Editor’s Note: Evans is a Senior Designer who works in both web and print, driving creative solutions through the Evans Akanno Creative Design Agency. His eye for precision was developed from his background in industrial chemistry and has grown into one of the agency’s unique proposition. More at evansakanno.com.
On the internet today, there are certain organisations whose jobs are to develop algorithms and standard procedure that assist in measuring business growth online and using rankings to interpret. Social media metrics, web traffic, page views, bounce rates are all considered in the process.
Online presence is such a major concern for brands today because of the growth associated with it and so it is very important to get it right first time. We recently featured top 10 growing startups in Nigeria according to startupranking.com and here is a work through manual to get your startup ranked among the leading brands in Nigeria.
Submit your domain to web directories
When you pay for a new domain, its like moving into a new house. When you are new in the neighbourhood, no one knows who you really are and you might have to introduce yourself to your new neighbours and sometimes take with you apples in a basket. Otherwise, there is no way anyone shows up for your parties even if you’ve got the best looking samosas on display. The thing is, no one will know about your party unless you take time out to introduce yourself, it’s that simple.
It is the same with new start-ups and web directories. The only start-ups that web directories recognize are start-ups that in their directories. Begin by acquainting your start-up with major services like Alexa, Google pagerank, Dmoz, Startuprankings, and so on. This is done by submitting your urls and other web info so that your website is entered in their directory. It is your first step to building recognition and presence for your brand. Once they taste some of your samosa (contents, engagement and activity), they will start to talk about you and when that happens, there will be growth in rankings.
Maintain a fluid web structure
From designs down to the links on a website, your web structure constitutes a lot to your web ranking. For example, fast websites are ranked higher than slow websites. Web ranking services monitor the number of links on a website and how relevant they are in content. The more inbound and outbound links that your website has, the more likely to rank high with web directories and web ranking services. Also, pay attention to page titles that properly describe a page’s content, media files, etc as these are associated largely with getting found, web traffic and ultimately Higher web rankings for your business.
Be active on Social Networks
By practising acceptable social media marketing, you can increase your page rankings with web directories. Nothing speaks better than a brand who engages optimally with its audience on social media. One good conversation can either mean one happy customer or one happy prospect. Either way, keep your conversations on social media insightful and satisfactory because they eventually lead to web traffic. Remember word of mouth? Well, social media is word of mouth on a larger scale and so be sure to use that to your advantage. Understand that people listen; customers and web directories as well.
Create New and Insightful Content
Rich and steady Content is a must-have for every start-up and should be taken very seriously. Know your audience and create contents relevant to their craving. Fresh content is a joy for web directories to see. New and relevant contents rank in a fact, higher on Search engines than the cliche kinds.
People search on the web everyday with different kinds of keywords and so new contents not only keep your current readers engaged but attract new ones. Only way this is headed is more traffic which is vital for ranking high on web directories and web ranking services.
