Are You Ready to Shake it Up Like Boris?
Never one to shy away from controversy, Boris Johnson has walked straight into the centre of another row this week by approving a 77-acre redevelopment of Earl’s Court and West Kensington.
Whether you agree with his approach or not, you have to admire Boris for one thing: he’s never afraid to embrace change in the interests of shaking things up a bit.
For Boris, London is a work in progress, ideas have always got potential and doing something new is preferable to simply sticking with it, just to maintain the status quo. It’s a modus operandi that has made him a colourful figure; but one we can all learn from in terms of refreshing how we do things and attracting the interest of others.
These days, the shop window for any company is its website - but how many companies really use it to attract attention? For the most part, it gets designed and developed, goes live and, hopefully, has some kind of content management system to upload press releases and make changes on an as needed basis.
But what if you were to do things differently? What if, instead of having a website so that people can look you up when they want to find your business, you make it your business to help them find you online? What if, instead of updating your website copy and images when there are changes in the business, you regularly research and post new content to keep things fresh?
Websites should be more than a shop window; they should be the core of any online marketing strategy, indeed, of ANY marketing strategy. And yet so many companies get them ‘done’ and tick them off the list, leaving them to fester, unloved in some far flung corner of the internet where search engines may occasionally come across them from time to time.
An effective website needs to be fresh, interesting, relevant and easy to find. What’s more, if you can achieve the first three attributes, the fourth will happen of its own accord because fresh content and browser interest will help to push your site up the search engine listings. You don’t need a whole redesign and start-from-scratch copy to make your website work harder, just follow these simple tips:
- Regularly update your site with news
- Consider a blog to help you demonstrate your expertise
- Link social media and your blog to your website
- Provide technical resources and articles and use free download buttons for data capture
- Refresh articles and case studies by editing and up-dating them