Better Radio Websites

The best way to ensure your station website pages and posts are found by people using search engines is by utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. SEO covers a wide range of strategies and activities based on what we know about how search engines determine their rankings.

Here are some 10 beginner-friendly ways to give your site a push-up in the search rankings.

1. Build Your Content Around Keywords

SeoSiteCheckup is a free tool that has over 50 checks to let you basically know how you’re doing.

Hubspot CRM recently deleted 3000 posts from their blog and their SEO improved dramatically. Here's what they did to improve their SEO.

Get more in-depth show notes at https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast. 

Banner ads are one of the best forms of marketing used in today’s online world. All companies use them in one form or another because they’re an affordable, measurable, and effective way to increase brand awareness.

Need a free Photoshop alternative?  Try https://pixlr.com/editor/.

Every day we are tasked with taking client information and turning that into effective radio campaigns. We should put just as much effort into their banner ad creative. 

Here are some tips and general guidelines for designing effective banner ads.

Stick to Standard Banner Ad Sizes:  Research has shown that wider ad sizes tend to outperform their taller counterparts.  Much of this may have to do with placement above the scroll and because it is more comfortable to read from left to right, rather than stacked text. Here are the sizes you should consider first:

728 pixels by 90 pixels leaderboard

Maintain the Essentials: Every banner ad needs three elements: Branding, message, and encouragement to click. The challenge is that you don’t have much room for this but all three of these elements are essential.

Use Only One Message Per Ad: Banner ads should never be a lengthy rotation of messages. Animated gifs can be used to grab focus but should NOT be used for displaying endless ad copy. Nobody but you and the client will read it all. If a single static ad doesn’t fully get across the essentials mentioned above, try offering the client multiple ads that rotate separately.

Include a Great Call to Action: The goal of a banner ad is to get clicked. A good call to action does this. What are users supposed to do next and what’s the payoff?

Make sure the ad design is consistent with the client’s branding: Make sure it looks consistent with the client’s branding and the landing page it links to so that their potential customers don’t get confused.

Include a Button: Easy-to-follow instructions are vital to most consumers. It does not have to be fancy.  But a simple “Shop Now” or “Click to Win” button can go a long way to getting users to make the switch from viewer to conversion.

Choose Fonts Wisely: The smaller the space, the more important fonts become. Make the most of the space provided with strong typefaces that are easy to read.

Use imagery well, and only when you need it: Choose relevant images, graphics or photos that enhance your message and that are directly related to your client’s product.

NEVER EVER GRAB AN IMAGE FROM A GOOGLE SEARCH!! If you or the client didn’t take the photo, consider it just as off-limits as including a licensed song in a radio ad. The same copyright laws apply.

Save Banner Ads Properly: Optimize your images for the smallest file size possible. The target file size should be around 30kb or LESS, depending on the size of the ad. Keep in mind that animated GIFs can get very large depending on the animation involved.

Make sure to save your banners in a format that works across the web. Common file types for banner ads include PNG and JPG for static displays and GIF for animation. Newer file types like SVG and WebP are becoming more widely accepted as well with much smaller file sizes.

Link Appropriately: If your client has a well-thought-out call to action on their banner ad, ensure that it links directly to that action item and not just their homepage. The user should not have to find the action item themselves from the client homepage.

Using these banner ad tips in an effective way will help your clients get the results they came to you for. Good luck!

An old/outdated website sends a message that you aren’t up on the latest trends. There comes a time when every radio station needs to revamp and re-launch for better impact. For example, older websites might not be optimized for speed. You can’t afford to keep a bulky, outdated website that doesn’t look great or load fast on mobile devices.

The general recommendation is that you redesign any website every 2–3 years.  Much like fashion, web design has trends, and things can just start to look … old or retro.

Relaunching your site might seem overwhelming. Fortunately, there are some simple rules of thumb you can follow that will make your re-launch not only easy but successful.

1. Benchmarks: Before you launch your website redesign, be sure to know your site’s traffic, bounce rate, average time on site, and other stats so you have an accurate picture of how successful — or unsuccessful — your re-launch will be.

2. Goals: Take a look at your competitors.  Do some research through sites like SEORush.com to know what keywords other stations near you are ranking for (like local sports, weather, news, online listening, etc) as well as their most visited pages.

3. Research/Revamp Your Content: You can’t just set it and forget it on any website. You’ll need to update, modify and add new content regularly to stay relevant.

