What can you do in 7 minutes?

It doesn’t sound like a lot of time but when I started thinking about all the different things most people do in a single day, I realised that actually, you can do a lot in 7 minutes.

If you’re like me, you could spend 7 minutes staring out the window, flicking through the TV channels or faffing around in the kitchen looking for food. Or, if you want to improve your web results, here are 7 other ways to spend those 7 minutes, provided by our Website Boot Camp presenters.

1. In 7 minutes you can review your website

Take a fresh look at your website and ask yourself:

• What is the #1 thing my website needs to achieve to make my business successful?
• What do the website visitors need to DO in order to make that happen (call, buy, download, etc)?
• Is my website making it easy and obvious for visitors to DO that?

If you answered “Yes”" to the third question: Great, have a cup of tea and a bikkie and pat yourself on the back!

And if you answered “No”: Get to work! Revisit your website content to lead your visitor to take action, or work with someone who can give you specialist advice.

Info provided by Chris Bates of Octoply.

2. In 7 minutes you can optimise your web page or blog post

Follow these steps and give it a try:

• Choose the main theme of your webpage or blog post in two or three words
• Do a quick search using the Google Keyword Tool and make sure those words are searched on
• Make sure your keywords are in the headline and any subheadings
• Try and convert long paragraphs into lists
• Look for ways to create links between pages and use your keywords in the links
• Run your copy through Wordle.net to see if your keywords are the most popular words on the page
• Make sure your keywords are in the title and description meta tags

Provided by Belinda Weaver of Copywrite Matters.

3. In 7 minutes you can review your Google Analytics data to spot web traffic spikes or dips

Here’s how:

• Log in to your account at www.google.com/analytics
• Click “View Reports” to view the dashboard for the past month
• Have a look at the graph of visits to see if there are spikes
• On the days with spikes change the date range to only display that day
• Go to Traffic Sources on the left and view where your web traffic came from that day to see if any source stands out as bringing you extra traffic
• Change the date range back to the past month and write down these numbers (or add them to a spreadsheet) from your dashboard:
• From Site Usage
• Total visits
• Pageviews
• Pages per visit
• Bounce Rate
• Average Time on Site
• From Visitors Overview
• Number of visitors
• Rinse and repeat the process in another month to compare your main stats to see how they have changed. Think about what marketing activities you have (or haven’t) implemented to drive the changes.
• Aim to increase your visitors, pageviews, pages per visit and Time on Site and decrease your Bounce Rate. You can do this by adding compelling relevant content to your website, driving targeted traffic and making it easy for people to find the information they are interested in.

Provided by Mel from the Grassroots team.

4. In 7 minutes you can customise your WordPress widgets (the things that appear in the side column)

Whether you have a right and left column to the sides of your main text area, or one column on one side, if your website is in WordPress you can customise the side columns yourself by using Widgets.

Here’s what to do:

• Login to your WordPress back end and go to Appearance (on the left column) and Widgets.
• If your theme has multiple sidebars, open up the sidebar you want to add by clicking the little arrow in the top right hand corner
• In the middle of the page you’ll see all the Widgets that are available.
• To add a new widget to your sidebar, select the one that you’d like to add from all the options you can see (like Recent Posts, Categories, or Search), hover over it, click your left mouse to pick it up, and drag it over to the list of your current widgets on the right.  Then unclick to let it go.
• Add text, change settings or anything else you need.
• Then view the front of your website to see the difference!
• If you want to change the order of your widgets, simply drag and drop within the sidebar box.
• To remove a widget, drag it back into the list of Available Widgets, or down further to the list of Inactive Widgets if you want to save it for later, rather than deleting it altogether.
• Extras for experts – if you want your widgets to only show up on selective pages, try the “Widget Logic” plugin!

Provided by Tessa Needham of Tessa Needham Creative.

5. In 7 minutes you can share your blogs or articles far and wide

Every time you publish a new blog or article, let as many people know about it as possible. Spending 7 minutes on promotion can go a long way, especially if you have sharing buttons on your website.

• Tweet the link to your article on Twitter with a personal note
• Share the link on your Facebook business page, and personal profile and add a note that encourages responses
• Add your post to Google+
• Add a blog application to your Linked In account so that they automatically update to your profile
• Link to your older blogs on similar or complementary topics.

 

6. In 7 minutes you can optimise your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is all about building relationships, so use these tips to put your best foot forward:

• Get a great head and shoulders shot added to your profile
• Spend five minutes writing a great summary of who you are, what you do and why other businesses should consider using your services
• Send a recommendation request to a client.

Provided by Linda Coles of Blue Banana

7. In 7 minutes (or way less!) you can sign up for the “Ultimate Guide to Attracting More People to Your Website”

Just jump over to our home page at www.grassrootsinternetstrategy.com.au and sign up for our free 7 part email eCourse – absolutely no web speak is required! You’ll receive an email every days full of info about the popular ways to market your website.

What else do you get done in 7 minutes that helps your website marketing?

Leave us a comment and let us know.