Hands-on with your website

I have spoken a lot about SEO in past columns. It’s time to talk about the website now. The importance of the website is that it is a medium that can be owned by the brand. It is also the most dynamic piece of marketing and branding real estate.

In past jobs, I have always insisted on complete in-house, hands-on control of the website, to the extent that I learned HTML. ‘Dynamic’, to my mind means the site must be responsive to its environment, and that means the ability to make changes generally within half an hour. Log on to the backend and ‘just do it’.

The basic scope of the job is the ability to add articles, photographs, videos, menu items and metadata for SEO, then fix any messes using HTML. If you know how to use an office productivity suite, you already have the basics. The complexity will be setting up tables in HTML It takes about 4 hours to learn HTML. That includes how to set up a table.

I have stated in other forums that HTML and content editors should be part of the syllabi for communication studies. The best possible course is available from W3 Schools. It’s hands-on with a sandbox and it’s free. Google it and have fun.

What is the role of the web company? The web should manage the server, domain matters and the cascading style sheets (CSS). The CSS controls the visual attributes of the site, including type and layout. The web company should also make available detailed statistics. The web company must not be expected to update content. Do you really want the rigmarole of assembling the material or changes, briefing, quoting, waiting for the job and checking it plus all the admin, when you can just log in and do the job in half an hour or less?

Your website has five key functions.

Firstly, it must present the solution or offer at the very top, the first thing that the visitor sees. This will be dependent on your differential matrix and positioning statement.

Secondly, it must present static information. This might be the EEAT constellation of experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness. EEAT is the new darling of SEO. I will write on this at length in a later column, but for now, scroll to the bottom of column 17. It could also be your philosophy.

Thirdly, it must present touchpoints. How and where is your brand accessible? Is there an FAQ or chatbot to deal with queries or problems?

Fourth, it must have a prominent, dynamic news component. Nobody can be expected to return to repetitively to an unchanging website. If the audience engages with the brand, that interest needs to be fed. Understand your audience and what interests them. Your responses to social media can guide you on this

Finally, and very importantly, it has to capture consenting email addresses in an engaging manner. Emails generate leads and are a primary activation tool. The question is how can you reward email subscription and usage? This is such an important topic given emerging requirements for SEO and the need for results that it should be the primary goal of the website, the agenda of the first four functions.

A last point… ensure that your website is accessible in all social media posts, not just in the ‘about section. Although Instagram is problematic, there are ways around it. Google Instagram links to find a way around that issue.