That feeling—however subtle—is what visitors experience when they land on a website that hasn’t been updated in months (or years).

Your website is your digital storefront, and just like a physical space, it needs upkeep, refreshes, and yes—some occasional remodeling. We believe that regular website updates aren’t just nice to have—they’re critical to building trust, improving performance, and staying relevant. That’s why we offer monthly maintenance packages that make updating easy, efficient, and impactful.

Let’s unpack the “why” behind fresh content, timely changes, and smart design tweaks—and why this ongoing investment can pay off in both the short and long term.

First Impressions Are Digital (and Ruthless)

You’ve heard it before – you only get one shot at a first impression. In the digital world, the clock ticks even faster. Studies show that users form an opinion about a website in just 0.05 seconds—and 38% will leave if the content or layout is unattractive¹.

That means your homepage, team page, service descriptions, and blog posts aren’t just static content—they’re active participants in that split-second decision-making process.

When your website feels out of date, users might assume:

• You’re no longer actively in business
• You don’t prioritize communication
• You’re behind the times (and possibly in your work, too)

Updating images, team bios, service language, and visual elements sends a clear signal: we’re alive, evolving, and ready to help.

SEO Doesn’t Sleep, and Neither Should Your Website Content

Search engines—especially Google—love fresh content. Websites that regularly update their pages, blogs, and internal links tend to rank higher than those that sit unchanged. Google’s algorithm isn’t just scanning for keywords anymore—it’s evaluating the freshness, authority, and relevance of your entire site.

Here’s what helps with SEO and your website:

• New blog posts or case studies every few months
• Updated product or service pages to reflect seasonality or industry shifts
• Optimized metadata and image tags
• Reorganized or refreshed homepage content to reflect what users care about now

In fact, businesses that blog consistently generate 67% more leads than those that don’t². And while blogging is one slice of the pie, content updates of any kind help search engines (and your customers) trust that your site is still worth visiting.

Your Business Evolves. Your Website Should, Too.

What you were doing six months ago might not reflect your current direction—and that’s a good thing. Growth, pivots, and new offers are signs of a business that’s adapting and refining. But if those changes aren’t visible on your site, you’re creating a disconnect between what you offer and what users see.

Let’s say you hired a new team member who brings a critical skill to the table. If that person isn’t visible on your team page—or you’re still showcasing an outdated roster—you’re missing an opportunity to highlight your bench strength and unique capabilities.

Same goes for services: if you’ve narrowed your focus, improved a process, or dropped something that no longer fits, your website needs to reflect that shift. An outdated offering not only confuses potential clients—it creates more work for you to “clarify” in person or over email.

Website updates help you reduce friction, build confidence, and close the gap between discovery and decision-making.

Security and Speed Matter More Than You Think

Beyond design and messaging, regular updates are essential for technical performance and security. Broken links, outdated plugins, and bloated files can slow down your website—frustrating users and hurting your search rankings.

Worse, an unmaintained site is a sitting duck for cyber threats. If your CMS (like WordPress) or third-party integrations aren’t updated frequently, your site could be vulnerable to attacks, malware, or data breaches.

Google has even gone on record saying that page load speed is a ranking factor in its algorithm³. And studies show that a 1-second delay in load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions⁴. A website that loads slowly—or worse, fails to load properly at all—will tank your credibility and conversions in record time.

That’s where monthly maintenance comes in. We don’t just keep your site looking fresh—we keep it functional, fast, and secure. If you are an existing client that hosts with Kicks – don’t worry we already have you covered.

Consistency Builds Trust

Here’s a little marketing truth we swear by – consistency is what builds trust. That doesn’t mean everything needs to change every month. It means you’re regularly checking in with your digital presence to make sure it’s aligned with your business, your brand, and your customer needs.

Consistent updates signal that you’re:

• Active in your field
• Responsive to market changes
• Invested in user experience
• Proud of your brand and the team behind it

Whether it’s updating team headshots, swapping out homepage images, or featuring new testimonials, these seemingly “small” updates have a cumulative impact. They reinforce credibility, build rapport, and show your visitors that you’re not just here—you’re here to stay.

How Kicks Digital Makes Website Updates Easy

Updating your website isn’t always at the top of your to-do list and most people do not have the skill or desire to dive in and learn the ins and outs of HTML or styling. That’s why we created monthly support packages designed to take that work off your plate—while giving you the benefit of a site that stays updated, optimized, and on-brand.

Here’s what’s typically included in a Kicks monthly maintenance plan:

• Content updates (team, services, bios, etc.)
• Image swaps and design tweaks
• Monthly blog or case study uploads (if provided)
• SEO enhancements and metadata reviews
• Plugin and theme updates (for WordPress)
• Website speed checks and security scans
• Strategic recommendations based on trends or performance insights

We approach it like a partnership—not just a ticket system. Our clients often say it feels like having an in-house web team without the overhead. Consider us an extension of your team to handle all things web.

Your Website Is Never “Done”

Let’s retire the idea that a website is a one-and-done project. In reality, it’s more like a living document, one that needs regular attention to stay sharp, functional, and aligned with your business goals. Just like you wouldn’t let your storefront gather dust or your team go unintroduced—don’t let your website lag behind.

Your audience is watching.
Google is crawling.
Opportunities are knocking.

Let’s make sure your site is ready.

Ready to freshen up your website and keep things moving?
Reach out to Kicks Digital to learn more about our flexible monthly support packages. We’ll help you keep your site alive, aligned, and optimized—month after month.

