It’s January. Time to review last year’s progress and set some marketing goals. Here are 5 ways to kick start your online marketing in the New Year.
- Analytics
Review your year-to-date Google Analytics; compare results to previous years. In particular, pay attention to unique vs. repeat visitors, most popular pages, bounce rates, referral URLs, and most popular search engine queries (via Google Search Console). - Budgeting
Review your marketing budget (often 8-15% of revenue, dependent on industry) and expenses. Identify new marketing opportunities. Measure AdWords and any other online advertising performance; make adjustments as needed. - Competitive Research
Identify your current competitors. Is your site still relevant in its field? Are you keeping up with industry trends? - Security
Confirm User Roles are still valid and that there are less than 3-4 site Administrators.
Remove backup and other vulnerable files from your hosting server.
Confirm your web hosting plan operates under the fastest, most secure version of PHP 7.2 recommended by WordPress.
Note: many sites still run under PHP 5.6, which may no longer receive critical security updates after January 2019. - Usability
Routinely test the usability of your site. Ask for feedback on your site’s general first impression (e.g. the ‘5 second homepage test’). Is your site still credible? Can visitors find the information they are looking for? Are visitor expectations being met?