March is upon us, which means spring is lurking within sight now! It’s always a time of year for refreshing… We begin to refresh our wardrobe with different, brighter colours. We begin to refresh our décor at home. Why should your website be any different? Keeping your website fresh can serve your business in so many ways, least of which being your ranking on major search engines. They absolutely hate stagnant websites. Let’s dive into some easy ways to refresh your website and ensure that it continues to work for you all year through!

New Content

The algorithms and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practices are changing constantly. In order for your website to continue to perform well for your business, you have to keep up with these changes. The easiest way to do that is by creating new content, with the appropriate search engine words to ensure that your ranking online stays high. Without going too far into the technical details of this process let’s just say that your website needs to be filled with the keywords that your ideal audience is searching for. For instance, if you are a website that sells pots you would want to have content that reads, “best pots for pasta” or “best nonstick cookware”. These are terms people will be searching for, and therefore they are terms your website should include if you want to stay relevant online for your audience. At the beginning of each year, you should scour your site for outdated or irrelevant information and replace with well-written, updated content that is search engine friendly. 

Call to Action Triggers

When was the last time you reviewed your call to action? If you have been putting out new content but have not taken the time to refresh your call to action, now is the time. You should have a strategic plan for all of your content creation, and your call to action should align with and enhance this. As you are putting out new content or refreshing the old, make sure you swing over into your Call of Action to refresh that as well. Remember, you are cultivating your entire brand with every piece of content you create. They should all work together and align to showcase your professionalism. 

The placement of the call-to-action triggers on your website is also, crucial. If your, “sign up here to get your free eBook” is buried on the way bottom of your site, or hidden on another page, you will never have success with building your email database. Remember that your call to action is supposed to entice followers to continue to follow you, not deter them with how complicated communicating with you is. Make sure you are adjusting where your call-to-action trigger is as needed. 

Update your Website’s Copyright

This is a very important tool that is often overlooked yet is one of the easiest things to check off your list. If we’ve built your website, we code this in so that this step is magically updated as the new year turns. If we haven’t, you just need to log in to the dashboard of your website and update the year that appears on the footer. It will likely take you longer to click into the footer section of your site than it will to change the date and save. 

Reevaluate your Navigation and Site Flow

Is your site easy to use? Can you easily view and search it on both desktop and mobile platforms? Have you gotten feedback stating that it was hard to find specific things on your site? This is a big, “no, no” for any website. You want your ideal clients to be able to easily find what they are looking for. No matter what your business, you are there to provide value to your ideal clients. If they are frustrated by your website, you leave the impression that it is complicated doing business with you. That is likely not the impression you want to give off. Make sure your website reflects how customer service friendly you are, how easy it is to purchase your products, how much of a leader of industry you are. All of this is can and should be accomplished visually on your website. Your website is the equivalent of your internet home. Make sure you are hospitable, inviting and friendly. Invite your ideal clients to come in and stay awhile by making your site easy to use. 

Not sure if your website accomplishes this? Have you asked for feedback from anyone other than your parents? If you haven’t, now is a great time to do so! You can also click here for a free consultation with me to review and discuss what is happening on your site. 

Double Check Links

Do you have links to resources on your site? Have you checked them recently? Sometimes, for a variety of reasons those links can be “broken”. Maybe the website you linked to was updated. Maybe an internal update caused a new URL to be issued. Regardless of the technical nuance that caused that link to be broken, the fact remains that it will no longer get your reader to the information you intended. Make sure you are checking those links to ensure the accomplish what you intended. If they did not, remove the link or the content you have that is associated with that link. In an ideal situation, you would do this multiple times a year, but if you aren’t then at the very least do this yearly. 

Additionally, it’s a great time to make sure that your own links are not bringing up a 404 Page Not Found error as well. If that happens with any of your own links, content your website designer to troubleshoot. 

Update Company Information

Have you had any changes in the last year? Personnel changes? Phone numbers or address changes? Now is a great time to make sure your website has all accurate information pertaining to your company information. Check the entire site for this to ensure everything is accurate. It’s likely that your business image functions better on showing attention to detail. This is one small way to portray this without having to speak it out loud. The details of your company should be accurate on any and all publicly accessed sites. 

Messaging

As your company evolves you want to make sure that your website reflects that evolution. Have you updated your mission statement? How about any strategies or goals that you share publicly? All of these should be updated on your website in real-time to ensure that your brand message aligns with who you are, what you do, and that your audience is very clear on this all. 

Showcase your Success

You’ve probably done a lot of new things since you last updated your website. Showcase these things by adding to your portfolio or creating one if you haven’t already. If you work with clients, have you updated any testimonials to reflect your current work? Have you won any awards or achieved any certifications that enhance the experience for your ideal clients? Now is the time to showcase those successes. Highlighting those credentials can go a long way. 

Help for your refresh 

Each of these steps may seem like they are unimportant, but they go a long way toward maximising the way your website works for you, as well as the way your clients see your business. Try making a list for the next few weeks and tackling a few of the above tips at a time! 

Helping clients achieve the best practices for their businesses is what I do. Whether it’s sending helpful information to empower you or working with you to achieve your goals. If a website refresh feels like more than you would like to take on, you can always reach out to me and my team. We are here for you!