Are you wondering what your blog has done for you lately?
When leads and sales aren’t rolling in and you’re working your tail off, it seems like a logical concern.
But the question you ought to be asking is…
What have YOU done for your blog lately?
As a small or freelance business, your website exists to:
- get leads;
- reach more people;
- inform, educate, and entertain others;
- boost the know, like, and trust factor with your audience;
- make sales; and,
- increase your authority.
How’s that working for you?
If you want more from your website, then below are WordPress website improvements that will help your business and the people you serve.
Website Improvements to Make You and Your Customers Happy
There are many actions you can take to transform your site into a sales and marketing machine. My goal is to let you know about a few actions that you can take to improve your site without hiring a professional. While these suggestions are aimed mostly at WordPress websites, you can implement some of the ideas on other types of sites.
1) A Social Sharing Plugin
Why do businesses have websites without social sharing plugins installed? WHY?!?!?!
This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. If you’re blogging as a form of content marketing, then a social sharing plugin is a necessity.
These social sharing WordPress plugins make it simple, easy, and fast for people to share your content on social media:
I’ve tried all three of these plugins. (Currently, I’m using Social Warfare.) They are all great options and easy to install, configure, and use.
Speaking of configuring, PLEASE don’t forget to add your Twitter handle in the plugin’s settings area. Don’t make me find you online and call you out!
Including your Twitter handle means that you get tagged when your content is shared. Plus, you don’t annoy the people who want to share your content by forcing them to search Twitter for your account information.
How a social sharing plugin helps you:
- More people will share and see your content.
- Your social proof will increase (helping boost your SEO and your influence).
- Meghan won’t come looking for you (if this isn’t good enough reason to convince you…)
How a social sharing plugin helps your audience:
- More people will benefit from your knowledge.
- Sharing content will be easy for them.
***Don’t know how to add your Twitter handle to your social sharing plugin? Tweet me @MeghanMonaghan1 and I’ll help you figure it out.***
2) Content Chunking
It’s simple: organize your content to make your readers and search engines happy.
The web is no place for long paragraphs and all text, especially on mobile devices. Vary your content, breaking it into “chunks” to make it easier to read.
Try formatting your content with different elements to make your content easier on the eyes, which means it’s more likely to be consumed.
- short paragraphs
- bulleted lists
- italics and bold fonts for emphasis
- pull quotes
- opt-in boxes (more on this below)
- Click to Tweet pull-outs
- images
- headings and sub-headings
Search engines like to see content arranged in hierarchies. This means use headings for optimization.
- Use only one H1 (title) and only one H2 (sub-title), and preferably include your keywords in these if possible.
- Utilize headers H3 and below to organize the rest of your content.
TIP
Less text below sub-headings also makes everyone happy, so aim for 300 words or less.
CoSchedule has content chunking mastered. Check out their blog for examples of how to mix up your content to make it appealing to readers and search engines.
How content chunking helps you:
- You’ll attract readers.
- Visitors will stay on your site longer to read your content (which also boosts your SEO juice).
- Your content will be more search-engine friendly.
How content chunking helps your audience:
- They will consume more of your valuable content.
- They’ll stay long enough to see your opt-in offer.
- Their eyes get a welcome break.
- They can skim your content and understand it better.
3) A List Building Plugin
You’re in business to make money. It’s okay to admit that! And, your website is meant to generate leads and collect emails.
Start getting leads by using a plugin to collect email addresses in exchange for a freebie, like a cheat sheet, eBook, or newsletter.
I’ve found that investing in an opt-in plugin is well worth the money. However, there are free options, such as WP Subscribe and the plugins that your email provider offers.
I prefer more control and robust features, so I recommend:
- Opt-in Monster ($)
- Bloom ($)
- SumoMe List Builder (free)
These plugins use pre-designed templates and themes, which is great if you aren’t good at design. And, they offer multiple options for promoting your free opt-ins:
- Exit pop-up
- Sidebar widget
- End of post widget
- Screen takeover
- Mid-post widget
- Slide-in widget
> More information on list building plugins
How a list building plugin helps you:
- Assists with promoting your freebies.
- Attracts visitors to sign up for your email list.
- Grows your list.
