Follow these steps to get your website in good shape

Getting fit and losing weight.  The most common New Years resolution. The most broken New Years resolution.

Improving your website.  Another common resolution, frequently broken.

Need to get your website in shape?

Here is your workout guide to website fitness

1) Regular exercise requires a behavior change. So does improving your website. That means, build it into your schedule. Prioritize the work.  Invest the time when other tasks are more appealing.  You could argue that an effective website is more important than a new product or piece of equipment.  Making it a priority will increases the odds that you will stick with it.

2) The first month is the worst.  Side aches and sore muscles do not inspire return trips to the gym. It takes a consistent effort for a month or longer to get over the pain and actually start enjoying the exercise. Keyword research, content topics or metadata may not motivate you to spend more time on your site. Even if you work with an agency, it will require significant interaction.  But as you get through that first month, things start to make sense.  “To learn it, you gotta ‘do’ it.”

3) Experiencing the runner’s or exercise high will inspire you to keep training.  Encountering the online high* will energize you to expand your web development.

*The online high is the shot of adrenaline one experiences when achieving a first page search result, getting favorable comments from a blog post or receiving leads through their social media channels.

4) The sequel to the runner’s high is the plateau, when you don’t set a PR each week.  Despite your consistent efforts online, web traffic, blog followers, search results and leads are flat. Linear progress cannot continue indefinitely.  After significant improvements, your progress will naturally slow down. However, this is a good time to reflect. Are you dedicating the same time and effort?  Are you paying attention to the details like you did at the beginning? If not, recommit to the process.

5) Others at the gym are faster, stronger, have better endurance and yes, a few are better looking.  Plenty of websites draw your envy.  A better design, interesting content or effective ecommerce tools. Pay attention but don’t beat yourself up. Continuous improvement is key. When appropriate, use those sites as motivation for what you want to become. The learning that occurs as you build out your website will allow you to get in front of the next trend.

6) Although you’ll experience positive results throughout the process, after a year of running or weight training, you’ll really start to see the difference.  Diligent, effective work on your website will produce meaningful results in 3 - 6 months.  But after a year, improvements are both meaningful and consistent.  You will better understand customer needs which allows you to adjust your content appropriately, both on your site and within social media channels.  Traffic has increased so you can make better use of analytics and A/B testing, allowing you to better optimize your web pages.

7) Exercise becomes a lifelong habit that you enjoy.  A successful website, content plan and social media program will drive sales and become an important revenue source for your organization, which is extremely rewarding.

Just like physical exercise, regular internet workouts motivate you to do more. Start your program today!

Need a Internet personal trainer?  Contact InterEdge Marketing to learn more.