Sources:

https://sweor.com/firstimpressions

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-blogging-works

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2020/05/evaluating-page-experience

https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/building-websites/page-speed-statistics/

A restaurant’s website isn’t just digital decoration—it’s your online front-of-house. It’s where diners check your hours, browse your menu, make reservations, order takeout, buy gift cards, and sometimes decide whether or not to visit you in the first place.

Let’s break down exactly what to look for when building a restaurant website and which WordPress tools can help make it happen—without drowning you in tech jargon or pointless features. Whether you’re launching something new or refreshing an existing site, this post is your blueprint.

Start With the Basics: Non-Negotiables for Every Restaurant Website

No matter your cuisine, style, or budget, there are several must-have features that every restaurant site should deliver. These aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re foundational elements that determine how usable, functional, and effective your site really is.

Mobile-First Design

Most people visiting your site are doing it on their phones—looking for hours, browsing your menu, or seeing how far they are from your location. If your site doesn’t load quickly or format cleanly on mobile, you’ve lost them. A strong mobile-first design ensures that your website performs beautifully on all devices, no matter where your customers are coming from.

Clear and Intuitive Navigation

Diners should never have to dig to find your menu, hours, or phone number. Intuitive navigation reduces friction, improves user experience, and keeps visitors focused on what matters most—choosing what to eat or how to reach you.

Key navigation elements to include:

• Menus (with food categories or dietary tags)
• Location and hours (always visible)
• Online ordering or reservation buttons
• Contact form or phone number
• Events or promotions (if applicable)

Sticky headers and mobile-friendly nav bars with icons can go a long way in keeping users engaged.

Searchable, Digital Menus (Ditch the PDF!)

Here’s a common mistake: uploading a beautiful PDF of your menu and calling it a day. While it might look nice, PDFs are hard to read on mobile, impossible for screen readers, and invisible to Google when it comes to SEO.

Instead, build digital menus right into your website. These are easier to update and more accessible for everyone—including search engines.

Best WordPress plugins for digital menus:

• Restaurant Menu by MotoPress
• Five Star Restaurant Menu

These plugins allow you to create interactive, categorized menus complete with photos, descriptions, prices, and even filtering by dietary preferences—all with a layout that works across devices.

Built-in Ordering and Reservation Options

Want more takeout orders? Fewer no-shows? A smoother booking experience? Then your website should make it effortless for users to reserve a table or place an order. You can either embed third-party booking systems or fully integrate ordering into your WordPress site.

Popular tools to consider:

• OpenTable, Resy, or Tock (for bookings and reservations)
• WooCommerce (to manage in-house ordering)
• GloriaFood (a free and easy plugin for online ordering)
• WPForms or Fluent Forms (for catering or private party inquiries)

The best setup depends on your goals—but no matter the method, speed and clarity are key. Make the buttons visible. Use clear CTAs. And ensure everything works smoothly on mobile.

Location, Contact Info, and Social Links on Every Page

This might sound obvious, but it’s still overlooked way too often. Your hours, address, phone number, and social links should be visible on every page—preferably in both the header and footer.

Tools that help with this:

• WP Google Maps (adds an interactive map for visitors to get directions)
• Schema Pro or Rank Math (adds structured data so search engines highlight your info in local results)

Link to your social channels too—especially if you’re active on Instagram or Facebook. It keeps your brand experience cohesive and helps customers follow and engage with your updates.

Want to Stand Out? Here’s What the Best Restaurant Websites Include

Once the basics are covered, it’s time to think about how to elevate your site from functional to memorable. These features aren’t required, but they offer huge value to guests and give your restaurant a polished, modern feel.

Promote Events or Special Nights with a Calendar

If you host trivia, live music, wine tastings, or brunch specials, a well-designed event calendar helps drive traffic and build community around your brand.

Best tools to add an event calendar in WordPress:

• The Events Calendar (great for recurring events and ticketing)
• Modern Events Calendar (slick UI and customizable layouts)

These plugins let you display upcoming events, allow RSVPs or ticket sales, and even send reminders through email integrations.

Sell Gift Cards or Merch

Gift cards are low-effort, high-reward revenue generators. And if your restaurant has a loyal following, branded merch—like hats, T-shirts, or hot sauces—can build a stronger fan base.

How to do it in WordPress:

• WooCommerce (flexible and scalable eCommerce solution)
• YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards (adds digital or printable gift card functionality)
• Gift Up! (quick gift card setup for digital use)

Add these items to your site’s main nav or homepage. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to support your business beyond just dinner.

Collect Emails to Stay Top-of-Mind

Email marketing may sound old-school, but it works—especially for restaurants. Want to send updates about new menus, limited-time deals, or holiday events? Email lets you reach your loyal customers directly.

Plugins to grow your list:

• Mailchimp for WordPress
• FluentCRM (native to WordPress and privacy-first)
• ConvertKit or Klaviyo (more robust options for larger email programs)

Place your opt-in forms on your homepage, menu pages, and checkout pages for the best results.

Optimize for SEO and Local Search

If your site isn’t showing up in local searches like “best brunch near me” or “tacos in [your city],” you’re missing a huge traffic stream. WordPress has powerful SEO tools that help you rank better—and get more eyeballs on your site.

