Did you get a website when you started out 5 years ago? Of course you did, but have you actually logged on and done anything much since? If you haven’t, or even if you have, these tips will help you get the most out of the website you already have.
1 : If you haven't already, then get an https certificate!!!
5 years ago, you may have decided that the extra cost wasnt worth it. But you really really do need that little padlock. This will give your potential clients peace of mind, it will add professionalism, and it will comply with legal requirements. It doesn’t have to cost anything! Lots of hosting providers will give you a certificate and apply it for you, all you have to do is ask.
2: Sort out the simple stuff - get rid of anything that is out of date.
Did you offer a Christmas special offer? Is it STILL on the website in January. Obviously out of date content does not inspire confidence that you are efficient and on top of things. Get old content off the site. And while you are at it, remove any services that you don’t offer any more, and maybe take the time to add any new ones that you offer. On your “about us ” page, get rid of details of any members of staff that are no longer working for you. Do you have pricing info that is hopelessly out of date, or contact details that are wrong. These are simple easy changes that are easy to forget, but help inspire a sence of confidence and professionalism.
3: Check all the plugins and the website software such as WordPress is up to date.
These can usually be set to auto-update. But also look at any other software update warnings or some themes that may need to be done manually. WordPress uses PHP , and this will need to be kept up to date to avoid your site breaking or being hacked. You may need to get your web developer or hosting provider to do this as it wont be accessable from the WordPress dashboard.
4: Have a spring-clean and tidy-up
Have a good look the plugins installed. Do you really neeed them? Are there some that are used sporadically, eg backup plugins for pre-upgrade backups? De-activate those. The more plugins you havem the slower your website, and the more potential security holes.
Have a good look round the site for broken links. If you have a wordpress website, there are plugins you can use to check for those, but remember to deactivate or delete it when you are finished.
Go into your website dashboard and delete any users that have access to the website that don’t need it. See how many people have admin access, do they really all need it? Only people who really need admin access should be set up to have it, you may find editor access is all thats needed.
Have a look at the main website settings. Who is set up as the overall administrator for your site? Is it the web developer from 5 years ago who has long since dissappeared from the scene? You need to get that changed, and without that web developer around to respond to the email change request, it is probably a behind the scenes change and you may need to talk to a web developer. But its better to do it now, when you have time on your side, than when your site is broken and you cant get access.
5: Optimise your images
6: Get on top of SEO
What’s the thing I hear most often asked for ? SEO. and it is really important that your site is built with good SEO in mind. But if it wasn’t, it is easy to go through and sort some of it out.
The first thing to sort out is the metadata.
Whats that? Its the keywords, and snippet of information that Google uses to catalogue your page, and display in search results .
Install a good SEO plugin. I usually use Yoast for wordpress. This will let you add a keyword and description snippet for every page and post. If you get the paid for version you can add multiple keywords.
Have a good look at your page titles.
That’s the thing you have called your page in the dashboard, not necessarily what is displayed on the page. Is it meaningful? Google much prefers the title Web Support and training for small businesses to Home Page. Or Website support and training services to Services. In wordpress changing these is easy, just watch out to make sure you havent broken any links, and rember to think through page titles for the future.
Do you have blog posts? Categorise them.
This will help both your readers, and is good for SEO. Google always likes lots of information about what your page or post really is about
Hopefully you have already sorted out those Image alt tags, https , and tidied up your site, so its loading a little faster. Google will love you for those too.
And finally, get yourself signed up for Googles search console, and get google to reindex your site. Watch out for a post on how to do this later on in the month.
7: Tighten up security
Who’s going to hack my little bitty website? You would be suprised! From hidden adverts for 18+ material by hackers, to dodgy blog posts, and disgruntled ex-partners, I’ve seen a lot happen to websites belong to small businesses that their owners really didnt want to have happen.
Have a bit of a security audit. You should already have tidied up your plugins, updated your software and deleted any users that shouldnt have access. So next, get a security plugin installed. I usually use Wordfence. This will let you know who’s trying to access your site, and will put a firewall in place to prevent attacks.
Then turn on two-factor authentication. yes I know its annoying, but what’s even more annoying is losing access to your website, or having it host things you really don’t want it to host
8: Improve your copy
Have a look at the words on your website.
If you had professional copy written – well done, but have you messed with it lots? Or did you write your own copy?
With the benefit of time and distance have another look at it . Now delete LOTs of it, anything not diectly relevant. And have another look.
People ALWAYS write too many words. Large amounts of text on a page will put people off as it can be overwhelming, so trim it right back.
White space is your friend. Let the words stand out and sing.
Add some useful content, some blog posts, make it a source of helpful information that people will want to visit your website for, and recommend.
Answer their questions, Your website is your voice, so speak to them.
Show them you know what you are doing, and that you are an expert in your field.
Just remember though – not TOO many words!
9: Make sure you have plenty of Call-to-actions
Make llife easy for potential clients to get in touch. Make sure you have plenty of Call To actions buttons in your pages, not just at the bottom or top.
Make them interesting and enticing
Make sure your contact details are visible on all pages, and clear and easy to find.
And remember to stay well away from the dreaded, Click Here !
10: Consider whether it's time for a refresh
If you have completed all the tasks I have suggested, you site should be running better, be more secure, and have better information.
But now is time to have a really good look at the site. Just like clothes, websites go through fashions. It doesnt seem that long ago, that everyone was creating single page websites, or using our website
Does your website
- still reflect your brand
- appeal to your potential clients
- work on a mobile!
- does it say what you want it to say.
Whilst researching this post I stumbled over the Yale School of Art website. A website that is all about a school of art should have a fabulous design, what does the poor design it actually uses, tell you?
If not, then it may be time to reconsider getting a professional in for a chat about what can be done to spruce things up.