The clock has ticked its last tock for 2013 and leading companies are ready to activate their full marketing strategies for a new year.

Any social media building efforts must begin with attention to your website. To get there, it is imperative companies ask themselves these four questions to ensure optimization of their websites for success in 2014 and beyond.

1) Is your website mobile responsive?

Increasingly, people are accessing websites from mobile devices. In fact, Internet Retailer reported recently that the mobile revolution has reached a new milestone. Citing a comScore survey, the group reported that by mid 2013 and for the first time ever, a majority (55%) of time spent with e-retail now occurs on a mobile device. Robinson says that it is imperative that companies websites be mobile responsive or they may miss the opportunity to connect with potential customers who may have little patience for sites that don’t render well on their devices. She adds that if it’s not easy for customers to find value on a website, people will click away until they find easy-to-consume content.

2) Are you posting new content regularly?

Companies must give people a reason to come back to their sites. If your website is static, people have no reason to come back to your site. You must create a plan for posting fresh content regularly, no less than once per week, and make sure that your fresh content (blog posts, articles) are engaging, helpful, and tailored to fit your audience. By doing this, you are positioning yourself to become an invaluable resource to your visitors.

3) Are you promoting your content effectively?

Many people take the “if you build it, they will come” approach to web influence. While a company’s website is their best asset in building online influence and generating leads, traffic won’t automatically appear. If you want to build web traffic, you’ll need healthy, growing communities on Facebook and Twitter. When you write new content, you’ll need to share it (multiple times, in various ways) to draw visitors to your site.

4) Are you converting your visitors to your mailing list?

If the website does not have an obvious, easy-to-access opt-in to your mailing list, you are missing an opportunity to deepen your relationship with your customers. Though some people predict the demise of email, email still is offering a great opportunity for you to stay closely connected to prospects and customers. Advise clients regularly to be sure that any email sent is relevant and valuable to the client’s community. Before hitting send, be clear about why you’re sending an email and what you hope to accomplish.