- Moves people into your conversion funnels.
How a list building plugin helps your audience:
- Highlights your free offers.
- Provides access to free, valuable resources.
- Offers more information about you and what you can do for them.
4) Yoast SEO plugin
For the love of all, if you don’t have the Yoast SEO plugin installed on your WordPress site yet, go do it now! I’ll wait…
Unless you want to learn all of that SEO mumbo jumbo, using the Yoast SEO plugin will do the heavy lifting without you ever having to deeply understand page optimization.
We’ve talked about Yoast SEO’s search engine optimization benefits, but the plugin offers many additional benefits:
- Social sharing goodness – specify the images, titles, descriptions, and tweet information for when your content is shared
- Enable Twitter Cards without installing code on your every page of your site
- Content analysis – see how your content rates for readability, text length, grammar, and more
- Add a focus keyword to rank for in each blog post and on each page
- Page indexing and sitemap help
How Yoast SEO helps you:
- Search engines like your site and can help you get found
- Your writing is improved and optimized for your readers
- Your content looks attractive and enticing when shared
How Yoast SEO helps your audience:
- They can more easily discover your content
- They know what your content is about before seeing its full version (think previews in search and on social media)
- Your content is easier to read and understand
5) An Author Bio After Each Blog Post
New visitors see your blog every week. Most of them probably don’t know you, yet how many of them visit your About page?
In my experience, very few visitors check out my About page compared to my blog.
Include an author bio at the end of each blog post so your readers get to know you.Click To TweetSince blogging builds trust and relationships, it makes sense to let people know that you wrote the article as well as a brief summary of who the heck you are and what it is you do.
That’s where the author’s bio comes in handy.
At the end of each blog post, provide a photo and short biography of the post’s author. Usually, you include your social media contact information in the bio, which makes you appear more accessible.
You don’t need a plugin for this option; however, I find the plugin is easier to manage globally across your site. Plus, you don’t have to deal with code.
I use and like the WP Author Bio Box plugin. The reasons I prefer this particular plugin are that it’s:
- free,
- attractive,
- customizable,
- easy to change appearance and settings, and
- lightweight (it uses the bio information from the User area of your WordPress dashboard).
How an author bio helps you:
- You can share a bit about yourself without being promotional.
- More people will connect with you on social media.
- Readers will see your face and information each time they visit your blog, which helps familiarize them with you.
How an author bio helps your audience:
- They learn more about you without having to leave your blog page.
- Your social media contact information means they can easily contact you.
6) Longer Blog Content
Did you know that longer blog content is shared more frequently and ranks better in Google?
Even if you only increase your blog posts from 500 to 1000 words, you’re doing yourself a big favor.
Remember, your blogging goals include reaching a wider audience and showing off your authority in a specific niche.
Then it stands to reason that you might as well increase your blog length to help reach your blog goals. (But be sure to format the text well, include images, and say something valuable.)
TIP:
You can add to your blog’s length and authority by including data and facts. If you don’t have the data, cite other high-quality blogs and link to them for data and proof. (This is also a good way to catch the attention of influencers in your industry.)
How longer content helps you:
- Your blog gets shared more and reaches more people.
- The more information you share on a topic, the more you look like an authority.
How longer content helps your audience:
- They get more information on a topic of interest.
7) Related Post Plugin
What happens when your reader gets to the bottom of your blog post? Does the page dead end?
You want visitors to peruse more of your awesome content. This helps your audience learn more while building your relationship with them.
Also, the longer visitors stay on your site and check it out, the more Google likes your site.
To keep visitors reading through your blog, use a related post WordPress plugin. These plugins display your other blog content at the bottom of each post.
There are plenty plugins available. Personally, I use WordPress Related Posts. It’s free and has a few settings to customize.
How a related posts plugin helps you:
- Promotes other blog content in a subtle, natural way.
- Leads visitors to related content.
- Increases your SEO value when visitors stay on your site longer and view multiple pages.
How a related posts plugin helps your audience:
- They get more information on a topic of interest.
- The customer experience is improved since it doesn’t end abruptly when the post is finished.
8) Online Payment Processing
You want to take advantage of that moment in the buying journey when people are ready to purchase. However, accepting online payments gets increasingly more complicated and more expensive all the time.
