SEO results do not happen overnight. That’s one thing we’ve tried hard to make very clear. Rather than a ‘get-ranked-quick’ scheme, SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time to come into effect. When it does come into effect, the rewards are plentiful, but like any great structure, it must be laid down brick by brick.
We are aware, however, that not everyone has the time to spare in the business world. More often than not, speed is of the essence, and websites have to be elevated quickly to keep up with the competition. So, if an SEO campaign takes time, what exactly can you do to get things kicked off now? Below, we’ve listed out 5 of the best ways to elevate a website fast, ensuring you stay ahead of the kerb and make your website a hotspot for potential customers.
Get Your UI Looking Perfect
First off, your website design needs to be looking sharp and modern. While this might seem material and ‘surface level’, you have to treat your website like your business’s headquarters – everyone who clicks on it is walking through the door into your own space, and it needs to be as welcoming as possible. To achieve this, make sure the style is consistent with your brand, with an appropriate colour palette, high-quality visuals, and an intuitive layout. You don’t need a massive budget to champion quality, you just need to put the work in and ensure your website looks as shiny as all the others.
Start Working on Your Content
Although we said an SEO campaign takes time, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start now. While you’re not going to be speeding up the Google rankings at the speed of light, strong, sharp, and informative content will make an immediate impact. According to a recent study, 81% of online customers trust advice and information provided in blogs, and nearly 60% of marketers have said they’ve gained customers specifically through blogging. It’s important, therefore, to start your blog campaign now and start filling your website with educational, entertaining content for visitors.
Enhance Your Own Speed
If you want to elevate your website quickly, you’re going to have to start working on your own speed. To reference another study, around 57% of all online consumers abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load, with around 78% feeling ‘stressed or angry’ upon using a slow website. If you have recognised a high bounce rate, this is the first thing you need to be looking at. Simply through enhanced page loading speeds – including optimised images, enabled browser caching, and minimised CSS, JavaScript, and HTML – you’ll find your visitors remain on your website far longer, and the performance of the website elevates as a result.
Take the Work Away from the Website
Another good way to elevate your website is to put your focus on other things, namely your social media pages. With good, active social media feeds, you can increase engagement in your brand and then drive the traffic to the website itself. Social media platforms are also the best way to actively engage your customers, formulating an open discussion that makes them feel connected to the business. Testimonials and reviews will also be important here, as you begin to build your trust and credibility, turn yourself into a completely transparent company, and make the website far more inviting for newcomers.
Look at Your Security
A good website is a secure website. There’s no doubt about that. In the age of cybercrime, your business has to do everything it can to secure the website and make it as safe as possible for users. This includes installing an SSL certificate – which will display your site as HTTPS rather than HTTP – using security plugins to monitor and protect from threats, enforcing the use of strong passwords including 2FA, and ensuring your CMS, plugins, and overall website security is up-to-date with regular updates. By implementing these simple security measures, the reputation of your website will undoubtedly increase, as well as the trust and confidence of your users – increased data privacy can be a strong marketing tool in itself. Not to mention, search engines prioritise secure websites, which means your SEO ranking will also be boosted.
Conclusion
We’re well aware that you have many competitors, and elevating a website to compete with them is not easy. But with these five simple steps, it can be done. This isn’t just about increasing your users or conversion rate, this is about building a solid foundation that will last for years to come. Times will change and updates will need to be made, but for now, these are five strategies that can make an immediate and long-lasting impact. So start implementing them!
