If you want to maximize your reach to customers and readers, you have to have your own website. However, it is no longer just enough to put up a website and hope that users will come. You need to have some direction and put in the effort to make a user experience that will keep visitors coming back. Below are five things to remember when creating your own website or blog.
Provide Meaningful Content
It doesn't matter how cool your site looks, if the content is not useful to your visitors, they will not come back. You want content that provides meaning and helpful information to your visitors. For bloggers you want to write articles that are useful to your users and can provide helpful solutions. Businesses should provide content that will help your customers make a decision on a product or provide information on what services your business provides.
Upgrade the Look of Your Wordpress Site With Themes
One huge mistake that new websites owners make when setting up their site with Wordpress is sticking with the default theme. Themes are website templates that control the layout of your site. There are literally millions of themes available on the internet for free and it is simple to change out to a new theme. Login to your dashboard and go to appearance, and then themes. From there you can search for a theme that suits your needs. From there click install and then activate and refresh your main website. Your new theme is now active and each page in your site will use the same template.
Use SEO to Drive More Traffic
If you want to drive traffic to your website, then you need to spend some time with Search Engine Optimization. Not paying attention to SEO will result in your site not moving up in Google or other search engines and users will have a harder time finding your blog. One handy solution is to install Scribe, Copyblogger Media's solution for SEO. It will analyze your content and give you tips how to improve traffic to your site.
Make it Mobile
It doesn't matter whether you are setting up a website for your business or hosting a simple blog, your site will need to be compatible for mobile devices. Many webmasters report that as much as 30 percent of their web traffic is driven from mobile devices.
If you are using Wordpress for your site, you can install the WP touch plugin that will automatically create a mobile version of your site. If you are using Blogger, go to Template, click on the settings cog under the “Mobile” preview, and select "Yes. Show mobile template on mobile devices".
For those not using Wordpress or Blogger, your two best options will be creating a separate mobile site for your website or using a responsive design. A responsive design for your website allows the site to rearrange itself to fit most mobile devices.
There are actually a lot of Wordpress video tutorials on Youtube with detailed views on how to create a mobile friendly website or also known as 'Responsive Web Design'. You can go check those one out.
Use Social Media
One of the best ways to get your site more exposure and to drive traffic to your site is through the use of social media. Sites such as Digg, Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter will all help to give your site greater exposure. Wordpress users can install a plugin for various social media sites that will allow you to add a social media functionality. Go to dashboard, and under plugins search for the social media plugin you need for your site.
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