There are security issues, privacy concerns, and laws to follow. There are SSL certificates, PCI compliance, and a myriad of other related considerations.
Cost is a concern but so is understanding all of the moving parts and how to integrate them. Do you want to learn about payment processing? Most of all, do you want to be financially liable and responsible if something happens during a customer’s purchase on your site?
The answer is a resounding NO!
Enter Shopify. You might be thinking “Hey, isn’t Shopify for eCommerce stores only?” Nope!
Shopify has a sweet $9/month plan. You don’t need a Shopify site for this option either. You can add the payment process to your existing WordPress site via a plugin.
Wait, there’s more! This plan has a Facebook option so that you can sell there too. Ka-boom!
Is $9/month worth it? Yes! You don’t have to do the heavy lifting on the payment processing side. You also don’t need too much time and hassle learning tech stuff and implementing it. PLUS, you get to sell on Facebook. Do I need to do more convincing?
Need help? Check out the Build This step-by-step guide on how to open a Shopify Facebook store.
How Shopify helps you:
- Removes liability from you for the credit card transaction.
- You don’t have to learn or worry about payment processing.
- No development work, just a plugin to install on your existing site.
- You can sell on Facebook too.
How Shopify helps your audience:
- They can make a purchase online when they’re ready, at their convenience.
- A secure shopping experience protects them.
- The purchase experience is seamless with your site and works on mobile devices.
9) Online Chat
You want to stop your customer’s objections to buying, but this isn’t always possible with your content.
What happens when a visitor has a question? Perhaps they have to fill out an online contact form or send an email to get an answer.
That’s not the worst experience. But, what if you could answer that question and help with the sale in real time? Would that speed up the buying process?
More importantly, would having an online chat with a potential customer be the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity?
Would an online chat be the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity?Click To TweetYou might consider installing an online chat widget on your site.
Why not answer the question now rather than have to deal with an email later? From a time management and sales perspective, online chat may really help your administrative tasks as well as your conversion rate.
With chat installed on your website, you look more accessible, eager to please, and genuinely engaged with your audience.
BUT – online chat could work against you. For example, if you don’t plan on being accessible often or you don’t want to interact with your website visitors in this manner, then you could anger your audience.
And, you’ll need a plan in place before implementing chat. Depending on your business, a lot of customer support and tech questions could come through chat, which may not be right for your organization.
You don’t want online chat to hurt your brand or cause you hassles, so really consider whether or not this option works for your business.
Free options for online chat include:
How online chat helps you:
- Helps you eliminate barriers to purchase on the spot.
- Reduces emails related to sales.
- Provides valuable insight into what questions your potential customers have about your offers.
- Makes you look accessible, involved, engaged, and caring.
How online chat helps your audience:
- Quick, direct access to you, your sales department, or customer service.
- Fast resolution of pre-sales questions.
Over to You
Did you find one website improvement on the list above that could help you and your business? I hope you did! I know I did, and we will be implementing these additions to our website over the next few months.
I’d love to know what other website tools and tips you find that you can’t live without. Please share in the comments!
Hi Meghan,
Much of this I’m already doing with the Jetpack plugin. It has social sharing, related posts, and other features you mention in this article for which you use separate plugins. There are some things I just don’t like Jetpack for, such as their email subscriptions. I’m curious as to your opinion about Jetpack.
Hi Tony! I tried the Jetpack plugin and didn’t like it for various reasons. However, I haven’t used it in over five years, so perhaps it has improved on the things I didn’t care for. Having one plugin that “does it all” is an awesome idea. But I haven’t found a plugin that does it all well. That’s just my opinion–since you asked. 😉 Plugins come and go, but Jetpack has been around for a while and is popular, so I know people find it valuable. If there are just a few things you don’t like about Jetpack, hopefully, you can fill in the gaps with a few plugins or custom code. I know lots of plugins slow down your site, but sometimes I need functionality without hiring a developer. So, a plugin is a decent alternative. Thanks for stopping by our blog and leaving a comment, you’re awesome! 🙂
Great info, especially for those newer and trying to figure things out! You say to add your Twitter handle in the plugin’s setting area- I’m not following you. I didn’t see your Twitter handle anywhere on your site, just the social sharing button. What am I missing?
