EBOOK #AskAvanti What Are the 7 Most- Often-Missed Items During a Website Launch? From tagging to tracking, we ve got you covered
Is it time to update your website? Are you adding more services to your portfolio? Are you looking to turn your website into a lead-generating machine? Whether it s a brand new site - or a refresh to an existing one - launching a new website is exciting, but it can also be stressful. There is so much that needs to be considered, that it can quickly overwhelm even the most experienced person. In addition to defining your overall strategy, writing your content, choosing your images, and approving the design, you need to ensure that the right people are finding...and visiting...your new site. With the recent launch of avantisystems.com, we recognized that in today s complex environment we had to track more than ever before! But as more and more of our customers use the web for research and support, we also realize that it is more important than ever to get it right for them. It is, after all, their journey. To help others in the print industry, we compiled a list of oftenmissed items that can cause un-needed stress on launch day. Take a deep breath and let that tension go. Review this list of key areas before launching your website and leave the worry behind.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Proper Tagging 1 Multiple Devices and Browsers 2 Ongoing Content 3 Page Redirects 4 Tracking Code 5 Form Testing 6 Conversion Points 7 Conclusion 8 #AskAvanti 9
Proper Tagging Using correct tagging is important for SEO, website usability, and sharing with social media. When building a new website, using proper tagging for the page titles, descriptions, and images can help increase your website s search engine rank. Title Tag The title tag is a short, accurate description of the page s content shown in Google searches. The ideal form for your title tag is primary keyword - secondary keyword / brand name with a maximum of 60 characters. Description Tag The description tag is a short summarization of the page s content, displayed below your title tag. While these tags are not important to SEO anymore, they are best used to show the user that what they are looking for is provided by your site. You want to make the description clickable and keep it within 155 characters. Image Alt Tag Images are worth a thousand words, except to search engines. By using an image alternate tag you are able to tell the search engine what your picture is. For example the HTML code might look like this: Adding the alt tag at the end will help your image show up in relevant searches. 1
Multiple Devices and Browsers With a majority of people using their mobile devices to conduct business, it s important that your site is responsive. This provides a consistent user experience across devices, including mobile, tablet and desktop, as well as across browsers. It not only affects your search engine ranking, it can mean a good or bad user experience with your site. In fact, it is now considered a best practice to design and build your website for mobile first and then expand it to desktop afterwards. Check your analytics to see what devices your visitors are using to get to your website, and ensure it looks good on all of them. A few things to note: When testing with smartphones, check how your site works on both ios and Android. There have been instances where a site will work well on one but not the other. Ensure that your site works for different browsers - at the very least: Chrome, Firefox and Safari. This could also be expanded to Internet Explorer and Opera, depending on your market. Also ensure that in your iphone testing the site works on both Safari and Chrome. Do you have pop-ups such as an opt in for a free report? Make sure that it fits the screen size and they can access the exit button/option without scrolling. Make sure your CTA buttons are easily clickable on mobile. 2
Ongoing Content Websites are no longer set-it and forget it tools. Today s websites are living, breathing things. In marketing your website, you employed many SEO tactics such as title tags (see #1) and keyword optimization in page headers but, now that your site is launched, you need to keep the momentum going. To rank higher, you need to be continually creating new content for your users. This can be in the form of blogs, articles, videos, lead magnets, discussion forums and more. Creating quality content enables you to continually engage your users. When it comes to search, content is king, and providing high quality content that users cannot find elsewhere is incredibly valuable. While creating your content remember to use SEO keywords and aim for backlinks - both which will help increase your site standings. A way to create backlinks is to have an expert in your industry share your content on their blog for example. 3
Page Redirects When changing your website you need to ensure that your users will be able to find you after you have moved and that your website ranking isn t negatively impacted. If other websites have linked to you in the past, and still have those links active, your visitors will receive a 401 error need unless you redirect them to an appropriate page. The best way is to use a 301 redirect. This redirects your old URLs permanently to your new URL. Another way to ensure your customers have a good experience on a modified website is to create a custom 404 page. This is a page that automatically displays when a page is not found. Ideally, this page should include links back to your site - otherwise, a 404 page can create a dead end for both users and search engines. You can see a sample from the Avanti website here. 4