Top tools to boost SEO:

• Rank Math or Yoast SEO (on-page optimization and meta tags)
• Schema Pro (adds rich data like hours, reviews, and location)
• Google Site Kit (connects your site to Google Analytics and Search Console)

Don’t forget: great photos, updated alt text, and fast load times also factor into SEO rankings—especially on mobile.

Quick-Reference WordPress Tool Stack for Restaurants

Build a Site That’s as Good as Your Food

We’ve helped restaurants from fast-casual to fine dining build websites that reflect their brand, connect with guests, and make doing business easier. The secret isn’t just a great design—it’s building a site that works hard behind the scenes and serves your real business goals.

If you’re ready for a restaurant site that helps you get more reservations, more orders, and more love from search engines, let’s cook something up together – let’s chat.

1. What Is ChatGPT and How Is It Used by Content Writers?

ChatGPT is a powerful AI language model developed by OpenAI, designed to generate human-like text based on prompts it receives. It can produce anything from short blog posts to detailed essays, making it a tempting tool for content writers looking to streamline their work or increase their output.

While some writers use ChatGPT for brainstorming or generating drafts, others may rely on it more heavily to compose entire articles. The capabilities of AI writing tools are vast, including providing structure, checking grammar, and even suggesting creative phrases. For employers, this can raise concerns about whether the human touch is being lost in favor of machine-generated content.

Writers often use ChatGPT for the following tasks:

• Brainstorming topics or headlines.
• Drafting sections or full articles.
• Editing or rephrasing for clarity.
• Researching quick facts or statistics.

Although AI can certainly enhance productivity, it can also diminish the uniqueness of content, especially if relied upon too heavily. This leads to the important question: How can you tell if your writers are leaning on AI tools like ChatGPT?

2. Signs That Your Writers Might Be Using ChatGPT

Determining whether a content writer is using ChatGPT to produce their work can be challenging, especially since the quality of AI-generated text has improved dramatically. However, there are several signs that may suggest AI involvement in content production:

• Repetitive Phrasing or Patterns: ChatGPT can generate polished text, but its outputs often follow certain patterns, particularly in phrasing. If you notice similar sentence structures, vocabulary, or transitions repeated across multiple articles, this could be a sign that your writer is using AI to assist or even replace manual effort.
• Generic or Non-Specific Content: AI models like ChatGPT are trained on vast amounts of data from the internet. As a result, the content it produces can sometimes feel generalized or lack specific insight. If your content lacks depth, fails to provide nuanced opinions, or is overly broad, there’s a chance it was generated by a tool like ChatGPT.
• Lack of a Consistent Voice: Good content writers develop a distinctive voice over time, which reflects both their personal style and the brand they write for. If your writer’s tone seems inconsistent or robotic, switching between articles without explanation, this could indicate AI use.
• Fewer Requests for Clarifications: Human writers usually ask questions to better understand their assignments, the target audience, or the tone you want. If a writer consistently delivers content without requesting any clarification or feedback, it could be a sign they’re relying on AI, which may not need the same level of input.

Identifying these signs is only part of the process. Once you suspect your writers are using AI, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of AI-assisted writing to determine how you want to address it.

3. The Pros and Cons of Writers Using ChatGPT

Before deciding whether you want to discourage or accept AI-generated content, it’s important to understand the benefits and potential drawbacks.

Pros:

• Increased Efficiency: ChatGPT can generate content quickly, helping writers meet tight deadlines and boost productivity. If the content is for internal use or SEO-focused, AI-assisted writing may help meet your goals faster.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Since AI can handle repetitive or research-heavy tasks, it can reduce the amount of time your writers spend on basic content production, possibly allowing you to scale your operations without hiring more staff.
• Support for Brainstorming: Writers can use ChatGPT to brainstorm topics, headlines, and structures, enabling them to focus more on creativity and less on routine tasks.

Cons:

• Lack of Originality: Over-reliance on AI tools can result in content that lacks originality, creativity, and personal touch. This can lead to generic pieces that don’t resonate with your audience.
• Ethical Concerns: Passing off AI-generated content as human-written without disclosure can raise ethical questions. Your clients or readers may expect original human-created work and feel misled if they find out otherwise.
• Reduced Quality Control: AI may produce text that seems correct at first glance but includes subtle inaccuracies or misinterpretations. It may require careful fact-checking and refinement by a human writer, adding extra work in the long run.

Balancing the use of AI tools in content creation is key. But how can you encourage a responsible approach among your writers?

4. Creating a Balance: Encouraging Transparency and Responsible Use

If you suspect or know your writers are using AI tools like ChatGPT, the goal should not be to ban such tools outright, but rather to create a clear policy that fosters transparency and responsible use. Here’s how you can do that:

• Set Clear Expectations: Make it clear when and how AI tools are acceptable. For instance, you might allow writers to use ChatGPT for generating ideas or first drafts, but require that they refine and personalize the final version to maintain a human touch.
• Encourage Disclosure: Have open discussions with your writers about whether and how they’re using AI tools. Encouraging transparency helps ensure that you’re both on the same page, and you can address any ethical concerns before they arise.
• Maintain Quality Control: If writers are using AI to assist their work, ensure there is a strong review process in place. This may involve checking for plagiarism, fact-checking, and ensuring the final product aligns with your brand’s voice and values.
• Provide Training: Offer training to your content writers on how to effectively integrate AI tools while maintaining creativity and originality. This can help them leverage technology to enhance their writing rather than replace it.

By fostering a balanced approach, you can benefit from the efficiency AI offers without sacrificing the quality of your content.