Hi Lynn, appreciate you stopping by and leaving a comment, thank you! Appreciate your compliment too. 🙂 In the post, I’m referring to adding your Twitter username (example: @MeghanMonaghan1) to your sharing plugin. You mention that you did see my Twitter handle in the social sharing “button” (aka the plugin), so you didn’t miss anything. I’m suggesting that readers make sure to include their Twitter handle in the social sharing plugin too (like I did). Side note: you said you didn’t see my Twitter handle on my site, but it’s in the footer under “Let’s Connect,” on the Contact page under my photo, and on my About page.
I second (third or tenth) the recommendation for the SEO Yoast plugin. If I had to recommend only one plugin, that might be it. Beyond helping with SEO, it also serves as a healthy reminder for maintaining the focus of each blog post.
But like many people, I used it for a couple years in default mode before I realized the extent of what it could do for my website. Below is a link to a great SEO Yoast tutorial I found to help wordpress website owners better use SEO Yoast. It is a little technical, but it walks you through the steps in detail. I you’re interested, click on the link and then scroll down till you find the video. I found it very helpful. https://www.shoutmeloud.com/wordpress-duplicate-content-problems-fixes.html
Yoast SEO is such a simple, but effective plugin. Every website developed on my end always includes Yoast SEO. The ability for a business owner to receive instant feedback on blog posts is a valuable tool. Especially if a business is consistently blogging. Even the free plugin is enough for most websites.
However, if a business is serious about SEO, purchasing the premium plugin and hiring a SEO pro *cough* Smart Bird Social 🙂 is a good idea! Having an expert perform ongoing SEO duties and using Yoast SEO premium do some of the lifting, will help a business rank higher on the search engines results page.
Hello Andrew! I love Yoast SEO because it reminds me to do all the stuff that I normally forget to do. 🙂 In fact, I use Yoast SEO because I’m not an SEO expert, although I probably know more about SEO than the general person. We actually don’t do SEO services…I thought YOU did them? lol Yoast’s premium options seem helpful, but I haven’t tried them yet. For biz owners who aren’t technical yet manage their own sites, the free version of Yoast SEO will help them a ton. It even helps with social sharing. It’s one of the best free plugins around! As always, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. You are awesome, thank you!
OMG! I never realized that having a long blog has some pros. I always was made to believe that people do not read long stuff. I would probably try this next time around.
Excellent article, Meghan. Yoast is a wonderful plugin but too many people just let it sit there instead of taking the few minutes it takes to properly fill it out for each post. I also want to thank you for mentioning the Author Bio after each post. This is a great feature – and especially comes in handy when you have guest authors! I have been meaning to set that up on my website but of course it always winds up at the bottom of the list… moving that up now!
Ohhh this was just the information I needed, regarding the related posts plug-in and the online payment function…
Excellent article Meghan! As always, thank you for sharing your in-depth knowledge :).
I’d like to nominate an additional improvement. One that helps the business more than the customer. Having a backup schedule implemented can really come in handy, especially if the website were to become corrupt.
Probably not the sexist of the solutions, but definitely peace of mind knowing the website is being backed up. In keeping with Meghan’s 3 options she presents after each feature, I also provided 3 backup options.
• UpdraftPlus Backup / Restore (both free and paid)
• VaultPress ($)
• BackupBuddy ($)
OMG.. this would be a GREAT ebook.. love all these… sharing is golden why wouldn’t someone have that… chunks.. score, we have to make it easy to read, email list.. omg, that right there is gold too, to be top of mind, my feeling on Yoast is that it makes it easier, but to remember that it’s only as good as the info you feed into it for their scoring… author bio.. super helpful especially if you do guest blogs and I took your advice on your author bio plugin, LOVE it… totally agree with longer content and if you use chunks, then it’s easier to skim for the nuggets… online payments if you offer a paid widget is super helpful and related post – I usually add internal links to help with that.. but I’ll have to try that.. great tip and of course online chat, while I don’t use it I totally agree it can be super valuable for many industries. Meggie.. you nailed it.. I love it ALL!
