With more and more social media channels to choose from than ever, traditional websites can be easy to overlook and even dismiss altogether. If all of your traffic and engagement is coming from Instagram or Twitter, why waste your time building and maintaining a website or blog at all? Or so the thinking might go. But even a strong social media presence is only part of the puzzle when it comes to establishing and growing a personal and professional brand online. Think of a website as the central hub of your online presence, whether your online business consists of sponsored Instagram posts or branded videos on Snapchat.
Why Websites Still Matter
Reach the Widest Audience Possible With a Website
According to Forbes (and just about everyone else in the know), WordPress is the most popular CMS (content management system) in the world, powering roughly 25 percent of the internet and running more than 75 million websites and counting. Regardless of what your industry and personal and business goals are, that’s a lot of eyeballs. As more and more web traffic migrates to mobile, a website creates a seamless platform from which to drive your readers to your social media channels.
You’ve Probably Heard That Content Is King
It might be as big of an online marketing cliche as cliches go at this point, but the fact remains that consistently publishing quality content is at the heart of a successful and effective SEO strategy. Even if your social media following is large and engaged, search engines like Google are constantly evolving to reward marketers and content providers who offer unique and relevant content on a regular basis, from informative long form blog posts to viral worthy videos.
- Establish your authority and professionalism.
- Impress (and rank on) search engines.
- Give your users and customers a place to return to and a way to engage, from sharing your content to commenting and creating user generated content.
- Don’t get Panda’d — Protect your content from algorithm changes beyond your control.
- Detailed analytics — Along with the ability to control your content and your audience, managing your own content hub allows you to collect data and perform detailed analytics.