5. What to Do If You Suspect Over-Reliance on ChatGPT

If you believe a writer is relying too heavily on ChatGPT or similar AI tools, there are steps you can take to address the issue. Here’s how to approach the situation:

• Request a Sample of Human-Only Writing: Ask your writer to produce a piece of content without using AI assistance, comparing it to their previous work. This can help you gauge the extent of AI reliance and assess their true capabilities.
• Introduce Random Checkpoints: Implement a process where writers occasionally need to submit drafts or outlines of their work-in-progress. This can help ensure they are involved in the content creation process and not solely relying on AI-generated text.
• Discuss the Use of AI: Have a frank conversation with your writer about their use of AI tools. Set expectations and explain that while AI can be a valuable aid, it should not replace the creative effort that human writers bring to the table.
• Provide Constructive Feedback: If you notice issues with the content, offer specific feedback on how to improve it. Encourage the writer to refine their style, add unique insights, and bring their own voice into the content.

With AI tools like ChatGPT becoming more prevalent, it’s natural to wonder whether your content writers are using them to do their job. While AI can help boost efficiency and productivity, it’s crucial to maintain a balance between technology and human creativity. By understanding the signs of AI use, weighing the pros and cons, and fostering transparency, you can ensure your content remains high-quality, original, and aligned with your brand’s voice—even in an AI-driven world.

One of the most common errors you’ll see while navigating the web is the 404 – Not Found error. When you visit a webpage the server responds with some content and a code. If everything is as it should be, you’ll see a fully functioning site and the browser gets a 200 code. The 200 code is the server equivalent to a thumbs up. Servers can respond with many different codes. The first digit in the response code gives you a general idea of what’s going on. Codes in the four hundreds refer to a client (it’s a you problem) issue.

Check out this Wiki page for more information on server codes.

What is a 404 Code Exactly?

We’ve all seen a webpage look like this:

This means you either typed in an address that doesn’t exist or clicked on a link to website that doesn’t exist. This URL may have once existed and doesn’t anymore or it never existed at all. Either way, when you see a page like this that means the server doesn’t know what to show you.

You don’t see really basic 404 pages much anymore. It’s pretty lazy for a website/web designer to let the server show something like that.

Nowadays you’ll see something more like this:

This is clearly better because it gives the users options from here. They can navigate to pages that do exist. In the former example. the user could only click the back button to return from where they came from or take another swing at the real URL.

We use WordPress to build our websites and like other content management systems, it can handle 404s more gracefully than a server by itself. By default, WordPress includes at the very least, the header and the footer of the site. The body can contain whatever makes sense for your website. It can, for example, show blog posts they may relate to what the user was trying to find.

SEO Impact

There isn’t a direct impact on your SEO score by having 404s. When search engines identify results that don’t exist, they just stop including those pages when they crawl your site.

The indirect impact is, of course, that your site has fewer indexed pages than it should and THAT can impact your SEO score with engines.

Custom 404 Pages

Using a custom 404 page like the one described at the end of the section above will actually improve your SEO score. Having a tailored 404 page with several internal links will engage the user and stop some of them from bouncing off your site, thus increasing your onsite time and lowering your bounce rate.

Finding Your 404s

Fixing broken links is easy. Identifying them, on the other hand, can be more difficult. There are two ways to find 404s. The first is to manually find them, but opening up the inspector for a page on your site and viewing the “Network" tab. There you can see all of the assets that page is trying to access. If you order by status you can see your 404 statuses.

From there you just need to make that page or file exist at that location or you need to change the location the page is pointing to.

Broken Link Checker

If you’re using WordPress you can use a plugin like Broken Link Checker to find broken links for you. The plugin will identify and create a list of all broken links on the site.

Overall, 404 errors are not uncommon and are easy to repair. If your website links out to other sites or assets it is something that you’ll have to monitor. You can’t control what other websites do with their URLs and files so a link out could become broken at any time. That is what makes plugins like the Broken Link Checker, so helpful. It is constantly monitoring for broken connections.

Does your website need some love? Let’s talk.

Here are a few ways to know it’s time for an SEO spring cleaning session (and what an SEO spring cleaning session is).

What is it?

Let’s start with the basics. SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a deep subject with lots of layers that can be a whole blog in itself…in fact, it is and you can read it here. But, an audit is what we perform when we know a client isn’t ranking on Google. 

By looking at your site content, your keywords, your images, your links, and your competition, we can make suggestions on how to best optimize your site. This means after time you could search “Ways to announce your new website” and you may just see your favorite Indianapolis marketers popping up first. 

Where to start?

What are your goals for your business and what services do you offer? This is the perfect place to start when auditing your SEO. If you want to be the best Chimney Sweep in Indianapolis but your site only mentions being a Chimney Sweep twice, it’s time to re-evaluate. 

Sit down with a pen and paper (and maybe a glass of wine) and map out who you are and what you do. This will be what you want people to know you for. 

Then, head to the site and take a look at your content. How much content do you have? So much it’s overwhelming? Or, so little you can’t tell what you do? Decide what is no longer relevant and what needs to be added to. 

If you have your Google Analytics setup you can go here as well to track user behavior and page views. This will tell you what pages your visitors are finding and how long they are staying. Then, look at why they are finding that specific page. Does the page talk about something specific? Does it have a lot of copy or images? These are all factors to well-performing SEO. 

So what next?

Once you have your thoughts organized, or at least written down, it’s time to take action.

