Happy new year! As you make new resolutions and plan fresh beginnings, it’s also time to take a good, long look at your business(es). Then, you need to plan your marketing strategy for the year. This is where your website refresh comes in.
Whatever kind of business you run, your website is one of the cornerstones of any marketing strategy. The key thing is, if you don’t have relevant/updated content on your website, your strategy is bound to fail. That’s why it’s time to take a look at your website at the start of each year and plan a refresh of your website content at the earliest.
Here are four practical things to keep in mind as you do this:
STEP 1: Perform a Content Audit
A good first step when you’re looking to refresh your website content is to try and audit the content that already exists on it. These are the questions you should answer:
- Does the content on your page still align with your brand identity?
- Have you clearly explained what your company does and exactly what services you provide?
- Are your customers getting all the right information in the most effective way?
Additionally, check to see if your contact and company information are still correct. Have you expanded core competencies, added new capabilities or brought in new team members? If so, you definitely want to make sure your website accurately reflects these new changes.
STEP 2: Make Sure Your Website Content Is User-Friendly
You’ve read all the content on your site before, so you probably won’t pick up on any trouble your customers are having reading, navigating and understanding what’s on there. We recommend you take some time to re-evaluate the content that’s on your website, including the way it appears. Look at everything through fresh eyes, as if you were a new visitor.
Questions you need to ask yourself are:
- Are any content blocks too long or too complex?
- Have you explained everything in such a way that even someone unfamiliar with your industry can immediately understand what you’re saying?
- Do you have a good and healthy balance of text, pictures and infographics? (Remember: Content isn’t always just text alone…)
TOP TIP: Enlist family and friends (preferably people who haven’t seen your website before) to take a look and give you honest feedback.
STEP 3: Verify All Page Links and Hyperlinks
When you’re browsing someone’s website, there’s nothing more frustrating than a link or button that doesn’t work, or clicking on a hyperlink only to be taken to a 404-error page. To avoid this, check to see that all the links on your website are still active and updated. In addition to being annoying and inconvenient for your visitors, broken links and non-existent pages also affect your SEO (more on that in other articles) and the ease with which you can be found online.
Questions for this step include:
- Do all the links work correctly? (Check each one manually and identify any broken links.)
- Have any recent changes been reflected in all related links and hyperlinks across the site?
- Additionally, if your website links to any other partner or guest website, do their links still work? (If they’ve made changes to their website, you may need to alter your links or URLs to match up.)
Remember: The last thing you want is a potential customer leaving your website frustrated because your links or buttons don’t work!
STEP 4: Boost Your SEO the Right Way
One of the ways to improve your Google Search rankings is to ensure that you have good content on your website that is relevant to your customers. Unfortunately, this is not a one-time process.
To maximise your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), you need to consistently monitor relevant keywords to your industry, research about any changes to Google’s SEO algorithms, and be up-to-date on the latest tips and tricks on how search engines identify and suggest your website to customers. This will all help you solidify your company’s search footprint and make you easier to find for any potential customers.
Here are the things you need to check in this step:
- Does your website content target the right keywords?
- What are the latest trending search terms you could include to become more relevant?
- How did your website perform in the past year (Analytics) and what changes can you make this year?
With these 4 steps, you should be ready to start refreshing your website content. Got any questions? Or are you too busy doing what you do best and want some additional help sprucing up your website? Get in touch with us and we’ll guide you!
All the best for a successful 2020!
