I guarantee that if you browse the internet for any length of time, you’ll notice that while some websites put a lot of information in their website footer, most simply use it as a space to put their copyright notice and maybe, just maybe if you’re lucky their contact information.
Like your website sidebar, the footer of your website is a very powerful part of your site that can make a big difference in your search engine rankings and how your website visitors move through your website, yet it is one of the most under-utilized tools.
Before I share with you some ideas on how you can leverage your website footer to improve your website and search engine rankings, I want to cover some of the biggest mistakes website owners make when it comes to their website footer:
Website Footer Mistakes
- Including only the copyright notice
- Not including all of your contact information (i.e. phone, email, mailing address, etc.)
- Including only a link to email you, instead of a link to your contact page
- Including a link to your CMS or WordPress login page (hello hackers!)
- Including broken links or links to irrelevant websites to your subject matter
- Including a hodge-podge of logos with all different colors etc.
- Including out of date information
The footer of your website is included on every page of your website and/or blog. That means if you have 10 pages on your website and you include one link to a sales page in your footer, you just built 10 internal site links to that sales page. Imagine what kind of impact that would have on a website or blog with one hundred or even several hundred pages or blog posts.
Your footer is an understated opportunity to build internal links, to help boost organic search results, and most important, to help your website visitors find information quickly.
Here are some ideas of what to include in your website footer:
- All of your contact information, including your phone number, fax number if appropriate, email address, and mailing address
- Copyright information
- Links to your privacy policy, legal disclaimers, and if you sell anything on your website, your return/refund policy
- Your logo
- A short bio and avatar-style photo with a link to your about page
- A list of recent blog posts or recent articles
- A list of links to your article marketing profiles on sites like ezinearticles.com
- A list of your most popular blog categories
- A Facebook badge or widget
- A list of links to your individual product sales pages
- Graphic links to your social media profiles
- Your recent tweets
- A featured product description with a link to the sales page
- A list of resources or products you recommend as an affiliate
- An “as seen on” area with media mentioned and logos
As you can see, while your website footer may be an afterthought to your visitors, it is a prime piece of online real estate that, like your website sidebar, should be planned out. By leveraging your footer in a smart way, you can maximize your marketing, juice the keywords you want to compete on, and provide more easy and quick ways visitors can find the information they need.
What do you think about this approach to website footers? Do you agree or disagree? What do you include in your footer? Please, share your comments with us below!