My biggest suggestion is to come to us. We are ready and have the software available to make educated decisions that won’t be a waste of time. We will take you through a process of research to find what keywords will best help you rank. Then, we will help to rework your copy and fix any back-end issues that could prevent you from ranking.

Second, give it time. SEO is not an overnight change. It will take time and work to rank for keywords, especially in a field with lots of competition. You may be on the second or third or fourth page of Google search results for your services’ specific keyword. That’s okay! We’ve been there too. It can be frustrating at first, but trust the process. These things really do take time and effort.

Third, keep working at it. This isn’t a one-and-done situation. Google will consistently change who they favor and what they favor. We can schedule to do these audits on your site once a year and keep you in the loop on changes we need to be making. 

Finally, start a blog. Generally, on your site, we can only really target one keyword at a time without making the whole thing sound bad or not genuine. Blogs however are like a loophole. Each blog can target its own keyword. Google loves to see new and consistent additions in content too – so this is hitting two goals in one piece of copy. Not a big writer? Don’t worry. We are.

So, if you’re looking at your website thinking you still don’t really know what a keyword is and if you are targeting any, let us know. We are ready to help you clean up your site and get ranking.

The conversation circles around “I need a website with SEO," likely due to a Google search to build lead potential or word-of-mouth of a fellow business owner. In order to reap the benefits of SEO, it’s important to understand it at its core. A big part of what we do here at Kicks Digital Marketing is client education. We stress the importance of knowing how your digital footprint impacts your business and what it can do for you if you are willing to take the time to work for it. 

What is SEO?

SEO is the abbreviation for search engine optimization. SEO is an action and a full-time job at many agencies, but it is part of every action taken from content to web development. There is no magic tool. There is no quick fix. Tools like Yoast and Moz provide great best practice analyzers, but they market on hope for better rank and fail to mention you’ll have to take specific action to reap the rewards.

The core purpose of SEO is to optimize your website or online strategy to be able to provide the best opportunity for organic rank and online traffic acquisition. But where does it start and where does it end? It starts with content and research.

SEO and Content Strategy

Many clients only see the final product or care about the beautification of their web presence, the vanity project as we call it here. From go, we scope our client’s needs and stress the importance of messaging, often going layers deep with internal and external stakeholders to provide the ultimate context before embarking on the content phase of our project.

Content writers research trending topics and keywords relating to the services and determine the best terms and phrases to use for your static page content. The same tactic is present when generating blog posts and social media content. The higher quality the content and the more often a keyword appears in context (keyword density), the more likely it will return when a user keys in a related search on Google. But, it doesn’t end there.

Website Structure and SEO

Once your content goes from draft to site-ready, it’s time to plug it into your website design in a way that makes it easy for search engines to crawl and read your page. All sites use a similar structure that sort code and content based on the level of importance as shown below.

Title Tag

Your page title defines what the page is about. Titles will show up in Google search results pages as the first bold line followed by other important pieces of information. Most companies will use a syntax of the title followed by company name like:

Chimney Cleaning | Chimney Solutions Indiana

What’s nice about this is that the location, service, and industry are in the company name reinforcing the confidence of the searching user. However, some companies elect to customize their page title layouts to force in keywords and locations similar to:

Olympic Lifting Classes | Best Indianapolis CrossFit Gym

To the average user it may pass, but to the critic (or marketer), these titles can seem grabby, spammy, and inauthentic.

URL

The URL of a page shows up above the page title Google search results. A URL should contain a keyword related to the purpose of the page or match the page title and be under 50 characters while avoiding stop words like an, and, or, etc.

Meta Description

Think of a meta description like your elevator pitch. You have 160 characters to tell the user what the page is about. There is nothing more frustrating than looking for answers only to be met with content that has little or nothing to with what you searched. This is why Google uses a metric called the Quality Score that measures the search terms against the content of the page. The higher the quality score, the more likely a site will rank high (and cost less per click if you are paying for Google Ads).

In the example above, you can see the “…" cutting the content off mid-sentence. When companies take a lazy approach and fail to enter in the dictated meta description, search engines will grab the first 160 characters. Talk about giving away a great opportunity to get a new client. When writing meta descriptions, key in a short description of the page using related keywords while keeping it limited to 160 characters.

Headings

If you are familiar with Buzzfeed, you are already familiar with headings. Headings are used in the body of your website and help search engines crawl and read the site with ease. Each heading breaks apart the content much like “chapters" in a book.

• H1: the most important heading
• H2
• H3
• H4
• H5
• H6: the least important heading

As you can see, headings create a hierarchal rank for your content. By organically using prime keywords in sub-headings will tell site crawlers that the page or post is likely quality compared to the search term. But, what if you have images on your page to compliment text?

Images and SEO

Images are a great way to bring visual appeal to your website, landing pages, and blog posts. When you upload your photo to a WordPress media gallery, you are able to include image descriptions and other identifiers for a specific image such as alt text and image title.

Include relevant information about each image to give search engines a better idea of what it relates to.

Enough With The Tech Talk

With SEO, you cannot take one without the other. A website facelift doesn’t improve rank. Content with proper development will not be properly crawled. All websites developed on our custom WordPress platform follow the best practices and standards to provide your website with the best opportunity for quality organic search traffic and rank. The question is, what will you do with this knowledge?

If you are uncertain about your website and digital footprint, drop us a line and let us know. We’d be happy to walk through your site and discuss how you can optimize your website to improve your rank opportunity.