- What do we want visitors to do when they visit? Lose the slider in favor of call-to-action?

4. Make a plan for SEO: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps people find your website using keywords through Google, Bing and Yahoo! searches. If you provide local news of any kind, you want that to be visible when search for things in your area (events, news, etc).

5. Give Your Current Visitors and Advertisers a Heads-Up: If you have lots of traffic, let your visitors know that you are revamping your website. Send a short note to your mailing list and social media followers. Let them know you are in the process of redesigning and when they can expect to see the new look. Also, inform your website advertisers in case banner ads need to be resized or updated. This is a great time to sell new upcoming features that might be added or offer special incentives to be included on the site during the major re-launch promotion.

6. Create a Digital Inventory List: Make a plan for selling the new website and where banner ads and special sponsorships will be located and how much those placements will be so that sellers have everything need on day one.

8. Plan for launch promotion: If you build it, they won’t necessarily come. So, plan how you and your talent will promote the re-launch on-air, on social, e-mail blasts, etc. This will be a great time to renew your imaging and sweepers as well.

9. Check/Update Your Branding: How does the look of your new website stack up to your branding on other platforms?  The colors and designs should repeat no matter where they are. 

10. Listen to Your Site Visitors: Once you re-launch your site, take the time to gather feedback from your visitors and advertisers.

Relaunching your station website is an important marketing tactic when you’re looking to keep your content fresh, exciting, and new.

Being a radio personality is much different than it was just 10 years ago. In the past, the hardest part of your day was the hour or two of show prep.  But today you need to do much more before, during, and AFTER to have a successful show.  These tips apply no matter what market size you're in.

1. Use Digital Tools for Show Prep

2. Blogging

So, make your blog about things that interest YOU. Give your opinion on local and national topics (without crossing lines). Become the go-to person for something like local restaurants, pet adoption, movies, or local music.

Blogs receiving lots of online engagement will bring the station more online revenue so be sure to ask if incentives are offered for over-performing blog pages and page sponsorships.

We've written several articles on getting started in blogging and the importance of radio personality blogging.

3. Post to Social Media Channels Daily

Post on the station’s social media channels as well as your own for your followers. Look into a service like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts in advance or on different channels at different times. Be sure to mix up the content that you are posting. Copy/pasting today's celebrity birthday list is NOT good content.

Never post something directly to social without a link back to your website/show page.

4. Reply to Social Media Posts

5. Video Content

We've given you five ways to take your radio show to the next level online.  Use these in conjunction with each other. Research your topic with RSS feeds, write a blog about it and include a video, send notices to social media with links back to the blog.  Then, ask for feedback and respond to them. The more times you can do this in your show the better.

Test out content to see what works best for your audience and do more of that!

Knowing there are so many options, your agency and smart local clients will ask, “What do you have available?” Unfortunately, many sellers will not have a clear answer. A radio station website alone can provide many of the same opportunities as your radio station, but as you grow your website and other digital assets, there are oh so many more opportunities to sell.

“Inventory” is the total amount of space that you have available for advertisements at any given time. If you operate a radio station, surely your sales manager maintains an inventory list like this showing all available commercials in each hour/daypart as well as sponsorships and other on-air features that might be open for clients to purchase.

Start with an Excel spreadsheet. Here’s what your list should include…

Regular Banner Ad Positions

Post/Page Feature Sponsorships

Other examples of what to include here would be...

Premium Sponsorships

Streaming/Social Media/Podcasts/E-Mail

Then you have your “Listen Live” or Podcasts sponsor. This might be a simple text link but include a custom “Listen Live” image and/or banner ad within the stream player. Include what the client gets in the form of simple links or pre/post-roll commercials.

Here are some other opportunities to have a client’s name attached to...

- E-Mail Blasts

Don’t try to do everything we’ve mentioned here. Start with the basics and expand as your team is comfortable. 

To get you started, we’ve created a sample Excel Spreadsheet that shows the avails a typical website might have on any given day. We’ve included what each ad inside the location might cost, so the salesperson knows how much to ask for ads in each location.

Get the Excel Spreadsheet

Have something to show clients when they ask what opportunities are available on your radio station website. And ensure that your salespeople are communicating digital’s true value to advertisers.  Never give your digital assets away or diminish their value.  

