We’re ringing in the new year and you know what that means, it’s that time again to create a list of resolutions. Who doesn’t love a good plan and a list of goals to work towards over the next 12 months. Well, have you thought about what your resolutions would be for your website? It may sound crazy, but just like we set personal resolutions we should be setting resolutions for our business.
Your website is the #1 marketing tool your business has available, which means there is no reason you should leave it be year after year. You don’t have to knock them all out in the first month; determine which resolutions take precedence and set internal goals to work through them over time.
1. DECLUTTER CONTENT
Your content tells the story of your business or service. It is the most important part of your site, so if it’s out of date then it’s perfectly okay to make changes. If you have a smaller site, then try to knock out all the changes within the first few months. For larger sites, set monthly goals and tackle a section at a time over the next year.
Bad links or dead-end pages can easily discredit a good website. Do a thorough check of all the links in your content to make sure each one is still valid. Run a test on your site to make sure there are no internal 404 pages. Your site visitors should never have to read the infamous words “Error: Page Not Found”.
2. CHECK SECURITY
It’s important to regularly update your passwords to prevent hackers from accessing your website. If your website goes down it could cost your business money and time. To help prevent hacks it’s also important to remove inactive users whose accounts are more vulnerable to attacks.
Should a breach occur on your site it’s also important that you have a recent backup copy available to get your website back up and running in a timely manner. This is where your hosting provider comes into play. Read your contract to find out what is included in your hosting plan and determine how often backups are being captured. If necessary upgrade your plan or move your hosting to a new provider.
3. CREATE RESULTS
Results rely on how well your content and meta descriptions are written. As we roll into the new year it’s important to be aware of the recent changes to Google’s search engine algorithms and the increase in characters for SEO meta descriptions.
Now is also a great time to up your game on social media and potentially increase your search rankings. Social media plays an integral part in providing results to potential customers who may be searching for your services or products. Work on creating a social media strategy plan early so you have the rest of the year to take action and create results.
4. BE ACCESSIBLE
Pretend your a first time visitor on your website and you’re looking for something in particular. Could you find it quickly? Did you have to search for it because you couldn’t find it in the menu? It is very important to think about how your site is mapped out. What are the titles of the pages in your menu and do they make sense to users? What about the order of your pages? If key pages are buried too deep for users to find you may need to spend time rethinking how content is sorted and what changes you could make to create a better experience for visitors.
Secondly, if your website is still not mobile friendly in 2018 you might as well consider it a part of the dark ages. I know it sounds harsh, but search engines are cracking down on mobile responsiveness and any site that doesn’t rank well in this category falls to the bottom of the list. Plus, your missing out on a large number of site visitors who rely heavily on using their phone to browse websites. Especially when checking for local business, restaurants, etc.
5. CONSIDER A REDESIGN
While it may be a be a big undertaking, keep in mind the long-term results you could generate. Instead of putting months and months of effort into a website that leaves you unhappy and frustrated, you could invest those months into developing a brand new site that is custom built to fit your needs and budget. What could be better than a site built on a CMS platform that’s easy for your team to manage and your visitors to use. Send us a message if this sounds like the ideal resolution for you.
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