1) Add Fresh Local Content to the Home Page
Your site should be a destination that people visit often - not only when you have a big contest or promotion. Ideally this fresh content should be local or format news that changes daily. Listeners shouldn't have to look for content when they come to your site. Give them great teases throughout your site and make them want to stay on your website longer and click around.
I should note here that RSS feeds from outside sources like CMT, Rolling Stone, TMZ, etc are very BAD for your station. They only take listeners away from your website and, most importantly, the advertising clients you should have there.
2) Make Your Site Responsive to All Devices
Most online traffic now is mobile traffic. So, there's no escaping that your station website has to look great on mobile devices of all shapes and sizes. Pinching and pulling with your fingers to read content is a very bad thing. Google actually penalizes websites that are not mobile responsive. So, if your website isn't responsive to mobile devices you are missing out on return traffic and you're slowly losing out on being found on Google.
3) Add More Local Features
We believe smaller market/local radio station websites have the ability to become hyperlocal hubs where listeners go to find out anything that's happening within your community. To do this, think of everything your audience would like to visit for like obituaries, list of church functions, local events, high school team schedules, business directory, etc. The more features you have, the more content you have to draw listeners back and the more sponsorship opportunities you can present to advertisers.
4) Link Everything on Social Media Back to the Website
Social media is great. But I can bet that you haven't received one check from Facebook for sending listeners to your Facebook page - a place where they control the advertising. So, it makes much more sense that everything you post on social media link back to your station website - where you control the advertising.
5) Collect E-mail Addresses
The number one rule of online marketing is to build your e-mail database so you can market to your audience one on one when appropriate. Good e-mail campaigns include newsletters (full of news posts that link back to the website), major contests, concerts and other events, etc. All of these can be sponsored in some way. The bigger your e-mail list, the more you can charge advertisers to be placed within e-mails you send. Just be sure to never spam your audience with advertising because nothing kills an e-mail list faster.
I hope you find this information beneficial in your digital efforts. Our Skyrocket Radio station website "Bigtown" allows you to do everything mentioned above. We also include an integrated banner ad management system, contesting, events management, weather forecasting, social sharing and much more.
Learn more at www.skyrocketradio.com.
