A new year brings fresh opportunities and bold promises. But let’s face it—some resolutions are easier made than kept, especially when it comes to managing your radio station’s online presence. Here are the top online New Year’s resolutions we see radio stations make…and (probably) break.
1. “We’ll Update the Website Regularly!”
The Promise: “Every week, we’ll add new content to keep our listeners coming back!”
The Reality: After a month or two, the blog is untouched, the events calendar is outdated, and the homepage still talks about last summer’s festival.
The Fix: Commit to a realistic posting schedule. Updates should be daily, but even one update per week can make a huge difference if done consistently.
2. “We’ll Make Sure Our Mobile Site and App is Perfect!”
The Promise: “This year, we’re optimizing everything for mobile!”
The Reality: Listeners are squinting at oversized images, struggling to find the ‘Listen Live’ button, or clicking broken links on their phones.
The Fix: Audit your mobile site and app early in the year, going through each page to ensure everything works as it should. Make mobile usability a big priority.
3. “We’ll Finally Fix Our SEO!”
The Promise: “2024 is the year we dominate in search!”
The Reality: You forget to optimize metadata, skip alt tags, and neglect to add fresh, relevant content—all while wondering why your traffic isn’t growing.
The Fix: Start with small, actionable SEO improvements and consider hiring a pro to handle the technical side.
4. “We’ll Be More Active on Social Media!”
The Promise: “Daily posts! Live videos! We’ll engage with every comment and DM!”
The Reality: After a few weeks, it’s back to sporadic posts, and the ‘engagement’ is just you liking your own content.
The Fix: Set up a manageable social media plan with tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts and track engagement. Set someone to get notified when people post comments and ask questions so you can stay on top of it.
5. “We’ll Stay on Top of Website Maintenance!”
The Promise: “This year, we’ll ensure our website is always running smoothly—no broken links, no downtime, no outdated plugins!”
The Reality: Maintenance gets pushed to the back burner until something breaks, and then it’s a scramble to fix it.
The Fix: Schedule regular maintenance checkups. Monthly audits for plugins, backups, and security updates can save you from bigger headaches later. If you have a dedicated website partner, they are doing most of the technical stuff for you.
6. “We’ll Clean Up the Homepage!”
The Promise: “This year, no more clutter—we’ll keep the homepage sleek and focused!”
The Reality: Before long, the homepage is stuffed with contests, ads, sliders, outdated promos, and a million distractions.
The Fix: Revisit your homepage design quarterly and remove anything that doesn’t add immediate value for your listeners.
7. “We’ll Post More Local News and Events!”
The Promise: “Hyper-local content will be our bread and butter!”
The Reality: Finding, writing, and posting local stories becomes a daunting task, and your site looks more syndicated than ever.
The Fix: Partner with local businesses or freelancers to source stories and maintain a consistent flow of local content. Local events, obituaries, and mugshots can easily be copy-pasted.
8. “We’ll Keep Our Site Lightning-Fast!”
The Promise: “Slow websites lose visitors. We’ll prioritize speed this year!”
The Reality: You add one too many unoptimized images or clunky widgets, and suddenly the site takes 10 seconds to load.
The Fix: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to monitor performance and stick to lightweight plugins and images. If your site is loading slow, it’s most likely being caused by large images.
9. “We’ll Promote Our Website On-Air!”
The Promise: “Every DJ will remind listeners to check out our awesome website with specific reasons for visiting.”
The Reality: Mentions are sporadic at best, and the web traffic analytics show no spike from on-air promos.
The Fix: Integrate website mentions into your regular programming and script callouts for key segments. Have voice-trackers use the website as a source for on-air content.
10. “We’ll Get Serious About Digital Revenue!”
The Promise: “This year, we’re monetizing our site with banner ads, sponsored content, and contests!”
The Reality: Ad opportunities are missed, and the website is still seen as a cost rather than a revenue generator.
The Fix: Treat your website like an additional radio station. Develop a digital sales strategy and train your teams on the value of your website.
Conclusion: It’s Never Too Late to Start Again
Breaking resolutions doesn’t mean failure—it’s a chance to reevaluate and adjust. Rather than calling them “resolutions,” let’s call them goals. Goals are more easily attainable. Start small, focus on consistency, and prioritize what will have the most impact. After all, a strong online presence can be the key to a more successful year for your station!
We want to help your radio station grow and succeed online. That journey starts with an amazing website that keeps visitors coming back often. Reach out to us to start your path to online success, or schedule an appointment to see our tools in action.