This is where keyword research and content planning come into play. Almost every project we start hangs on the balance of copy. Who creates it? Will it be new or a reworking of current messaging? Do you care to participate? If you want to make moves on-the-line with organic SEO, you better strap in for the ride along. After all, no one should know your brand better than yourself.

Understanding the Content Process

Content strategy is not merely sitting down and putting fingers to the keys and orchestrating a slew of sexy sentences that might attract your potential audience. There are vital components that make up the grand theme of content strategy, and it starts with research.

Content Research and the Client

First, we must know who you are and what you are trying to achieve. Are we selling products? Are we looking to boost services in a specific area or for a particular demographic? All of these questions help inform where we start digging, and one of the first things we look for after beginning the process is establishing a goal/outcome for each page or call-to-action. Once we can extract the minutia, we have a better sense of direction.

Audience and Competitive Research

Understanding your market is extremely important. Just because you have something to day doesn’t mean the entire world is listening. Who is your target audience? Are they really who you think they are? Do they buy the way you sell? Who do you consider competitors? You might be surprised to find that sometimes your thoughts and your truths are not always aligned. It’s not uncommon for us to uncover data that shows where you dominate and where you fall short. Having this in your back pocket is an asset as it will help inform where you are winning and where you need to improve.

With data, we make decisions. Are they always what you want them to be? Nope. But, it gives us a good sense of where you might be able to capitalize and allocate resources to improve your exposure. We might push back, and we might compromise, but our end goal is to make sure you are taking the right steps.

Keyword Research and Content Generation

Keyword research is a common buzz-phrase we throw around a lot. It’s relatively self-explanatory, however, there are layers to this simple concept. There are various tools available, such as Google Trends, Ubersuggest, and Google Keyword Planner. These tools help create keyword ideas to elevate your copy, giving it the opportunity to rank on search engine results pages.  These tools provide insight on where you might rank, how much volume you and the industry might see in a given month, and potential cost-per-click if you wanted to dive into pay-per-click advertising.

However, using the same tools and tactics will only get you as far as your competitors. When we pull data on your competitors, we look into what keywords they are competing for, and we find holes that can be filled with various keywords that push your message forward. Some might only go broad while others go ultra-specific. Using a mix of keywords that are related to the topic help inform more substantial copy. What we try to avoid is a website that repeats the same keyword over and over. We get it. You are a website design company based in X city. *Cough*Spam Copy*Cough *

Finding Unique Content Opportunities

There is a unique content opportunity that is taking shape on-the-line. You might notice that Google is now pushing fragments of larger text to the top of the page to answer questions keyed in by users. This blog post, for example, could, but likely won’t be afforded that opportunity because I’m speaking to a broader concept and not a direct problem. Answering your audience’s questions is a great way to establish yourself as an expert. This is where keyword use is natural and flows, and we are not necessarily forcing variants in an attempt to check off YoastSEO’s “best practice" list.

(Hint: YoastSEO plugin does not help your SEO, it enables you to build better pages when writing content)

We enable this tactic through Google Ads. Rather than forcing a product or service on you, we push to answer questions and use UX to lead you to the best options for a solution. Curology does a great job of this. If I key in, “how do I control my oily skin?" (this is an example, my skin is darn near perfect), you landing on a quiz that engages their user.

Talk about proper experience. Curology isn’t leading with their product. They are leading with “let’s help you figure it out" and providing you solutions. All this is to say, when it comes to keyword research, you want to look for unique ways to approach the topic.

What’s Trending Today

In 2015, veganism was a blip on the radar on Google Search benchmarking at 25 in terms of popularity. By July 2017, it reached 100/100 in popularity of search. Who cares? The general public, that’s who. Despite the naysayers and climate change deniers who loathe the very thought of sharing coffee with a vegan, there are a lot of variants that go along with veganism. Be it diet, dishes, clothing, news, movies; they are all preceded with or followed by vegan as an identifier in countless searches.

Finding trending keywords can provide you insight on rising topics and search queries from users around the globe. We mentioned Google Trends early on in this post. If you are a business owner or in-house marketer looking for new topics to write about for your company blog, I implore you to check it out. You might be amazed at what Google finds related to your search term or topic.

The Wrap-up

When it comes down to it, there is value in content writing. It just takes time and attention. Some companies see it as a challenge and rise to the occasion, and others might feel beat down. We’ve been there, and we’ve felt it before. This why organizations like Kicks Digital exist. Think of us as an extension of your business. You’re the Captain of the S.S. (Enter Business Name), and we’re your crew. Eh, maybe a better analogy is that you’re the car, and we’re the gas, or electricity if you want to be a Tesla. You know what, let’s just keep it simple. We’re here when you need us. How can we help?

To make this simple, we are going to break it down into a few categories: structure, design, and functionality.

What is proper website structure?

Since we have the capability to build and optimize websites on platforms like Squarespace or WordPress, a lot of the heavy lifting can be done by seeking out a template best suited for your end goal. We always recommend tailoring your website to your brand to avoid being one of the many who use a template. Again, it’s about uniqueness. All websites have the same basic structure when it comes to code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<html>

<head>

<title></title>

</head>

<body></body>

</html>

It’s all about what goes in between. Think of a website as the human body. HTML acts as the “structure" or bones, CSS is the aesthetics or look and feel, and Javascript is the function or brain. All of these parts work together to index information and present your properly optimized website in the most functional way so that users can access what they need without thinking hard. If your site lacks basic structure, then it really is not a site at all.

