1. DELETE DATED CONTENT AND NON-RELEVANT INFORMATION
2. CHECK YOUR IMAGES
3. ENSURE YOUR WEBSITE IS RESPONSIVE AND MOBILE FRIENDLY
4. CHECK FOR AND FIX BROKEN LINKS
5. TEST YOUR FORMS/FUNCTIONALITY
6. REVIEW YOUR CALL TO ACTION
7. ENSURE YOUR WEBSITE IS SSL SECURED
8. ENSURE SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS APPEAR ON EVERY PAGE
9. UPDATE YOUR ABOUT US PAGE, BIOS, AND TEAM PAGES
10. FRESHEN AN OLD WEBSITE WITH A NEW LOOK
Once you have a website, you can leave it and forget about it, right? WRONG!
Grab your feather duster and let’s get started with this 10 point spring cleaning checklist!
1. DELETE DATED CONTENT AND NON-RELEVANT INFORMATION:
As your business grows and evolves, so should your website. Is there content on your website that might be outdated and no longer applicable to what you do or sell? If so, consider two things: either delete it OR if outdated, consider updating the content with newer wording/images.
2. CHECK YOUR IMAGES
Are your images mostly stock photography? To help make your website “stand out” from the competition and appear more personable and branded, we recommend investing in a professional photo shoot. Be sure to include images of you, your products (if applicable), your services or classes, your brick and mortar business and/or your team in action. When adding these images to your website, be sure to add a brief description as an alt tag, this will help improve your SEO as well as provide alternative text for those using assistive devices.
3. ENSURE YOUR WEBSITE IS RESPONSIVE AND MOBILE FRIENDLY
Check your website on a mobile phone. Does it function properly?
54% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices (Source)
Gone are the days of browsing the internet at home in front of your bulky computer. These days we surf the internet from literally anywhere. You need to make sure your website is mobile and user friendly in layout and design, otherwise mobile visitors will find it difficult to locate the information they need and leave your website quickly.
4. CHECK FOR AND FIX BROKEN LINKS
You may think your website is working perfectly, but when was the last time you visited your own site as if you were a customer? Customers who run into broken links become frustrated, prompting them to leave your site quickly, no matter how clever your 404 page is. Broken links can also damage your search engine rankings. Check all buttons and links to ensure they work and direct you to the correct areas of your site.
5. TEST YOUR FORMS/FUNCTIONALITY
Complete forms to ensure your leads are being sent to the correct email address. If you have a blog, ensure that your blog comments are working and monitored. If you offer products or services, test drive your shopping cart from the start of the purchase process through to the final step of money being deposited into your bank account.
6. REVIEW YOUR CALL TO ACTION
Has your call to action been getting engagement? If not, maybe it’s time to switch it up. Consider creating four different calls to action and rotate them every three months. Search engines use crawlers to review websites. The more you update and refresh your website, the more these crawlers will visit your site, which in turn, can improve your search engine ranking.
7. ENSURE YOUR WEBSITE IS SSL SECURED
Google Webmaster guidelines state websites should be secure, and this means purchasing an SSL security certificate. Not sure if you have one? Visit your website. Beside your url in the address bar there should be a small padlock symbol. If not, you need to follow up with your website service provider to get an SSL security certificate in place.
An SSL certificate:
- protects the integrity of data in transit, for example, information submitted through a form is protected while it’s sent through the website to the receiver
- customers can trust their information will be secure when purchasing from your website
- Google “likes” secure websites and may increase your ranking slightly in organic searches
Note: All websites developed by SKBailey include an SSL certificate.
8. ENSURE SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS APPEAR ON EVERY PAGE
Don’t be anti-social! Make sure your social media links appear on every page. You want your visitors to be able to connect with you on their favorite platforms quickly and easily. Don’t forget to make your website content easy to share by adding social sharing tools like a Pinterest or Click to Tweet button.
9. UPDATE YOUR ABOUT US PAGE, BIOS, AND TEAM PAGES
As your business grows, things change and your Bio / About Us / Team pages (if you have them) should be updated to remain current. Review these pages and make any necessary changes. Refreshing your About Us page also helps improve your search engine ranking.
10. FRESHEN AN OLD WEBSITE WITH A NEW LOOK
If your website needs more than a spring cleaning, maybe it’s time to consider giving it a complete overhaul. Did you brand your business or service? Well, your website is an extension of your brand, and it should be reviewed for colors, the content’s “tone of voice”, fonts and more to ensure consistency throughout. Your website should follow your business’ brand guide, and if you’ve not yet created one, we can help create a website that works hard for your business.
Does your website spark joy for your clients? Think of the KonMari method by Marie Kondo1 when cleaning. What is the overall experience of a client when they land on your website? Check the flow and look for errors. Is your home page filled with paragraphs of text? Too much information may cause potential customers to leave your website. Keep your home page short, sweet and to the point. People want to scroll through the least amount of information required to come to a buying decision.
For an effective home page make sure it includes the following points:
- a statement about what you do
- call to action to learn more about one or two of your services
- testimonials
- a short bio about who you are
- no pressure opt-in – ie. a freebie download or no obligation estimate
When reviewing your home page, ask yourself: Do people need to know this in order to make a buying decision? If not, remove it.
Now that you’ve cleaned up your website, get ready for visitors!
Even implementing a few of the above tips should help, which should lead to longer visitor stays and interaction, higher SEO rankings, and eventually, conversion to sales. If you need help implementing any of these tips or would like to discuss how we could help update your website, contact us for more information.
1. Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant, author, and TV show host. You can visit the KonMari website here.
