You have a Business and you want to get online to market your product or service. You spend months waiting for your website to be completed and after what feels like forever, your website is finally done. Now what? Many business owners think just having a website is enough to reach their target audience, but in the age of social media and search engines, you need to do more than just have a website. Here are 5 items you need to manage after your website is complete to make your website King of the Internet.

SEO

I recently read an article on Mashable stating that SEO was dead. To the contrary…the only way SEO will be dead is if Google and Bing get rid of their webmaster tools section of their websites. Yes…Google and Bing scrapped their keywords tools, to end the practice of keyword stuffing, but there are many other SEO tools that are still used to help your ranking in Google. For example, submitting links to Bing and Google for faster crawling of your website is something that is still used in the world of SEO, in addition to having a sitemap for your website and updating that sitemap regularly with Bing and Google.

Social Media

Due to the algorithm change in Google, social media is a huge factor in the success of a website. Social Media shows real interactions between the consumer and a website through likes, reviews, interactions, etc. This gives your website credibility to other social media users and credibility in the eyes of Google, which in turn boosts SEO. In addition to social media being a new way to boost SEO, it is also a great way to receive feedback about your business while connecting with consumers one-on-one.

Blogging

Again, due to the Algorithm change in Google, blogging has become the #1 thing to have on your website. I am not just talking about keyword stuffed blog posts about nothing… I am talking about relevant and interesting content that falls in line with the mission of your website. Google loves organic, authentic and relevant content to be on your websites and at a natural posting pace. Keeping your website stagnant with no change on a month to month basis will keep consumers away due to the lack of trust in the website. Blogging relevant, up to date posts every week, like a behind the scenes look of your company or a free coupon code, will keep customers coming back while building your trust with shoppers.

Curating

To help reach your target audience, you want to add your website to curating sites like Scoop.it or Reddit. These sites house multiple websites that are categorized into different topics. People visit these curating websites to find the best of the best of websites for the topic they are looking for. In addition, people who use these websites can give your site a thumbs up or thumbs down to give other users a rating of your website. So add your website or blog posts to help your reach and gain more customers!

Website Updates

Many people think that once your website is built, your website will always be in order. That is not the case. In order to keep your website up to speed in the eyes of Google, consumers and users, you want to make sure all of your plug ins, themes, css and html5 are all up to date. If you have a Twitter feed on your website and it breaks due to a new Twitter update, your Twitter feed will break, leaving your website looking broken and untrustworthy.

Don’t let your website fall to the wayside. Make sure it stays up to date, relevant and interactive. If you do this, you will succeed in the world of websites.

About the Author: The owner and operator of HC Web Designs, Heather C. works full time as a web & social media designer & manager for many clients, including Red Mango, Loudmouth Golf Radio, Mom at Last and more! In addition, Heather writes a full-time blog titled The Business Gypsy, which is a blog dedicated to living the entrepreneur life. #BusinessGypsy