Your website is stale.  It sucks.  It was supposed to be a means of attracting new clients in your target market.  But that never happened.

Let me take a moment to underline that a website is a tool. If you don’t use the tool, why have it?  An outdated website reflects badly on your business.  It says your either; 1) too busy/lazy to update it,  2) you don’t care, or 3) your out of business.

That being said, I think it’s important for you to understand that marketing online TODAY requires your website be a “hub” of your communications. Engaging and nurturing relationships.

How Do You Create A Hub?

It’s so easy to lose focus on activities that bring the greatest return for you.  (Like writing) Sure, I get sidetracked all the time – but staying focused, putting out good content that engages my followers keeps me stuck in their memory. That is where we ALL want to be!  Right?

Looking to the future of your website and beyond, here are thoughts to consider:

1. Content is the most important piece of your website.
   Not your design, colors, photos or anything else. You can have the ugliest website ever and still have tons of traffic if your content is relevant and authoritative – Google will see to that.
2. Make the content easy to find.
   Today’s website platform will most likely be WordPress which has category, search, and archive widgets. Use them.  (And don’t forget to tag & categorize your content)
3. Consistency.
   Lord knows I suck at consistency! I go in spurts – I’ll write great blog posts for a couple weeks then burn out. An interesting fact is that my older articles still bring traffic. I have one from 2005 that consistently shows up in my “most read” stats. So, do the work! Even if you have 1k excuses – do it anyway.
4. Sharing.
   Wordpress has tools that automatically Tweet, post to FaceBook & LinkedIn (and anywhere else) you want. And most people think you only need to share once. Not true! I was on a call yesterday with Guy Kawasaki and he automatically sets some of his stuff to tweet/post every 8 hours for a day or two. Each re-tweet would have a couple hundred clicks… So it pays to re-tweet your own stuff at different hours. (The web never sleeps!)
5. Engaging.
   Remember ANOTHER 80/20 rule – 80% helping, 20% promoting. Take time to thank people for following you. Comment, comment, comment, comment, and continuing comenting on other people’s stuff. Blogs/tweets/FB/LI. Not only does it open the door for communication, your comment creates a back link to your site – Google Goodness with a big red bow!
6. Consider Mobile users.
   Read these 2 posts I wrote about mobile marketing here: https://thewebcoach.net/in-u-s-31-own-smartphones-is-your-business-mobile-ready/ and here https://thewebcoach.net/web-coach-tip-mobile-marketing-strategies-and-7-tips-to-get-you-started-plus-wordpress-mobile-themes-and-plugins/
7. Schedule your “feed me & share” time.
   FIRST thing in the morning when I have coffee I open up my Google reader and skim over the news of a few chosen resources that give me inspiration to write. That usually gets the wheels turning and an article is born soon after.  If you have to get up a half-hour earlier to make this happen – DO IT!  It’ll be the best 30 minutes you spend each day.

After my article is written, then open up everything else on my computer – share my article, check in w/my social homes, engage, and then go on about my day.  I check twitter while waiting to pick up my kids, while dinner is cooking (be careful! I lost track of time and went to the grill to find this.) And before bed.  Sometimes if I’m watching TV in the evening I’ll bring my laptop and check in during commercials.

Many people talk about limiting your time online to XX minutes… But then, I feel that time becomes “reactive” time. I’ve only got 15 minutes to answer these messages, OMG! I’ll never make it! You should be ENGAGING during this time.

Save the responding to tweets/fb to 1x a day. Most people are satisfied if you get back to them within 24 hours. So spend your time looking for ways to help/engage your peeps. I pretend I’m a social butterfly with rainbow wings and pixie dust. Hey, whatever it takes! LOL!

I think Mars Dorian got it right when he said:

A lazy person does barely any work.

A good person does the work when he feels like it.

A digital crusader does the work EVEN when he doesn’t feel it.

So, don’t skip “the work” when you don’t feel like doing it. That’s amateur, and that ain’t you!

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!