How to Add value to your website during lockdown / Covid-19

10 steps you can take to make the most of your business website in the coronavirus lockdown. Embracing Change With New Digital Marketing Strategies.

How to adapt your strategy during the coronavirus lockdown. Web owners from across the globe are facing a really hard time trying to cope up with the damage done by this covid-19 lockdown. But as we say that every cloud has a silver lining, these difficult times can also be perceived as possibilities. Possibilities to do amends that you must have been thinking of implementing for a long time, but could not execute due to other pressing concerns.

Step back and analyze their selling campaign, make a pros and cons list of all the activities involving their shop and closely examine the current crisis to learn how much it’s going to affect their business.

Whilst Covid-19 lockdown restrictions take effect today, if everyone plays along, we could be on the other side of this in 6 to 8 weeks. And when that happens and business starts to resume as normal, why not hit the ground running? Here are my Covid-19 homework suggestions for your business…

Remote Work Is Not Going Away Any Time Soon; what was then, is not now. All business MUST change with this current situation. Remote work has become widespread across the globe, helping businesses to continue with minimal interruption. There is a very strong chance that remote work will continue, even after the crisis is over. Thanks to the rise of tools such as Zoom and other online meeting platforms, remote work is not only keeping workers safer – it is also lowering operational costs, improving employee retention, increasing productivity, and enabling global partnerships. Make sure that your digital strategy is working with your corporate identity.

Here are my MUST DO on these times of Covid-19.

Website Speed Optimization; Speed is everything in today’s fast-paced eCommerce world. An average customer leaves the website if the page loading time is more than 3-4 seconds. So now is a nice time to work on optimizing the pages of your website. Since you’ve got the time, you can optimize these pages by eliminating all the issues of the website.

Website SEO Audit; Put search engine optimisation to work for you. Tune-up the text on your site and/or add new content. This could just be checking the spelling, or it could be major page rewrites or new pages or blog posts.

Check your competitor’s websites, read they documentation. Do they present their products or services in a more engaging or thorough way? Is there anything to learn from them?

Focus on Visuals; Get New Photos; Look on https://www.istockphoto.com/ “essentials” catalogue for photos that better tell your story or just for a freshen up. Changing photography is a great way to give a site a new feel.

Review your Google Analytics Reports (sent monthly by email in an attached PDF). Find out where your customers come from, what devices are use to look at your website, their geographical location and whether they are new or returning visitors, as examples.

Backlinks; Look for websites that you can request a link from. Links are important. After all, the web is a web of the links. If you get quality links into your website Google will push your website up its search results pages. A backlink is simply a link from one website to another. Search engines like Google use backlink as a ranking signal because when one website links to another, it means they believe the content is noteworthy. High-quality backlinks can help to increase a site’s ranking position and visibility in search engine results (SEO).

Check your Google My Business listing for accuracy. Especially opening hours, address and phone numbers. Remember, this listing comes up when people use Google maps. They may be navigating towards your business location so accuracy is important.

Write for your blog; Update Your Blog with Fresh Content, If you have a blog, now is a great time to create new content for it during this crisis. After all, people are home now and have time to research and shop that they don’t normally have. If you don’t have a blog, start one now. If your store is closing, you can blog about it in addition to any announcements. Otherwise, if your business is staying open, you can blog about the steps you’re taking during the crisis to keep everyone safe.

You can also blog about your business. Interview employees, talk about how your business got its start or talk about your mission. Take the opportunity to share behind-the-scenes information with your customers. Blog posts can also be optimised to help boost your visibility in search engine results.

Connect With Your Customers on Social Media; Harness the power of social media. We’re all dealing with the impact the coronavirus outbreak has had on our lives whether you’ve tested positive or not. We’re all taking precautions. We’re locked in our homes and our kids aren’t in school. We can’t visit our friends. We can’t eat at our favorite restaurants or go out to the movies. Sure, all minor conveniences but jarring nonetheless. This is a time to really show empathy to others and help out where you can. This is a time we all need to be sensitive — and not too salesy or pushy — but it’s a great opportunity for your brand to stand out during a difficult time. More people are on social media now while stuck at home, scanning for updates and trying to stay connected in a suddenly isolated nation.

Create Video Content; Internet users watch millions of hours of YouTube videos every day. Now that many people are home because of the crisis, they are watching millions of hours more. If you’re not creating video content for your business, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to get your business, products, or services in front of a worldwide audience.

If creating videos for your business sounds intimidating, start with the idea that you’re sharing knowledge. How can you use video content to improve your customers’ lives? Once you have the answer to that, it’s relatively easy to learn how to create, edit, and publish videos to provide quality, relevant content for your audience. It’s a great way to maintain that rapport you have with your customers. You can also attract new potential customers who find your videos where they are hosted like YouTube or Vimeo.

In Conclusion:

Embracing Change With New Digital Marketing Strategies.

We all know these are hard times for us. This pandemic has affected us to an extent that none of us have ever expected. These are times to stay strong and to not lose hope. There’s not much we can do to make things right. All we do have is TIME by our side, so why not utilise this time to do some small efforts that can turn into larger returns in the future.

Stay home, stay safe.