I too switched to Social Warfare in 2016 and it was the best plugin that I installed all year. I love how I can pick the Twitter image and the Facebook image. It makes life much easier. Also, you can pre-write your social messages that will be shared and that is fantastic.
In regards to chunking your post, yes yes yes. For example, this post here was quite easy to read and a real joy because of how you stylized it.
Absolutely epic list Meghan. The Yoast plug in is what has made my blogging more successful, i would highly recommend it. It’s not about anything other than WordPress for me anyway 🙂
A lot of what you’ve listed here I am already doing. I still feel the biggest struggle is getting people to actually comment on your blog posts. I know that would help a lot with SEO, but questions and comments are more commonly posted on Facebook pages/groups.
There are so many ideas here. Some I have implemented but much still needs work. I love Yoast💕 It’s a helpful tool that has improved my posts so much. I was intrigued by your information that much longer blog posts are shared more often. Would that be because they are going into more depth on a topic?
I think nearly every website is a work in progress, Alene. 🙂 It’s almost like writing–you can always make changes, edits, and improvements. From what I’ve read about longer posts getting shared more, there hasn’t been a definitive reason why. My guess is that the “why” data point isn’t obvious. In other words, it’s easy to analyze content length and social shares, but figuring out why isn’t clear from numbers alone. I’m sure that longer content is often perceived to be more valuable. Plus, Google likes longer, more popular content, so it’s likely that there’s a snowball effect whereby the more an article gets shared, the more it gets seen. The more people see it, the higher chances of it getting shared. And that’s why social shares can be so important and effective: more reach, greater impact. Appreciate your feedback!
For me social sharing is a HUGE one! If you are a blogger you definitely need sharing buttons on your site. If you want shares it is something you need to make sure you have so that others can share as well 🙂
All of these tips are awesome Meghan, but having social sharing is one of the MOST important 🙂
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!
Lots of great suggestions here! I was so pleased to be able to go through the list and think, “yep, I do that” on most of them, but I’ve made some notes for the ones that I haven’t or that I’d like to investigate an alternative.
But what you’re saying about the social sharing buttons is so accurate. I read a lot of blogs as I also enjoy curating content from other lifestyle sites. It is so frustrating to find a really great blog post, and I either can’t find their social share buttons, they don’t pop up for several minutes, or they are in such a small, light font that I can’t see them. It’s also frustrating when they don’t have ALL of the major social sharing buttons enabled too. One of my favorites to use is Stumbleupon. It’s my #2 provider of traffic, and I can’t tell you how many sites I run across that don’t have Stumble enabled for sharing.
Appreciate your thoughtful response, Jennifer! Happy to hear that you’re doing these things already. I share your frustration when it comes to the lack of social sharing buttons on websites. It’s a no-brainer in terms of getting more reach, and it’s easy to do, so I don’t understand why some sites don’t want their content shared. As for the lack of platforms included with social sharing plugins, I get what you’re saying. I previously included StumbleUpon and Reddit. However, I had little to zero shares from them and no traffic from them on my site (Twitter is my #1 traffic source). Then I read a couple of articles that said the more platforms you show in your sharing plugin, the less your content gets shared. I don’t know why other sites don’t show more platforms, but my choice was based on these reasons. I’m happy to give it another go though to see what happens. I love testing. 🙂
Meghan, this is a great article, and has me pondering. I am going to bookmark this and come back after the holidays. It has me thinking about “the why” of my website. I, like many small business owners, don’t plan to sell on the website, but have it to drive traffic to my selling venue. Given that, what improvements should be focused on? I have heard this from so many other eBay sellers – why have a website / blog? To make us more google-rich? For example, I sell Givenchy earrings, and if someone starts a search on Google, they may find my earrings (on eBay) because of my blog??
