As you know, having a website is a must these days! It doesn’t have to be fancy. You just need the right amount of information — Home page, About, Contact, and a Blog if you can commit to consistently writing quality content for it. The goal is to build a website that you can send people to, a place that attracts users and makes them want to keep coming back.

“The goal is to build a website that you can send people to, a place that attracts users and makes them want to keep coming back.”

Let’s relate your digital life to your real life. Your website is your “home.” You can decorate it however you like. It’s yours, you own it, and it can be very private. Social media however, is not yours. In fact, it’s Starbucks at 5pm. A crowded place you go to meet, eat, drink, and people watch. Love them or hate them, Starbucks is a great example of social media.

Inside the crowded Starbucks music plays overhead. While standing in line, waiting to order that double shot of espresso, the lady in front of you is talking on her phone as the barista shouts, “I can help whoever is next.” Meanwhile, milk is being steamed behind the bar and everyone is busy doing their own thing. If you want to get noticed, you have to cause a scene — talk loudly, bump into someone, eaves drop or pin something that stands out up on the bulletin board. Once you grab people’s attention, you need to have something to say. In the online world, this translates to sending them to your website where they can find all the information they want regarding x,y,z.

When the internet first started, the only goal was to build a website that would attract people. While that is still a goal today, many are forgetting that your website is the root of everything you do. It is your home base. You need a website that is decent, mobile friendly, and above all else user friendly. When social media came along people forgot about this, shifting their priorities. That is why you see so many abandoned blogs or worse, websites. If you want to get noticed you have to put in the work. Going to Starbucks (a social media channel) is half the battle. The other half is keeping up your website. Use the blog feature to get your message out there. Everything you want people to see can be in your blog. Start writing your social media posts for your blog first, then share either the whole thing out or parts of it. This way you are not creating a bunch of new content for all these sites. A blog allows you to update your website with fresh content which improves your ranking in Google search results.

You don’t have to blog everyday. Just like we talked about in ” Flex Your Social Media Muscles” you need a plan. “You have a workout plan, you have a social media plan.” Come up with a realistic plan where you can make time to start writing your content for your blog. Then take that content and distribute it across your social media channels. Is this starting to sound familiar? Make your life easier. Start in one place, your website, and then push out the content through social media, always driving traffic back to your website. Don’t make me come to your website, click the blog, and see it hasn’t been updated in months (positive intent here. I know some are longer). I will be instantly disappointed. Especially, if I go to one of your social media channels and see a bunch of content.

“Remember, a website is the first thing people look for when researching you.”

Your website is the only thing that you actually own. You spent the time and money building it up, don’t let it go to waste. Remember, a website is the first thing people, including myself, look for when researching you. Below are action steps that will help you get your priorities straightened out.

Action steps:

• Create a website
• Make sure website is clean, mobile friendly, and somewhat user friendly (while user friendly is key, a website is always a work in progress and you will continually improve this. If you need help reach out as I build websites)
• Establish a blog plan (daily, weekly, monthly whatever realistically you can do)
• Create your content first for your blog
• Take that content from the blog and share it out on your social media channels
• Once on the social media channels always drive traffic back to your website for more
• How do you drive traffic to your website? You drive traffic through the various social media channels. That’s why you joined Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and everything in between so you could establish a presence. A presence that will in turn drive people back to your website.

* This was sparked by an article, “Why you no longer really own your content,” that I read this morning.

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