By: Elizabeth Coffey, Marketing G2 Digital Marketing Specialist

While the duopoly that is Facebook and Google currently dominate the global media market, they may not always and it’s important to be at the ready for any downturn in their dominance. You can be prepared to jump on any opportunity that presents itself by shoring up and strengthening your digital publishing properties so that no matter what happens in the future, you’re ready.

Below are the steps you can take today to make sure you’re putting your best digital foot forward to attract advertisers and more importantly, audience members.

1. Make sure your site is speedy – The quicker your website loads, the better. Google’s algorithm and the algorithms of search engines modeled off of Google (Google is the industry leader) favor sites that load quickly and give them better search results rankings. Ads might pay the majority of your bills, but they also might be significantly slowing down your website. Find the correct balance of content-to-ads and ban those ad formats that make your site sluggish.


2. Keep a healthy keyword strategy – The proper use of keywords is an important component to any search engine optimization strategy. Make sure your digital and editorial teams are working together to ensure that your publication’s stories are rich enough in keywords to keep the traffic coming into your website.


3. Create shareable content – Not every editorial piece is going to fit neatly into the ‘shareable content’ category. If you have a story that helps people, keeps them informed of an important issue that directly affects them, or makes their lives significantly easier, don’t keep it to yourself, post it on social media. Even long editorial pieces can be re-purposed or re-organized into an info-graphic, video, or image that is more shareable on social media.


4. Go with what works – Even if it’s not the most technologically advanced (read: new and shiny) marketing tactic, if it works for you, your publication, and your audience, keep using it.


5. Have multiple titles? Cross-promote – Be your own best friend, back-link to your other owned properties for a search engine boost. Don’t be afraid to recommend your other publications to your loyal readers.

What are you doing to maintain your digital properties?