available to understand search behaviour. Two of the key metrics that they study, and that they have said are incorporated into their algorithm that filters websites, are bounce rate and page speed.
If your website fails to keep visitors and has them clicking the next button, Google will assume that you are not providing the right solutions for their users. Google will also look at how your website is presented and made up, and will assess usability. One key aspect of this is how quickly your pages load. Google now uses a mobile-first algorithm and wants to be able to provide lightning quick results for web visitors. By improving the speed of your website through compressing images, using a content delivery network (CDN), providing learner pages through minimising the number of CSS files, JavaScript files and generally compressing everything down, you will provide a faster, snappier experience, and Google will love that.
Think about the Paid Approach
Search engine optimization takes time. Building a social media presence takes establishing a social reputation. With pay per click and impression-based advertising, you can be receiving traffic straight away. With Google capturing somewhere in the region of 90% of all traffic through search engines, the Google pay per click option will give you the traffic volumes you need. There are lots of other options as well.
You could look at LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or any other type of advertising medium. When you are paying to advertise, you need to be hot on your return on investment. You need to understand your conversion rates and work on your landing pages to maximise engagement and get conversions. Paid advertising is a great way to get going online while you build other marketing strategies that may end up being cheaper alongside.
Building an online presence for your business in New Zealand is no longer an option, it is a must. You need to be able to engage with people online and even if you aren’t selling services online, you need to be able to provide information. Most churches have websites these days, as do bars and restaurants.
The simple truth is that people look online for everything and so you need to be found when they are looking. A .NZ, .CO.NZ or similar domain extension will boost your business’ identifiability with the New Zealand market. Visit openhost.co.nz/domain-names or other New Zealand based providers for a domain today if you’re yet to build your site or want to expand your reach in the country.
