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What you need to start building your website

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Thinking of building a website for your company but don’t know where to start? It’s easy to get bogged down in the details of what you do and don’t need, but we’ve compiled a handy list of key things you should think about to create a great website in line with your brand. 

Web hosting

First things first; you need to find somewhere to host your website. The best options provide a personalised domain name and multiple business email addresses, but there are three other areas to bear in mind; website speed, uptime reliability and customer service.

A website with a fast connection will rank better in SEO and increase your conversion rate, so avoid shared hosting and know that the cheaper you go, the slower the connection may be. 

Uptime reliability is also extremely important, as if the host isn’t working properly, your users won’t be able to access your website from any server. Look for a host with a 100% uptime guarantee, so that if your site does go down for any reason, you are likely to get some form of compensation. 

You might not think that customer service deserves a place on this list, but let’s face it, things go wrong. If this is your first time building a website, it’s much easier to quickly talk to an expert who can fix the issue in moments rather than spending precious hours trying to find a solution yourself. 

Design and Content

Not a designer? Don’t worry, most website creators have their own pre-loaded designs and themes ready to use and optimised for the type of service you provide, but check that they also have mobile capability. You can always try a few out before you decide on a final one, but make sure it aligns with your brand and your logo. 

When you’ve got your web-hosting site and themes set up, it’s time to start adding content to your website! Optimising blog posts for SEO is a great way to help your website rank better on Google and stand out as a relevant resource for your prospective clients. 

Creating a beautiful and effective website shouldn’t be a hassle. If you want all the features mentioned in this article and more, why not sign up for a free 14-day trial with Go SiteBuilder? Let us know how it goes, and contact our team of experts if you have any questions!

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Can you do SEO yourself?

Female florist wearing a pink t-shirt and apron is working on her laptop to improve her business website's SEO

The words “search engine optimisation” may sound overwhelming to you, but they don’t have to. There are numerous resources available both on and off the web that are here to help you create a successful SEO strategy; one that you can execute yourself! So, yes – you can do SEO yourself – and here are some reasons you should.

Learn a new skill

SEO is a skill, and there is no doubt about that. You’ll learn how to study trends in optimisation and find different formulas to help you achieve top search results. Tips and tricks can be found in every nook and cranny of the internet, and you get a chance to play around with them all. The best part is, once you find something that works well – you’ll be the one reaping the benefits.

Save money

Taking on any task by yourself can save you money, whether you’re fixing your sink or learning how to write blogs for yourself. By taking on your SEO, you’ll be able to save money on strategists, copywriters, editors and more!

DIY SEO will help you save money from the start, along with in the future. Once you’ve established yourself with your core keywords and have learned how to write incredible content, you can sit back and relax and watch your sales roll in. 

It doesn’t have to be scary

With all of the resources available today, you’re in good hands. Many online communities are buzzing with people willing to help and share their experiences. Whether you join an online forum, sign up for daily newsletters or buy a couple of books – you’ll hit the ground running in no time. 

Hiring an expert 

While DIY SEO is an excellent option for many new businesses, some people simply don’t have the time. That’s where the professionals come in. SEO specialists are here to drive traffic by ensuring that your website gets the best ranking on search engines. SEO experts understand the needs of their clients and promise to deliver, which is why they make a great alternative for those who aren’t looking to take this on all by themselves. Another reason to hire an expert would be to expand on a strategy you’ve developed or for some new and fresh ideas. 

Ultimately, doing SEO by yourself is exciting, and it is your business, after all! We love learning new things and developing new skills, and you should too.

You can achieve great results with DIY SEO or with some help from the experts. No matter what SEO route you choose to take, make sure you have a great site to do it on. Sign up with Go Sitebuilder today to create a beautiful website. 

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How to Plan a New Product Launch with Digital Marketing

Caucasian male sat in a stylish living room working from home on his laptop and holding his mobile phone. He has a beard and is wearing a gold shirt with a navy blue jacket.

Launching a new product can be a nerve-wracking process. By setting a digital marketing strategy in place, you’ll be optimising your product for success. Here’s a step by step guide on how to plan a new product launch with digital marketing:

1. Build a website

The best way to feature any product or information is with a beautiful website. Not only does this give you the space to scream and should about your launch, but it can double as a place for the customers to make purchases.

Use vibrant and appealing images to draw people to the pages. Make sure to include written content that explains who you are, what you’re selling and what makes your products so special. This is your chance to create a story and convert people from “lookers” to “buyers”.

2. Define an audience

Most people have an idea of who their ideal audience will be, but, you need to ensure you have established your audience on social media. Have you found them? Once you know who they are you can get to know them better. What are their interests? What hashtags they’re using? Do they have any slang terms? What motivates them and why would they be interested in following your brand on social media? All of this is exciting to learn and will help you build better relationships. Creating buyer personas is simply a way to attract the right customer, at the right time, with the correct messaging – our free buyer persona eBook will make sure you don’t waste another penny!

Once you’ve defined your audience, start to use their terminology and hashtags in the pre-launch posts to build up your future customer base before the product has even launched. Make sure to include links to your social media account on your website too.

3. Make goals for your launch

Linked to your business goals, your launch goals are critical to being able to measure the success of your product launch. Ultimately, you want new leads or customers, so it’s important for you to try and define how many you want in the first month, and what impact you want to make in the first few weeks. Set small achievable goals, they’ll help you get excited and you can always set more once you’ve finished another.

It’s easy to get lost in numbers, and so your goals should always strive to create quality leads that can be measured using data and metrics. For example, if you want to launch a new range of eco-friendly diapers, you probably want a launch goal of ‘create 30 new leads in the first month who are expectant mothers/mothers to babies and toddlers.’ Using free metrics like Instagram’s business analytics will help you to see who your most popular audience are – such as age, likes and gender.

4. Prepare launch content

For your social media, e-mail strategy and website, you’ll want to create some exciting graphics and content pieces for the launch of your product. A vital role for your product, you will want to keep a consistent style, including font, colour palette and tone of voice. Make sure your graphics are eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing, and that it is in line with the times.

Once you have these, start using them in emails, blogs and social media campaigns to drum up excitement. Partially cover images of your new product and use countdown timers to the launch date – it will all help to increase the excitement!

5. Influencer marketing

If you are going to be implementing an influencer strategy to your launching of a new product, then it’s essential you get them on board at least several months before launch. Get them to review the product, and share it on their social platforms on the day of the launch. You can even strike up a contract that involves them in the countdown to the new product, using their influence to drive in more traffic to your brand’s social media.

If you have influencers writing blogs about your new product, ask them to include a backlink to your website!

6. Launch day

Ensure all your social media posts and email campaigns are scheduled and ready to go on the day. Ideally, you want the launch to be during a time when your workers are in the office, in case there are any tech malfunctions. Run through your checklist to ensure everyone is prepped and ready to go. It can be a very daunting few hours, but ultimately one that should (hopefully) pay off if you’ve done it well!

If you still haven’t got your business online, now is a perfect time! Try Go Sitebuilder free for 14-days and see just how easy it is to get your website up and running.