ramp it
What is Ramping?
Ramping is a method of timing between investment, action and result.
It is the act of spreading the web exposure financial investment across a timeline to more closely match the action and result timelines. The main objective is to lessen the financial burden of internet marketing for small businesses.
1: initial setup
Search engines take up to 2 months to index your website at the bottom of their database.
Ramping is all about timing and progression. A new website has zero chance of visibility through organic rank in the beginning. Other websites have been published and ranking for several years and have earned their spot on the internet. So patience is a must.
In the initial setup we focus on domain name selection, hosting setup, general content and a basic layout. The goal is to publish a general idea for a website with proper coding through code compliance, and submit your domain name to the top 200 search engines.
Since it takes up to 2 months for search engines to index your website, we want to jump start the process quickly.
2: content optimization
Web content is the most important component of a well-ranking website. The more the better.
Now that the search engines are getting ready to send their crawlers to come look at what we submitted, we want to focus more on content. Remember, nobody is even seeing your website yet. The search engine will be the first to view your site. Let's give them something to index.
In this stage of the ramping process we optimize the content, double check all links work, and provide a bit extra code to tell the search engine what it is indexing.
3: design updates
Design is a completely separate element from code structure and content generation.
This is the perfect time to provide any design ideas you wish to see in your website. Even if it means changing everything. The design is the physical color scheme,font selection and images. Here we focus on a balance between simplicity, functionality and over-all image of the business in website form.
4: business profiles and analytics
Google offers an effective local listing for retail stores via their Google Maps - FREE.
Various search engines have tools that allow the submission of your website as a business profile for free. We take advantage of all the free tools available online that promote your website naturally.
This is a perfect time to implement a traffic reporting system called analytics to monitor the over-all performance and improvement of your website. It is the only true way to check for necessary updates and adjustments to keep your website ranking and climbing.
5: PPC Marketing
A properly designed and optimized website will reduce your PPC marketing cost.
The final stage of the launch is optional and highly recommended. Even if it's for the first 6 months, or less, a PPC Marketing Plan will speed up your online exposure. We save this step for last because you never want to market a poorly coded website or a website with poor content structure.
It is very common for marketing companies to create poorly designed websites just to setup a PPC Marketing Plan. When you stop paying, the traffic stops coming. Also, Google, the most common of search engines, will derank a poorly structured website.
5: Maintenance and Updates
Adding a blog can quickly improve your ranking and promote your website from within.
Now that your website is built, published and ranking, someone must stay on top of it all. Website maintenance and performance monitoring is an ongoing process. It is exactly why you need a company that promotes "your business" and not their own products. This is where your website grows and improves. New ideas may be implemented. Sales may be included or removed.
This portion of the process is boring and mundane. Few are up to it and even less are reliable enough to keep you moving forward. Choose the wrong company and the best looking website will fall into the cracks of search engines.