Hello Robin! Great questions! I love that my post inspired analysis about your site’s purpose and goals. If you’re selling on eBay, you have the advantage of their audience. But I like your smart strategy of having a blog to drive traffic to your products listed on eBay. Yes, your blog is helping others find your products in Google (and other) searches. I think of eBay as your solution for processing sales, not as a replacement for your online presence. We’ve heard many times how storytelling, email, and content help sell. We also know that people buy from those they know, like, and trust. Through your website, you’re able to form relationships with your audience (even if you aren’t aware of it happening), share content related to your products, which helps influence purchases. It’s your site, so you own the relationship. You don’t have to worry about eBay going away or changing its policies (which could affect your revenue). My suggestion is to focus on building relationships with your audience with entertaining, informative, and educational content that also includes links to your products. As part of this strategy, be building your email list so that you can continue to communicate directly with your fans–whether it be to let them know about blog posts, sales, or new products. Focus on value first, sales later. And any part of a strategy to drive traffic should include at least one social media platform. I think having a related posts plugin may help website visitors find out more about your offers by visiting other content on your website. Hope that I’ve given you a few things to consider. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.
Meghan, your response was spot on! You have a fantastic grasp of the eBay seller, and our needs and struggles regarding websites (and social media marketing). A grasp I have not seen other social marketers have! Kudos!
A good list of suggestions, Meghan. I’ve been thinking about the bottom line bio but haven’t made it a priority. Will be doing so now. Thanks.
Great content and some of them I am already doing, Meghan. I’m curious if you find a related posts plugin more valuable than a favourite posts plugin, which I have been wanting to add to my sidebar? Also I chose to put my author photo and bio in my sidebar, with my social connect buttons under it. I see you suggest the author bio at the bottom of the posts, and I think this is actually part of my Salient theme, although we disabled it to custom create the sidebar widget. Chunking, graphics and headers/sub-headers I have learned are important. And I am SO happy to hear longer content is favoured and shared more, as you know, I always write longish posts and although I have been advised to write 500-1,000 word pieces, I just don’t seem to be able to. 🙂 Enjoyed your ‘long’ post and was happy to read it all and found some new takeaways to consider.
Great questions, as usual, Beverley! I think that either a favorite or a related posts plugin work, and it depends on your preference, your audience, and the topics you cover. For example, in the case of Smart Bird Social, the two most visited posts are one on LinkedIn (guest post) and one on motivational quotes. Those two blog posts would rank as “favorite” but don’t represent where I believe most people want to go next. Maybe use one plugin type in the sidebar and the other type at the bottom of your posts? You don’t want readers to “dead end” at the bottom of your blog post when you have the opportunity to show them more good stuff, so either option solves that situation. 🙂 Here’s why I choose the bottom of the post versus the sidebar: many people may not make it to the sidebar content if they are on mobile or if your post is long. In the case of mobile, generally speaking, your website stacks. So, the sidebar content appears below the bottom of your post/page on a mobile responsive site. I don’t think displaying your bio in the sidebar is a bad idea. I do think that it’s a matter of prioritizing your content. Have you ever used SumoMe’s free plugins? They have two apps that can help you see what visitors are doing and where they are looking on your site. One is a heat map and the other is a content analysis app. It might be worth it to do some analysis! Appreciate all of your kindness and compliments, thanks a bunch!
This is an incredibly content-rich post, so I’ll go with your point about ‘chunking’ – I love it and I love all your suggested ways of creating visual ‘chunks.’
What a great list of improvements Meghan. I was happy to learn I have many of them in place.I agree the social buttons are so useful. I don’t have a Twitter handle as I’m not active on Twitter, though I do have an account. What really has me thinking is having the author bio after each post. I have a little bio in my side panel but I’m now thinking it would be better under the posts. Thank you for the great ideas.
Oh good Tamuria, I’m happy to hear that you’re already doing these things and that you’re considering adding the bio at the end of your post. On mobile devices, your viewers may never scroll down enough to see your sidebar bio. As for Twitter, if you have an account, then you have a handle (or @ name).
We do all of these except the online chat, Meghan, and all help! I like the idea of the online chat. Except as you said, I’m not at my computer all the time to do so. Hm. Maybe online chat offered during x hours?
Wow, Susan, that is awesome! Good for you! As for online chat, many of the solutions offer mobile apps, so you can respond on the go from your smartphone. Or, they offer an option to get back to the person at a later time. If you think online chat would help you with your marketing goals, then why not give it a try? You can always do it on a trial basis, and if you find it doesn’t fit your business, remove it from your site. I’d love to hear about your results if you try online chat! We’ll be adding it in January. Thanks for your comments.