Network Magazine Summer 2019 | Page 62

The more meaningful content you add to your website, the more pages there will be listed from your domain name. consider sharing motivational quotes or images. Maintaining consistent content that reflects your business’ persona also helps ensure your clients easily recognise your brand across any platform. Choose social media platforms with your audience in mind As you consider how to align your website and social media strategies, take some time to consider your audience. By doing so, you can identify the most effective social media platforms to reach them. If you’re looking to communicate directly with clients, Instagram and Facebook can be great choices. Research shows that 90% of small businesses using social media have a Facebook profile to interact with their customers. However, if you’re looking to increase engagement with professional contacts such as gyms, other trainers or sponsors, you might want to use LinkedIn. Once you have identified the best social media platforms for your PT business, you can develop your strategy to be aligned to your targeted audience. Optimise your content Whether you’re new to the optimisation game or an organic marketing specialist, you may want to think about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Essentially, SEO is the process that helps your business website rank higher with Google and other search engines. An effective SEO strategy can help drive more traffic to your website. SEO and 62 | NETWORK SUMMER 2019 social media often share common goals: to increase website traffic and boost conversions. Therefore, aligning the two could help you reach more people. One way to increase your SEO ranking is by adding blogs to your website. The more meaningful content you add to your website, the more pages there will be listed from your domain name. This helps your website reach more people who search for PT businesses online. A blog is also a great way to keep your website fresh and relevant for your audience, and can demonstrate that you are an authority and expert voice in your specific field of fitness. For instance, you could pen a piece around the best foods to eat before a workout, or a blog about muscle building vs. fat burning exercises. Blogs that include keywords or phrases that people are likely to search can help increase your SEO ranking. Good content won’t only attract more people to your website, it will also increase the amount of time that people spend on your site, which will also help boost your ranking. Create shareable content Publishing content that encourages people to engage with it and re-post on social pages is a great way of expanding your reach and steering traffic to your website. Research shows that over half (51%) of small businesses have a presence on social media, so it’s important to stand out from the crowd. To engage your clients on social media, it can be helpful to publish eye-catching content that encourages your followers to like, comment and share your posts. This could be in the form of a link to your latest blog post, or a dramatic muscle gain transformation photo. Consider the purpose of your post. Is it supposed to be informative or visual? Entertaining or thought-provoking? There is no definitive way to create shareable content, but producing high-quality and engaging content for your news feed could encourage people to spread the word about your PT business through your website. Creating shareable content is just the first step though. When someone visits your website after seeing a social post, it’s important that content is consistent and aligns with your brand image across every platform. Lighthearted and witty social content that links to a dry and characterless website presents an incongruous brand image. No matter the industry, engaging with your clients through both your website and social media simultaneously can help you create an aligned brand identity. Take a few moments to think about how an aligned website and social strategy could help promote your brand and grow your PT business. Jill Schoolenberg Jill is the Regional President for Australia, Canada and Latin America at web hosting company GoDaddy, which aims to empower entrepreneurs. For simple tech solutions to help make your life as a business owner easier, visit godaddy.com.au