Complete Tree Ring Digital Experience

Building a Website that Works for You

At Tree Ring Digital , we believe that a quality website should be the core of every business marketing plan. There is a lot that goes into a building a professional looking, functional, user friendly website. But, launching your new site will not magically attract users and increase business; you have to help it go to work for you.

These are the steps we recommend taking (in order).

1. Website

This is your hub. All marketing efforts should lead to your website. Many customers (and potential customers) will develop a first impression of your business by viewing your website, so it is imperative that it be informative, visually appealing and professional. It’s also important that a website be able to grow with your business (a free diy website will not have the flexible platform need to accommodate additional features and functions down the line – more on the differences between free and professional websites).

Business plan

It’s the responsibility of any good web designer or marketing specialist to fully understand a client’s business. There are several questions we ask our clients before beginning the design process.

What services do you provide?

Who are your target clients?

What is your mission?

What makes you different from competitors?

Who are your competitors?

These are things we need to know in order to create a website designed to increase sales for your unique business. Believe it or not, we have found that many clients are unable to answer all of these questions. So, we now begin the process with a business consultation. A professional business coach will guide you through these important questions, among others, and lead you to a strategy for growing your business, which your website will be central to.

Content

The importance of professionally written content cannot be stressed enough. What you say and how you say it could either compel users or turn them off. Grammatical errors and typos could cause a user to question your company’s level of professionalism. Our professional copywriters know how to speak to your specific audience, how to focus your message and how to develop content with purpose.

Domain

A domain name is what a user types in to easily locate your website such as: yourcompany.com. It is customized so that it closely relates to your business or the content of your website. Without a domain, your site would be located at a temporary url such as: 476.792.469/-*genericsite. Your domain name matters; find out how to select a good domain name.

Hosting

Web-hosting is the space where your website lives. The files for your website reside on a server; we call this server the website’s host. Without a host, your domain would not be able to connect with the files that make up your website, like a disconnected phone line, and your website would be unreachable. Learn more about the importance of hosting and domain.

Elements of a site

This infographic from 99MediaLab is a great visualization of just how much goes into a successful website.

2. SEO

SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines through “organic” or un-paid search results. In general, a website with a high placement on the search results page and a high frequency of appearances in the search results list will receive more traffic from the search engine’s users. Earning a top search engine ranking (and keeping it) takes time, work, and maintenance, but is undoubtedly worth the effort.

You want your website to dominate top placement in search results when someone’s looking for products or services you provide, like this client, Piccino’s Wood Oven Pizza.

SEO Setup

The first step is for search engines to know you exist. Our setup includes all the basic elements engines require.

Keyword Research

It’s important to identify what exact terms and phrases users are entering in a web search– you may be surprised to find that it’s not necessarily what you would type in when searching for the same thing.

With the results of our research, we can make sure your site contains the keywords users are looking for. Each web page serves its own purpose and should be individually optimized with keywords. The more targeted and specific the keywords get, the closer we get to reaching consumers who are ready to make a purchase. Learn more about the details of our keyword research service.

Ongoing Maintenance

It will likely take up to 6 months for you to see SEO results and once you’ve reached a happy place, it will take a little work to stay there. A variety of factors can continuously be monitored, updated and improved in order to maintain your place at the top of the search results, including:

  • Monitor traffic to your site
  • Maintain NAP consistency (Business Name, Address and Phone consistency across online listings)
  • Add and optimize new content to your site

How is your site doing? Find out with this SEO checkup you can do yourself.

3. Local

Search engines look for consistency in the way your business name, address and phone number are listed, so they can keep their users happy. To a search engine, the consistency of your business details is verification that the business actually exists and that their users are going to find accurate information when they locate your business details through one of their searches. It’s also important to remember that directories will often appear higher than your site in search results, so users might click on a directory to access your business details rather than scrolling down to click on your actual website. It’s imperative that you gain control over the way your business details appear on your site, in directory listings and across the web. Learn more about why you need to take control of your listings.

Your business details could be listed in places you didn’t know existed. Find out how your business is listed with our free scanning tool.

NAP Consistency

Here’s what we can do to help make sure your business details are listed consistently:

    • Correct and maintain Name, Address and Phone details on over 60 online directories
    • Remove Duplicate Listings
    • Confirm Website Details
    • Add to New, Relevant Directories

4. SEM

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. This is a form of paid internet marketing that places a business’s ad on the results page of a search engine, like Google. Here’s a visual example:

This is a great way for a website to get immediate attention and move quickly to the top of search engine results, but it is not intended for long term use or to be used alone as a marketing effort. We recommend utilizing SEM for the 6 months or so after launching new site, while you’re waiting for SEO efforts to kick in or to give an older site a boost when it’s experiencing a lull in traffic.

5. Marketing

Now that we have our hub in place and analytics in place to track how it’s doing, how do we increase traffic to the site? The main goal is to establish consumer trust by having your brand and message appear and reappear constantly, everywhere they look. Marketing will be an ongoing effort for every business, but clearly, each business is unique. Adroit will help you create the best multifaceted plan for your business and will track the results of the efforts you’ve put your time and hard earned money into.

These are some elements we may use to develop your marketing strategy:

Are you ready to start marketing? 10 Things to Know about your Business before You Start Marketing