A website is very much like any other piece of direct marketing. But it isn’t a one-off campaign, it’s permanent and ongoing.
As such it’s a good idea to revisit your site with DM in mind every now and again to make sure your focus is correct, especially when several people have their fingers in your website pie.
If you’re doing a proper job of it you’ll be updating your site regularly with fresh content, making frequent amends to existing content, removing and adding special offers, links… etc etc. Here’s some sensible guidelines to help check the fundamentals of your website are still working hard from a DM perspective.
13 tips for website best direct marketing best practice
- can visitors still navigate your site easily or has it all got a bit too complicated?
- does every link work?
- are your calls to action in the right place / still there?
- has essential information fallen below the fold when it should be above?
- are your key words and phrases still in place, in the right density?
- is your content in priority order for SEO?
- are you focusing on the right key words and phrases or have things changed?
- is your message clear or have you muddied the water with too many edits?
- are your images still relevant?
- does your meta data need updating in line with your key words and phrases?
- could your source code do with tidying up so it complies with web standards?
- are your footer links up to date?
- is your sitemap up to date?
If it’s relevant, check it. If it doesn’t seem relevant, check it anyway just in case. At least you’ll know you’ve shone your direct response torch into every dark corner and put everything possible straight.
