How to pump up the volume online?

Something everyone is looking for in their business (or in life!) is to achieve bigger and better results from less input – so how does this apply to your website?

A phrase we often hear from people who are unhappy with their current site when they first come to us is they say “you know what, I like my site, but I’m just not getting the sort of traffic that I want. And I know what I have to do: I’ve been told I should blog or I should update my site more frequently, or should do social media, but I don’t have time to do all of that AND run my business!”

Side note: most don’t have inclination but say they don’t have the time! No judgement.

It’s true: one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your site is to engage in exactly this way with your visitors by creating a talking point or conversation via a news item, blog post or posting to social media. But what many people don’t realise is that it is possible to connect the dots – integrating that blog or social media content in a system within your website means you don’t have to repeat your efforts. You don’t have to go over and over the same material to see a result in different places. 

As an example; write a monthly LinkedIn article to share some useful information and help business owners to grow their business online – just like this one. From that you may think this would only appear on LinkedIn – which may be where you found it – but you may also be reading an excerpt of it on our five or six social media channels. Or perhaps you’re reading a full copy of it in the blog on our own website. You may even be reading it in a post in a social media group that we belong to.

Did I have the time to write a separate piece for all of these ten or so areas? Nope – and frankly it wouldn’t make sense to do that even if I did have the time, to have one clear message to share but writing it out ten different times would take me away from the work I am want to be doing. Instead, I create a single piece, enter it into the system we built into our website and it is automatically repurposed and delivered to the other sites and social media channels we use to spread the word. 

This is something we always ask our clients before we start work on their website; “what can we take off your desk?”

It’s such a vital part of the structure behind your website that when we enter the initial strategy stage (step one of our proven five-step system to website success, read more here), the first item we speak to you about is how we’re going to make more of what you already have – and promote that online in multiple places. So if a client asks for a blog on their new website, we say fine – we’ll create a blog post system for you, BUT what if every time you create a blog post you can then click a button, and immediately post to that directly to your personal LinkedIn profile / to your company LinkedIn profile / to your company Facebook page / to your company Twitter feed, even to your company Instagram – would that be useful to you?

With a system like that, you can instantly and directly connect all of your social channels with one click. You can then go on to share those posts in other ways if you belong to social media groups or special interest groups – but it means you’re not having to re-invent the wheel, time and time again. 

Remember that you are the expert in what you do, you are the expert in your business and that’s why you run it – so you’re the best person to write the content. What you don’t need to be is the expert in how to automatically repurpose that content to multiple locations. With the right system in place, you can write it once and repeatedly make use of it to drive traffic to your site. 

So a really simple exercise for you is to think of one problem or challenge that your customers face. Now spend five minutes writing something about that – it can become a short news item on your website, and a long blog post, and a LinkedIn article, and a Facebook post, and a Twitter post, and an Instagram image – with a little bit of extra work on the latter. It may take you an hour to get that all done, but it will be great exposure for your Company.

Now go back to the original five minutes and imagine that all you have to do to achieve the same result and apply it in several different ways is to click a single button. How much time would that free up for you or your team? And what could you do with that time? 

Keep that in mind when you’re looking at refreshing or revamping your website – make that part of your strategy to increase exposure for your business without increasing effort and you will drive more traffic to your site. Then when your web design agency asks (as we do) “what can we get off your desk?”, you’ll have the answer right there – which could mean more visitors to your site and that can only mean more customers for your business.

About the Author: 

Fiona Allman-Treen is an expert in strategic website design and online software systems to enable sustainable growth for business owners and charities globally. An established presenter and devout believer in encouraging entrepreneurship in young people, Fiona founded Hastings-based web agency FAT promotions Ltd in 2001, creating effective websites and online solutions for a portfolio of international and blue chip clients. She also loves classic cars, red wine and plays the ukulele.

Read Fiona’s latest articles first on LinkedIn.