Components of an optimized website structure

All of the components that make up basic website design structure are important for search engines to find you. The use of proper titles, tags, and descriptions will help search engines like Google find you and improve rank for users searching for your key information.

Title, URLs, and the epic h1

Each page has a unique page title that lives on your website. This page title is known as the h1 or heading 1. An h1 tells search engines what the main purpose is of the page. You will also see this as the main headline on the search results page. Traditionally, URLs will follow the title of the page, for example, an Indianapolis Digital Marketing page would be .com/indianapolis-digital-marketing.

Page title best practices:

• Keep page titles to 60 characters or less to avoid truncation
• Make each page title unique and specific to the information on the page
• Make sure all URLs are unique and separated by hyphens or underscores
• If you change the title, make sure the URL is changed as well and redirect as necessary. For all your redirect needs, click here.
• Include the keyword you want to rank for in your page title

Optimize your websites meta descriptions

Meta descriptions are the first look at your website. Each page provides the opportunity to provide a short description of the page so users can see this under the page title in search results pages. Though this does not directly impact your page rank, it is an opportunity to sell yourself to the potential user seeking information.

Meta Descriptions best practices:

• Keep your meta descriptions at a maximum of 156 characters, but no less than 120
• Make sure you include the topic or keyword you are intending to rank for in the descriptions
• Do not use the same meta description for multiple pages, uniqueness is key
• Write your meta description as if it were ad copy

Body, h2, h3, and everything in between

When a search engine crawls a website, it scans the information on the page to see if it best fits the user’s search. If the page is properly structured and the on-page content checks the ever-changing algorithm boxes, the higher the potential for ranking on search results pages. This is where proper content strategy comes into play.

A proper page will have in-depth content related to topics, service, or products broken down into a structure that is easy for the user and search engines to understand. For example, you may have noticed the various font sizes and weights above certain paragraphs. These are what we call sub-headings. Each one serves a purpose to relay the importance of indexing information.

Heading 1, or h1 is the main page title and is the more important heading on the page. Heading 2, or h2 begins to break the content into sub-sections. This allows the user to jump to sections that locate key information faster and more efficiently without having to sift through loads of plain text.

Heading and content optimization best practices:

• Make sure you plan what each page is about
• Research high ranking keywords to implement into the content
• Break the content into sections
• Include keywords in various sub-headings

Now that we’ve covered the basic structure of a website and how to optimize structural aspects, let’s move on to design.

Website designs are important because they define the user’s experience. As I said earlier, nothing kills your credibility faster than a poorly designed website. So what does this entail?

Color schemes, fonts, and branding

Your website should be a direct representation of your company’s brand and every brand should have a guideline. A brand guideline tells you and others how to represent your brand. Without this, projects get delayed, brands misrepresented, and it truly becomes the wild west of design.

A proper brand guideline includes detail uses of fonts, how to use a logo on certain colors or for certain mediums, and what not to do in order to maintain control over your brand. Smart companies like Coca-Cola have maintained their brand and exist as one of the most iconic brands of all time. If you do not have a brand guideline, work to develop a document that you can share with your marketing team or companies you may partner with. Consistency is key.

Brand Guideline Checklist

• Various logo files and formats for all mediums
• Font selections for titles, headings, and body text
• Approved color schemes and complementary colors schemes
• Some more advanced guidelines include brand voice and tonality

Optimizing website imagery

Nothing dulls the senses like a site straight from the late 90s. Not that these times were bad, we’ve just got better screen resolutions. As screens become bright and filled to the brim with more pixels, the need for high-resolution imagery will grow. Determining the style and proper landscape of your on-site and off-site photos will help you maintain a consistent aesthetic across all channels and help users match an image with your brand. If you cannot afford to hire a professional photographer to get authentic photography, you can always use resources like Unsplash or iStock.

Remember, a personal touch with original images will go a lot farther than splashing your page with stock images. Be original, always.

Optimize website content in design

Your design should complement the content and present it in a way that flows naturally to the end-user. We all read from left to right, with the exception of a few, and your website should do just that. Place key information at the top and follow with supporting content. Remember, subheadings exist for a reason, use them properly and the website design process will be much easier.

What’s most important to note that users should be able to contact you easily. Strategic of logical calls-to-action are helpful in directing users to take next steps, but they should also find high-level contact information with ease.

Contact information optimization

• Prominent Contact button in the main menu
• Quick access phone number in the aux/sub-menu
• Direct links for phone or address (if applicable) in the footer
• A Contact page indexing all methods of contact, including a form conversion
• In-body CTAs to drive goal conversions
• In-body forms when it makes sense (less pleasing to the eye)

Optimizing primary navigation

When a user reaches your website, they expect a seamless experience otherwise they bounce out (this is known as a bounce rate and is affected when a user leaves or stays on your site). The more reliable the information and the easier it is to navigate, the more likely the user is to remain on your site. If you find that you have too many pages that will extend a simple menu and make it a complex drop-down, find a creative way to use inter-page links and avoid adding more items on the menu.

Primary navigation is simply that, primary. Let other pages work for you and get users where they need to go. How do you think you ended up here?

You could also create menus that are unique to your audience. This would allow users to hover over the main menu item that pertains to them and see the pages that relate to the main category. If you are finding it hard to minimize the number of pages in the main navigation, always remember there is a secondary, or footer navigation available for you to expand on.