Copyright laws are getting stricter and the means photographers and agencies have to find their images is getting much better. Don’t think you’ll ever get caught. Stay on top of it.

The best photos you can post are the ones you take locally. Take a day or two and devote time to building a local repository of local images. Schools, police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, post offices, city buildings, police/fire stations, courthouses, stadiums, parks, major intersections, etc. Don’t wait until you need them.

Never ever use images from a search result - regardless if it says "labeled for re-use."

What are “royalty-free images”?

If you would rather pay for every photo you use, there are a few dozen sites to choose from including Shutterstock (https://www.shutterstock.com), Adobe Stock, iStock, Depositphotos, and Getty Images.

You may only want to use one of these services for artist or concert photos. If an artist is coming to town, typically labels will provide specific images for promotional use, but restrict that image for any other use. ~40 artist images may work years for you refreshing them only as needed.

Our Top Four FREE Image Sources.

Pixabay, Unsplash, PikWizard, Pexels

IMPORTANT: Give credit on every image you don’t take, regardless! If you are using WordPress, use the “Caption” meta field of the image to paste this information into. You never know when you will be asked for proof.

Are you importing RSS feeds from outside sources?

Beware of e-mail scams claiming image copyright infringement

Learn about PicRights.com: https://copyright-demand-letter.com/picrights-ltd-copyright-letters-making-noise-in-the-us.

The main takeaway from this episode is to use photographs that you or your team have taken.  When you do use any stock photography, credit the source no matter if they require it or not.  And, have a sharp eye when it comes to online scams.  

Have a great week making your radio website better.

Local sports programming can be a huge revenue generator. Airing play-by-plays on Friday nights is nothing new, but a growing number of stations are using apps and websites to expand their coverage.

Adding a digital component isn’t something new. Some early-adopting radio stations have built year-round online revenue generators just providing local sports content on their station websites. Some have even created new brands outside the station because the demand is so great. It just depends on your market.

Earlier this year Townsquare Media Cheyenne/Laramie, Wyoming acquired the local sports website 7220Sports.com. This website, formed by a fan, dedicated its news coverage to the University of Wyoming Athletics.  7220Sports.com added to the cluster’s high school sports website WyoPreps.com and their news website LaramieLive.com. The majority of the content on these sites comes from their sports and news radio stations.

In Springfield, IL, Neuhoff Media invested in digital back in 2015 to deliver on local high school sports using highlight packages and original features on athletes and teams. The company’s Channel1450.com—named for its sister radio station, “Sports Radio 1450” WFMB—is a standalone website dedicated to area prep sports.  By nature of its digital format, the staff isn’t constrained by linear broadcast schedules, and producers can post content at any time. On Friday nights during football season, for instance, the staff often works until 2 a.m. producing highlight packages.

Social media is a key component for Chanel1450.com. The staff posts relentlessly to its Facebook page and Twitter feed, and Kerker says about 94% of traffic comes directly from this activity.  

KEY STEP: Don’t post content that can be fully consumed on social. Use social to drive traffic back to the website where advertisers are.

For local advertisers, these sports websites offer a new avenue to reach potential customers, and the site’s demographics might reveal some surprises. For Channel1450, along with the male demos typically associated with sports, adult women—the so-called “soccer moms”—are also frequent visitors.

These kinds of websites are popping up all around the country and generating revenue from the content.

OUR GUEST: Michael Brannon: Executive Vice President, RadioAlabama

https://www.radioalabamasports.net

You don’t need to have a dedicated sports website to start with. Start by adding any local sports to your radio station website, promote it well and see if your audience buys in. If the data suggests that most visitors are hitting your sports content, then it may be time to create another brand that you use separately.

Don’t wait too late and have someone else beat you to it!!!

Need help taking the next step with your radio station website?  Visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com.

Countless research papers and benchmarks prove that optimizing your website speed is one of the most affordable and highest ROI providing investments you can make in your radio station website.

Why Speed is Important?

Lightning-fast page load speed amplifies visitor engagement and retention. Every second delay in page load decreases customer satisfaction by 16 percent, page views by 11 percent, and conversion rates by 7 percent according to a recent Aberdeen Group research study. It’s also important to note that Google now uses website speed as a ranking factor.

What is Page Speed?

Page speed is the length of time it takes a web page to be downloaded from the hosting server and displayed onto the requesting web browser. Page load time is the duration between clicking the link and displaying the entire content from the web page.

How Slow is Too Slow?

