Website Optimizations that are Commonly Overlooked... and they're free!

When I joined Blumira, it was evident that our website was not optimized to scale for reach that is needed for an inbound demand generated business so we decided to launch a new website in March. As part of this effort and learnings from my experience setting up the new site, I started to notice that many of the sites I visit are missing foundational optimizations that impact the websites ability to be discovered by search engines which allow people to find the site. After seeing the same mistakes over and over again I though it would be worthwhile to share commonly overlooked website optimizations that will help others that manage a website or blog.

#1 Having Valid SSL Website Certificates

This is a common mistake that goes overlooked. It's shocking how many sites don't have a valid certificate. You can easily check if your site has a valid SSL Security Certificate in your browser and look to see if further best practices are in place using several online tools: https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html. Your website provider should be able to provide you with an SSL certificate.

#2 Having Google Analytics

It's important to setup baseline tracking of website traffic so you can benchmark your traffic and where it is coming from. Google Analytics gives you the visibility needed to make important decisions on the impact your site and content is having.

#3 Indexing Your Website using Google Search Console

How will people find you if you are not indexed in the world's most popular search engine, Google.com? Google Search Console not only index's your website but it gives you visibility into opportunities to improve on your website which will result in better SEO.

#4 Uploading Your Sitemap to Google Search Console

If you are using a CMS like WordPress for your website then a sitemap is likely auto generated. The sitemap is an XML file of your website pages and helps properly index all the pages on your website. The sitemap is likely called sitemap.xml. Make sure that you submit this within Google Search Console using this how-to guide in order for your website to be properly indexed in Google.

Making sure these steps are in place is a good start to building the foundation to gain better website visibility and traction. If you have these items in place and looking for more I suggesting trying out free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools. These are often provided for free by your website provider such as Wix's SEO Checker or through third parties such as the one available from Neil Patel. Alternatively if you don't have the technical chops of desire to deal with website optimization yourself, I recommend considering a website provider such as Jottful that does the work for you as a part of their service.