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Using a website as your marketing tool has been a business go-to for over 20 years. Now more than ever, having a good website vs. one existing is necessary for any hemp or cannabis business (or any start-up). It’s easy to build and put up a mediocre website, but what does that effort get you?
Without working with an expert website creator or having some knowledge about competitive fine-tuning, the website you have may be underperforming and costing you business. These are the five most common issues we find with cannabis clients that come to us, many of which who already have a website.
#1 You don’t have any content
When it comes to getting recognized on significant search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, the truth is: content is key! The more you have to say, and the more spot-on that written content, social media posting, or video entry is to your cannabis or hemp businesses’ message, is how people find you when they type their search phrase into the input box. Have multiple tiers of pages, posts, and videos explaining your products, your company’s goals, and how you relate to your customers.
Having a website does get your foot in the door, but that may be all it gets you. You need to frequently and consistently write, create, video, or design new cannabis- or hemp-based content for your site every week to stay ahead of the competition. Hire a cannabis content creator or social media influencer to help you build if you don’t have the time!
#2 You’re on an old, slow platform or have no mobile support
Yes, it’s possible to be falling behind even with a well-thought-out and well-executed cannabis content campaign! Technology moves fast, and so do people’s expectations. If your website is slow, buggy, broken on mobile, or malfunctioning, your visitors will move on quickly. Start-up businesses often buy into low monthly payments or starter web packages. Still, these low-value products are usually made for broad audiences (not cannabis or hemp) and come with many bloats and unnecessary bells and whistles.
Working with a professional cannabis or hemp website creator can not only take that job out of your busy entrepreneur’s hands, but it can also help you optimize your site to flow better for your visitors and render better results on search engines and for mobile devices which are a massive part of the marketplace.
#3 You’ve let your blog or your menus get outdated
In an industry that moves as fast as cannabis, content and product menus are easy to lose track of. However, if you’re not keeping your content up to date, it’s common for visitors to assume you’re no longer in business or don’t carry what they’re looking for.
In the information age, searching is ideally the easiest way for your visitors to locate what they’re shopping for, but if your website is not showing them what you have, you’re likely getting visits from people who won’t be coming back.
#4 Your website design sucks
Let’s be honest; in 2022, visitors can tell the difference between a “good” cannabis website and a “bad” cannabis website. While we’re not saying you need to spend a fortune on your marketing, we believe that having a stylish design that speaks to your company’s brand and values is bound to your audience. In our business, this concept is often referred to as your website’s “perceived value”. Hitting the right note here is often hard to accomplish without the help of an expert.
If visitors arrive at your site and it appears dated, low quality, or hard to navigate, customers may assume you’re not making any money and move on to a more significant, sharper-looking competitor. A large part of website marketing is making sure your brand represents precisely who you are and who you want your audience to think you aspire to be.
#5 You need search engine optimization
It’s true: a lot of cannabis or hemp websites are accomplishing all of the above just fine. They look good, function well, and have plenty of content, but they still fall behind competitors. Once your website hits this point, it’s often a time for fine-tuning for search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO is a practice explicitly used to net your website more traffic – either in general or to funnel the right audience to the right places. SEO practices can include things like:
- speed optimizing your website for performance
- making sure your page and link structure make sense from a user angle
- re-working your content to make sure it has the correct vocabulary for your audience
- creating a set of focus terms and phrases (keywords) that help match you with your visitors on Google and other search platforms better
Overall, having a website is essential to any new modern business – but simply owning one isn’t always the key to success. Make sure you hire the right team to bring the right strategy, SEO, and content to your cannabis based audience with every step.
Want to get the most out of your cannabis or hemp website? Contact the website design, SEO, and marketing experts at Colorado 420 Websites.