Tracking Code Analytics Tracking Code First start by getting your Google Analytics tracking code. When inserted into your website you can more easily track your conversions (i.e. from your PPC ad to a submission form). You can find it in the admin section when signed into Google Analytics. Admin > Account > Property > Tracking info > Tracking Code. Tracking Conversions Whether you are selling print to end-customers, or working with internal stakeholders, setting up tracking on your website can give you valuable insight as to how your visitors move through it and make their decisions. It can also show you potential areas of confusion or roadblocks in converting that visitor. You can also track steps towards a conversion and find any breakdowns using funnels. Google Search Console Along with Google Analytics you should set up your site on Google Search console. The free service was created to help you monitor your website s presence in Google s search results. 5
Form Testing It is a best practice to respond to a form submission within one hour of receipt. So it s really important to have a form submission process in place, ensuring that not only is the person submitting the form receiving the right acknowledgement, but that the right folks within your organization are being alerted once the form is submitted. Test all of your forms on the site, even if it is the same form available in multiple locations. When testing, ensure the messages make it to the correct inbox and not to a junk mail folder. Forms that don t work correctly, or don t meet the expectations of the person filling them out, can irritate the sender when they don t hear back from you, which can ultimately cost you business. So make sure you not only get those leads, but you have the processes in place that allow you to follow up quickly! 6
Conversion Points Top converting websites have multiple conversion points. This is one instance where having redundancy can be a good thing! You should have conversion points on your home page, contact page, in your footer, and a way to capture e-mails and phone numbers in front of content such as downloadable PDFs and webinars to name a few. The biggest thing to remember when trying to increase conversions is to take time testing. Even just changing the colour of a Call-to-Action (CTA) button has been shown to increase conversions - with experts stating that using a contrasting button colour to the rest of the site can increase conversions by 20%. Before you launch though, just test all of your CTAs and ensure they are working correctly. 7
Want to see some of these tips in action? It is an increasingly complex online world, but the payoffs are huge as more and more people go online for research and support. Is it time to update your website? Remember that the world has gone much more mobile since you released the last one. Are you adding more services to your portfolio? Don t forget to tag those pages properly for SEO. Are you looking to turn your website into a lead-generating machine? Add some redundant conversion points. Whether you re launching a brand new website, or looking to make improvements to your current one, we hope that these tips help you achieve success in this ever-changing online world. Want to see some of these tips in action? Come check out our brand new avantisystems.com website! 8
You ve Got Questions? #AskAvanti We Have Answers #AskAvanti is a social media initiative that Avanti has undertaken to offer members of the print community an opportunity to collaborate, as well as have access to, ideas and information that we believe can help drive success. Ideas that not only help streamline business processes, but ideas on marketing, and sales, and productivity hacks, and everyday lessons and challenges, some of which we are in the process of overcoming ourselves. How can you #AskAvanti www.avantisystems.com/askavanti Follow twitter.com/hashtag/askavanti Send a tweet to @avantisystems and include the hashtag #AskAvanti Post a question on Facebook and include the hashtag #AskAvanti Join us on LinkedIn 9
About Avanti At Avanti, our goal is to help you deliver more jobs, in less time, with the confidence in knowing that every aspect of your shop is integrated into one powerful Print MIS platform. Since 1984, Avanti has developed innovative, award-winning Print MIS solutions that help print and communication organizations automate all facets of their business and cultivate a more meaningful relationship with their customer. Award-winning Avanti Slingshot is the only JDF-certified, cloudbased Print MIS in the market today. The platform provides you access to the data that you need, when and where you need it. Avanti Slingshot uncovers the answers required to make informed business decisions that maximize customer and product profitability, based on key ROI drivers cornerstones to the growth and success of your business Efficiency and Automation; Flexibility; Control; Visibility; and Communication. avantisystems.com Have a question? #AskAvanti AskAvanti@avantisystems.com 1.800.482.2908 2017. Avanti, the Avanti logo, Avanti Slingshot, the Avanti Slingshot logo, and WE HAVE ANSWERS tagline are trademarks, and/or registered trademarks, of Avanti Computer Systems Limited. All other trademarks and/or trade names listed are the property of their respective owners.