Spring Clean Up Your Act Online

Five Ways To Clean Up Your Act Online

Posted on in Small Business Tips, SME Marketing

Take a read of our ‘Five Ways to [Spring] Clean Up Your Act Online’!

The joy of the internet is that you can add and change things in a matter of minutes – but this also means that we often keep adding and changing, without cleaning and tidying up as we go. As a result, we can lose track of our objectives and perhaps lose sight of good works achieved in the past. Why not take the start of Spring or the end of the tax year as a chance to get your business’ online act cleaned up…

1. Google yourself!

When was the last time you googled your company to see where your website appears, how it looks on a mobile device, where it ranks and whether all the information is correct? Last year? Perhaps when you set up the website… or never? Take the time to do it now – remember to include Ltd or Limited as appropriate.If you have slipped down the rankings you need to consider whether your SEO is as good as it should be. Simple ways to improve your page rank include:

  • Make sure you’re publishing unique, relevant and interesting content.
  • Ensure you regularly update your content.
  • Make sure you add the relevant metadata.
  • Use alt tags for your images.
  • Make sure your website is responsive (easy to check, do refer to previous articles)

2. Tidy up directory listings

Have you signed up for any free directory listings in the past? And since then have you rebranded, moved or changed what the business offers? Make sure you update what are essentially free adverts, so that they work for you. The benefits here again lay with page ranking if there is a back-link to your website. But do make sure your entries are (a) completed 100% and (b) that you complete your address and contact details consistently.

3. Sort out your social media

How many social media accounts does your business have? Do you have duplicate accounts? Consolidate them, and then check out your profiles and logos on the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook to ensure you are being consistent across all platforms. If it’s some time since you’ve done this, check out any new fields and features that may have been added. Don’t forget to add social media links to your website, so that clients can find you easily!

  • How many of your social media accounts are actually giving you a return on the effort you put in? Most platforms have their own metrics, which you can check out – or look at the likes of Hootsuite and Sprout Social. Check out the metrics for each channel to discover which ones you should hang on to – this post from Sprout Social is useful – http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-metrics-that-matter/.
  • Change your passwords. How often have you changed your password on social media? Never? Experts reckon you should do it every couple of months – you don’t want your business account being hacked! If your mind boggles at the idea of coping with all those different passwords, consider a password manager, such as LastPass or Dashlane.

4. Clean up your books

Take a look at your accounting system. Does it work for you – could you get something more automated to save time and money? If you use an outside accountant, would a more comprehensive system save them time and therefore you money? The key to bookkeeping is good organisation and keeping on top of transactions – make sure that whoever is responsible for the books allocates time each week to sort out expenses, chase invoices and so on.

APM have been using Xero for at least 3 years now. Visit the website here and sign up for a free trial. We cant recommend it highly enough!

5. Clean up your email

A job for all your staff – clean up all that old mail which is sitting in your inbox – archive what you don’t need now, create meaningful folders to save what you do and delete anything which is redundant. Take the opportunity to set up folders for different clients, suppliers or topics so that you can keep on top of your email throughout the coming year.

Alison Page Marketing can take care of your online presence for you – from updating website content to creating and managing your social media accounts. If you’d like to find out more, please contact us at hello@alisonpagemarketing.co.uk or telephone: 07963 002065.