End of Year Checklist: Part 2 – Your Marketing

Make sure your website and marketing is ready for 2015

Yes check (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently did a presentation at one of the networking groups I am a member of. Instead of talking about Your-Web-Guys and all the boring geek stuff we do, I figured it would be better for everyone if I gave some helpful information instead. After creating and printing a paper version of this information, I thought it might make for a good blog post.

As I wrote the post and added information that i couldn't add due to the constraints of paper, I realized it aught to be more than one, so here is the second in a three part series. Here is a link, if you missed the first part, End of Year Checklist: Part 1 - Your Website.

For Your Search Engine Optimization

SSL Certicate
If you have an SSL certicate, make sure it is current and that you know/will be informed when it expires. If you don’t, consider getting one. Google has announced that they will start paying attention to secure sites. They are not punishing sites that done have SSL certs, but they are rewarding, slightly, websites that do. That may change in the future as security becomes more and more of an issue
Content
When was the last time you added new information to your website? If it has been more than a month or if you don't regularly do so, make a resolution for next year. Google will reward your efforts. Google is looking for new and regularly updated content. This is the most important part of your SEO efforts so if you spend more time on backlinks or keyword density you dont understand what search engines are looking for.
Back Links
Make sure the websites linking to your site are not in “bad neighborhoods”. There are lots of free tools online to help you do this. Just google it and you will find helpful information and tools

For Your Social Media

Contact Information
Check, don't assume your contact information is correct. This includes your website, social media platforms, map listings, and directory listings. You will be surprised at how many places on the net have your contact information. Google is notorious for collecting information from websites and adding it to their maps or google+ programs without anyone knowing. In fact, when i was writing this article I followed my own advice and did a search for the address of our old office - I had forgotten to update yelp.com of all things!
Links/icons on your website
Click each social media icon/link you have on your website to ensure they are still correct. It is very easy to change your twitter handle and many times companies will create new facebook and linked in profiles for different reasons. Even if you haven't changed anything on your social media outlets, it's easy to cross this one off the list... just click the links to be sure.
Purge Your Fake Followers
Fake followers are a bad thing... remove them. There are lots of resources out there which will help, just google it.
Google Yourself
It is never a bad idea to google your name and your company’s name every now and then. Your prospective customers do, you should too. A bad review or other unfortunate content may be effecting your ability to get more business.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Did I leave anything important out regarding your website? Do you disagree with any of the items above. I would love to know. Leave a comment, we may include your opinion in future posts.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for Part 3 - Your Other Stuff