Small business websites are one of our main focus at Exponent Technologies and we consider ourselves experts in this field. As a company that has been working with a number of business houses in Zambia, for over five years in the development and management of these types of websites, we can boldly state that web development can be looked at in terms of content and the technical aspects that make it tick. In this article, we are mainly focusing on the technical aspect of things, particularly when it comes to a WordPress website.
SEO & Marketing
There over a billion websites globally and thousands in Zambia. With this in mind, you will have to find an effective way of attracting traffic to your website visited. For your website to be found amongst the competition, you will need Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Marketing services. Search engine optimization is the process of trying to attain more organic (not paid) traffic to your website through improving your content and keyword relevancy. SEO is not something that happens on its own, it’s something you work at, continually, to see improved results. It requires keyword research, quality, relevant content, and a variety of tactics to improve the possibility that your site will be found in the SERPs. Marketing is different. Marketing is often using paid means to get folks to your site, such as PPC campaigns, radio or TV commercials, and social media campaigns. Marketing and SEO are partners, but they aren’t the same. We offer SEO Services to help your small business website get found.
Spam Protection
No one loves spam and your small business website is not immune to getting these hits. You can either choose to ignore these hits or making an approach to prevent them. Prevention is the better choice as spam hits not only appear on web pages but on posts and forms. The most common prevention of spam that is used by a lot of people is via a CAPTCHA for their forms. This works but it has some disadvantages to it as most site visitors find it difficult to make form submissions which results in frustration and ultimately leaving the website. An alternative to this is to use an anti-spam plugin like Akismet which integrates with most form plugins.
A Content Strategy
After your website has been created, you will need to formulate a plan on how you will add quality content to it. A website can’t be developed and expected to attract or keep your visitors if no quality content is added to it. Search engines have more information to index whenever there is new content added to the website and this is the reason you will need to update it’s content periodically. When your website launches, decide how often and when you plan to update your content or add new content. This could be writing new blog posts or just changing your about page to reflect your new skills and education, updating the services page to showcase your offerings, or adding new items to your portfolio.
Website Maintenance Plan
When it comes to website maintenance, you will have to log in at least once or twice a week to update the website’s plugins and theme. Most website owners don’t have this time and this the reason we recommend you find a support company that can take care of the website for you.
Just having a website isn’t really enough. You need a plan in place to make sure it’s safe and always working for your business.