Out with the old and in with the new
So, Christmas is over and the New Year is upon us. Time to start making resolutions. It's a good time to think about making some resolutions for your website too. After all, if 2010 is going to be a boom year for online sales and the Internet then you need to make sure your website is up to scratch!
Maintaining an effective website is similar to maintaining a valued client relationship – you get out what you put in.
Here are a few things worth thinking about...
1. Keep the content up to date
Is your content up to date? A simple strategy for continuous improvement includes updating the website regularly with fresh content. If you're using a Content Management System (CMS), it's usually possible to create new articles and have them automatically go public on a certain date or even have articles unpublish themselves after a certain date which can be useful if the article is likely to be out of date after a certain period of time.
Or, if you have a maintenance agreement with us, we can easily carry out updates as soon as you send them over.
2. Check for broken links
Are any of the links to other sites broken (the site they link to no longer exists or the page has moved)? Occasionally this may happen if the external site is no longer live, or if the page has moved. It's worth checking any links on your site regularly to ensure that they still work. Having broken links on your site can give the wrong impression and make it seem like your site is no longer maintained. It can also affect your site ranking on search engines as they will check the site for broken links and your site will be ranked lower if there are broken links present.
3. Focus on your customers
If your website talks about you, your company and all the fantastic products and services you offer, without mentioning the benefits to your customers, you might be turning potential customers away. Your website should ideally focus less on yourself (unless it's a personal page that is) or your business- it really ought to focus on your customer. What can you do for them? Talk about their needs, their problems, and how you can help.
4. Try new things
It's easy to think that once the website is published you can sit back and wait for visitors to arrive and new business to come flooding in. You might be getting quite a few enquiries from people via your website, but for your site to realise its full potential it's important to actively seek out ways to attract people, and have them return again and again and recommend you to others. It's likely that there will be a number of websites offering the same as you, so in order to compete it's important to continually try out new things on your website. Ask yourself: How do I keep visitors coming back to the site and Why would a potential client buy from my business, based on what they’ve seen online?
5. Making contact
Does your website encourage people to get in touch? How easy is it for visitors to get in touch?
6. Use Social Media
Integrating your website design with social media tools, such as Facebook, blogs and Twitter, will also add value to your online presence.
7. Give the code an overhaul
If your website is more than a couple of years old, the code may be due for an overhaul. Coding techniques and best practices are constantly being improved and website code can get outdated quite quickly. Whilst this might not seem like a major issue as your site appears to work fine, that may not be the case for all of the visitors to your site. They may be using a different browser to you and as new updated versions of browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc. appear they can sometimes affect the way that sites are displayed. By having the code looked at and updated it will not only ensure that your site is working properly for the majority of visitors but it can also reduce the page load time too.
8. Consider a Redesign
Does your website still reflect your business or goal in a positive way? Does it engage your target audience? Does it create a strong first impression? It might seem like a lengthy process to redesign your website, but remember: an effective online presence builds credibility, enhances reputation, generates sales, and develops trust.
We're happy to discuss any of the above ideas with you - call us on 01372 720943 or email info@jswebservices.com
