If you’ve been busy running a business, there’s every chance you’ve not had time to look at your website in a while. It’s understandable. Once your site’s up and running, there’s a big temptation there to let it purr in the background, bringing in enquiries and signposting towards your services without much input needed from you at all.
Although there’s nothing stopping you from using your website in this way, it’s worth thinking about whether you’re getting the most out of this huge resource. You pay for URL and your server space, so why not get the most you can for your money?
Your Website is Your Shop Window
If a shop had the same display in the window day in, day out, would it entice you to go in and spend your money there?
While it might not be hugely important to look flashy and new at all times, simple housekeeping tasks each month can help to refresh your content and entice returning visitors to take action.
Take a look at the following tasks page-by-page and see if you could fit them in monthly, or even three-monthly:
● Services - Have you added any new ones? Are any out of date?
● Products - Are your product descriptions still up-to-date? Do you have more to add? Have you got any new photographs to showcase them? Should some be taken off the site?
● About Us - Is this still up-to-date? Have you won any awards or new business that could be included here?
● Testimonials - Who have you worked with recently that you could request a testimonial from? In an age of reviews, new clients are more likely than ever to trust customer feedback.
● Contact Us - Is this page as enticing as it could be? How many people visitors use it per week? Is there a way to make it easier to use?
If you can keep on top of your content bit by bit, it’ll seem much less of a mammoth task.
Next, you need to think about:
Sprucing Up Your Whole Website
Every once in a while, perhaps every six months or so, it’s really good practice to have a full look through every page of your website to make sure customers are getting as much out of their visits as they can.
This can be daunting, but there are ways to break it down. Take a look at this task list and see how you could make the job easier for yourself, using your site and site analytics.
Readability
● How easy to read is your website, on the whole?
● How many of your key messages or business aims shine through?
● Do your call to actions suit the content they’re placed in?
● Are there any parts that stop the flow of information?
Navigation
● How easy is it to get from page to page?
● How many clicks does it take most visitors to complete a transaction?
● Which pages cause the most bounces?
● Which pages are the most popular?
● Do any pages take a long time to load or have formatting issues?
● Are there any pages that are unnecessary? For example: indexing pages, home pages, temporary holding pages, or pages that could be amalgamated with other related pages?
Tone
● Does the content on your website fully convey your company's attitude?
● Are there aspects of your content that seem out of place, or copy and pasted?
● Is there any part of your website you don’t like, for no real reason?
Note answers to each down with examples of pages you’d like to improve, and you can come up with a plan together with your team.
You can also look into this full website content audit template by the Moz site, which is really comprehensive.
Get a Copywriter to Do It!
Copywriters are excellent digital content creators and spend their lives online. That’s makes us ideal for carrying out your time-consuming, always put-off web content audits.
We look into your web content objectively with a fine-tooth comb, picking out parts you may never see yourself and improving your pages in ways you might never have suggested.
Interested in spring cleaning that website? Get in touch today.