Optimized site navigation best practices:

• Avoid overly complex drop-down menus with many page links
• Pick the top pages (home, about, services, contact, blog, and shop)
• Create on-page menus or category blocks that link to proper pages
• Use sticky menus that remain at the top as users scroll or employ a scroll-up menu (can eat up page real estate)
• Make use of all menus from primary to footer

Now that we have the optimized website structure and design down, let’s dive into the functionality of the website.

The overall function of the site is just as important as the categories that proceed it on this page. Without the function, the user cannot move about the site. A proper quality control process is important to ensure that there are no dead links or missing redirects on the site.

Optimizing Website Redirects

Say you edit a page and change the title and make a switch to the URL or delete the page and it is still index in search engines, what happens? A user can still navigate to the site page and find that it does not exist or has been moved. This can’t be more frustrating as you are expecting to find the information keyed in from your search. Make sure you are set up for these situations by always pointing to the new page or a page relating to the topic and submit a new sitemap when things change.

Double-check your links and labels

Part of quality control is ensuring all links function properly. When we were provided the ability to click-to-call straight from the website on a mobile phone, it was great. The same went for email. Making sure each click has a purpose will keep your user happily navigating through the site to obtain the information they require. As you create calls-to-action across your site, using labels on-site or using tools such as Google Tag Manager helps you track the success of your goal conversion funnel.

Optimizing Website’s Site Speed

As internet speeds get faster, so does the request for information. Making sure your code is lean and not bogged down for unnecessary lines of code will help your site load time and offer the user the ability to access your information faster. There is a lot you can draw from PageSpeed Insights, but what does it matter if you cannot optimize your website? Let’s start with some items you can control.

Optimizing Website Images

When you upload large files directly to your media library and display them on the site, it takes longer to load than small files. We prefer to host images from a separate server in order to offer our clients faster load times. There are various WordPress plugins that help you achieve optimized images for your website, but make sure you select one that is maintained and updated regularly. Tools like WPSmush help automate the process of optimization website images, but it’s best to get in the habit of cutting down on file size before you add them to your media gallery.

Caching your website

Ever wonder why you can access sites so rapidly all the time? Most websites cache images and information rather than burdening the server every time you want to access a site you visit on a regular basis. However, caching becomes stale and needs to be updated. Imagine your company changed your logo or content on your site, the cached files are no longer applicable to the new site design and will not be represented when users visit the site. Our proprietary platform cycles every hour to ensure old information is moved out and new information is ready for viewing. This is not always the case for everyone, but we host many sites and not just a single site.

Minify HTML, CSS, and Javascript

When you have user-friendly site-building tools like WordPress it gets increasingly easier to slow your site with unnecessary lines of code from plugins. Each line of code expands the size of the site files which bog down the servers from returning a faster site. Make sure you remove unnecessary lines of the code to minimize file sizes. This will not affect the operation of the code, but boost speed.

Once you’ve combed through the site and made sure each link does what you want it to do, it is time to put the hard work to the test and format a marketing plan. We love to help businesses with these kinds of things, so if you’re in the market, we’d love to chat.

Complete Your Social Outlets

What’s the first thing people see when they visit your social media pages? Your profile!

It’s crucial that your social outlets look professional. They should include quality graphics, excellent copywriting, and consistent branding.

Additionally, all of your social channels should include a link to your website that is easily found. In order to make your website even more prominent, take full advantage of call-to-action buttons.

But wait, how do people find your social media channels? If they aren’t sent there by your company website, chances are they Googled you. Depending on their search, your social channels will show up directly under your website.

Build a Content Calendar

A good social media presence requires consistent posting and quality content. Seem daunting? Don’t worry — this is where evergreen content can be a game changer. Since organic reach continues to dwindle, the chance that the same person will see that same post is fairly small. The key is to change up the imagery and copy so it looks fresh on your profile page. And of course, always include a link to your website in the post.

But, don’t get lazy. Every piece of content has to serve a purpose. Quality always trumps quantity. Content that seems forced or isn’t relevant is not going to generate much engagement or clicks.

(Side note): Your posts impact more than just your social outlets. Many posts are indexed by Google, boosting your SEO scores!

Create Engaging Content

What’s better than knowing people are reading your blog content? Seeing that they’ve shared it! Shares are a high-value engagement because they are authentic personal endorsements for your brand to that person’s social following.

Think about what would encourage you to share a piece of content, and strive to inspire that action from your readers. The more your followers share your content, the more people will have the opportunity to see it and click the link back to your website.

Looks Matter

Just think about how many posts you can scroll through on your mobile phone in just a few minutes — tons! In order to successfully generate more site traffic, content must be “scroll-stopping.”

Did you know that visual content is more likely to trigger an engagement than other types of content? And you don’t have to be a design guru. There are plenty of tools that make it easier than ever for you to design your own content. Graphics increase the likelihood that your audience will click and share your post! But, don’t forget to always include a link to your website as well!

If you have any questions, need advice, or are looking to outsource your marketing, Kicks Digital Marketing is happy to help!

The most positive effect of single page design is the ease of use.

Pro: Controlling the Narrative

Single page design lets you easily control how your users experience your website.

Pro: Mobile Friendly

The less you have to do to get the information you need the better mobile experience you’re going to have.

Con: Disorientation

Where am I?

Con: SEO

One of the most glaring drawbacks to single page design is your ability to maximize your SEO efforts.

The Verdict