The domain name is the online address you will use for your website, email and unique pages online.

Examples:

• www.sitewisedigital.com
• help@sitewisedigital.com
  
• www.facebook.com/sitewisedigital
• www.twitter.com/sitewisedigital

Google recommends the domain is

• Descriptive
• Easy to remember
• Adaptable

We registered our own domain with Google domains. This saved us a step when using gmail for our branded email account (@sitewisedigital.com). We recommend that our clients use Google domains for this reason.

To set up a domain with Google you will need a gmail account. See our video on how to create a gmail account if you don’t already have one.

See our video on how to register your domain with Google.

It is important to register your domain in your company name. It is also extremely important that your credit card information is up to date with your domain registrar. IF YOU LOSE the domain (you didn’t renew in time and it went back out to the open market for purchase and someone bought it) it can cost you thousands of dollars to get it back. I have seen this happen MANY times. Once someone has control of your domain they can hold you hostage. It is a very bad position to find yourself.

Your hosting provider is where your website files are stored. Most website developers or digital marketing agencies will have their own solution. When choosing a provider Google says companies should consider the following:

• Uptime
• Bandwidth
• Security
• Customer support
• Price
• Ease of use

Google has a hosting provider comparison worksheet that you can use here. Sitewise uses OVH to host our client websites.

Your company should have a branded email address. It not only legitimizes your business but also helps people remember your domain name.

Sitewise uses Gmail (Google email) both for our own and our client’s branded email. Having a branded Gmail address saves time and effort when registering Google+, YouTube, Google Webmaster, etc. accounts.

See our video for how to set up branded email with Google.

Your Audience, who is your companies best client and what words, phrases and information do they search for online. Google recommends using Google Trends, their research tool.

Sitewise will help you define and structure your audience during brand building and assist you with further refining your target audience during website building, content creation, social media marketing and marketing automation.

How you represent your company online matters. Google’s algorithm (what ranks you in Google search engines listings) counts the popularity of a website.

Google wants your content to be five things:

• Useful and informative
• More valuable than other websites
• Credible
• High quality
• Engaging

Google wants you to avoid five things:

• Broken links
• Wrong information
• Spelling errors
• Excessive advertisements
• Spam

Google is very clear about what is and isn’t acceptable and has a document devoted to providing this information, Google Webmaster Guidelines. Sitewise employees are trained to follow all Google recommendations. Should a client be unable to follow best practices we will always make you aware of the possible consequences and do our best to help you.

A sitemap is a clear and logical outline of how the content on your website is structured. Google also recommends that you use informative URLs when creating pages.

Example:

• www.sitewisedigital.com/How-to-get-listed-in-google-search-results-1 
  vs
  www.sitewisegitial.com/blog3

Sitewise uses a CRM WordPress plugin to automatically create the sitemap and submit to your Google webmaster account on a monthly basis. This ensures that your site and Google are always on the same page.

Mobile usage exceeded desktop usage in 2014. You should anticipate that many of your website visitors will do son on a phone or tablet. Making sure they have a good experience no matter what device they are using is important to you and to Google.

Google provides information on customizing your website for mobile friendliness for commonly used content management systems (CMS, such as WordPress). Google also provides a mobile responsive website test.