Most studies show that 1 in 4 visitors would abandon the website if it takes more than 4 seconds to load. 46 percent of users don’t revisit poorly performing websites. Website owners have a mere 5 seconds to engage visitors before they consider leaving. 74 percent of users accessing the mobile site would leave if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load. Strangely, visitors would rather spend excessive time browsing for information on a fast-loading website full of irrelevant information than waiting a few seconds for the right website to load.

1. Resize Your Images

This is a must-have. Resize your images to exactly what is required on your website before uploading it to your page or post.

Free Online Editor: https://www.pixlr.com/editor

2. Optimize Your Images

The next step in speeding up your image-heavy website is to choose the right format and quality for every image on your website (think audio compression).  JPG, PNG and GIF are the most common image formats being used and are each suited for different use cases. There is another relatively new image format called WebP that combines the best of these image formats, is 30% smaller in size, and is supported on all modern browsers. Given the huge performance benefits, you should deliver your images in WebP format wherever possible. 

Image Optimizing Test: https://www.skyrocketradio.com/business/5-ways-to-speed-up-your-radio-station-website.

3. Avoid Image Hotlinking

Image hotlinking, also known as “inline linking” is the act of linking to an image on another person’s website, instead of loading the image on your own server. On the surface, this seems like an act that will save you server space and a lot of bandwidth, especially if you have a high-traffic site, but it can actually make your website really slow if the website that hosts the image you hotlinked is experiencing a downtime or is slow.

4. Minimize Your Ads

Tempting as it may seem, selling too much real estate on your radio station website drastically degrades its performance. Too many ads or slow loading ads will drive bounce rates and many of those visitors will never return.  External ad services like Google Adsense mean that you’re calling an external source to supply the ad. The more calls you have, the more you wait and the higher the load is on your own server.

5. Use Caching when possible.

When you visit a website there are certain elements that are stored in the cache, which acts as temporary storage. This means that the next time the user visits the site there will be less time spent rendering all of the on-page elements. This helps to shave time off your website’s loading speed.

RSS Feeds

What content can you provide that isn’t provided anywhere else in your coverage area?  Here are some examples:

What need is your community missing?  Fill that need online in order to build traffic day after day.  

INSIDE RADIO: Interview with Townsquare’s Bill Wilson this week about “Getting Big Results From Small Markets”.  

“As many of the smaller markets where Townsquare operates have fallen prey to massive cutbacks by newspapers, creating so called “news deserts. Townsquare stepped in and filled the void with local content creation. The size of our audience, the lack of news and information serving these audiences” and what Wilson called a lack of sophisticated advertising solutions, especially on the digital side, created a major opportunity for the company.”

Thanks to our guest, Breck Riley at https://www.breezynews.com.  

Make a plan to start adding fresh content to your website on a consistent basis!

In this episode, we want you to adjust your mindset on how you view your station website.  Plus, we’re going to talk about the two very tip-top things you need to start making your website better.

This podcast is sponsored by Skyrocket Radio but the information we provide each week will be universal. No matter if you use another service or if you create and maintain your website in-house, we hope this content will be beneficial to you.

Adjust typical mindset.

So, what makes listeners return to your radio station each day? Great music? Artist information? Local news? Contests? Events? Weather? Local sports scores?

#1 Content

Everything you do on-air should be online as well. This can be local event information, local news, format news, local sports information, etc.  Program your website just as you would your radio station. Your program director’s job is to adjust things on-air to keep the station fresh and make it so that listeners want to return. Think the same for your website. What can we do to keep visitors coming back tomorrow and the next day.

Only import RSS Feeds to add flavor to your local content.  Chances are that visitors can find the content you're importing in dozens of other places.  And NEVER include RSS feeds that simply link back to the originator's website.  These 4-10 links back to a national or regional provider are simply reasons for your visitors to leave. Only your advertisers can pay for that ability.

#2 Promote the CONTENT (not your website).

- Because it’s all about increasing those page views (ratings).

- Tease your content like you would an upcoming on-air feature.

- Mention the website and a reason to visit often on-air – not only when you have to.

- All links on social should tie back to the website. “Use the pages you rent to promote the pages you own.“ Tease it there and link back to the website.

- Use your newsletter and mobile apps to remind visitors of new content.

- Do everything you can to increase those page views because those are your ratings.

CONTENT + PROMOTION = VISITORS = REVENUE!