Whether your website is central to your business or just a necessary component in the mix of the many things you do to promote your small business and generate needs, it is important to make sure it represents you well.
As small businesses, we promote our integrity, reliability, honesty, quality work and similar characteristics that make our clients return to us or refer us to their friends. When your visitors look you up on the web, you need to make sure your website reflects those same traits.
If your website is not in good shape, the first impression you make on a new potential client may be damaged.
Content, Content, Content
It’s all about content – does the information provided on your website reflect what you do, how well you do it, that you are an expert at what you do, and how to get hold of you?
Here are some signs you have neglected your site and you need to spend some time updating the content and making sure you leave a good impression on visitors.
Homepage pictures and slogans outdated – does your homepage message wish your clients Happy Holidays in July? Or advertise your companies 20th anniversary from 4 years ago? Your home page is the most critical page – if the messages, services, and contact details our not correct, you are losing the majority of your visitors here. Update the messages regularly, post your latest news, change the client testimonial to a newer one – make sure your home page is relevant.
Outdated content and architecture – does your content match what you offer? Very often, we add new services, expand our area of operation and introduce new products. However, either you didn’t have time or you completely forgot your website. When that new client who heard you are the first person to introduce the service in the region goes to your website and cannot find it, they will move on to google searching someone who does supply that service. And while you’re at it, remove content that’s is outdated or irrelevant (like that article you found about your service from 1997!)
Too much text – Take a look at your website. Is it mostly lines of texts and boxes of content? If so, it’s time for a change. While detailed content may be relevant if you are providing valuable content to visitors, most visitors need to be attracted by visual content. Users scan headlines, and take in the first paragraph then decide to read-on or click and go. Add pictures, infographics, charts and tables with useful information to draw visitors attention to your content and encourage them to read further.
Contact information is buried – How to contact you needs to be front and center – if it’s not – dig it up! Your website’s content should be user-focused. Understanding what site visitors are looking for and making it quick and easy for them to find will go a long way. But when they are hooked, make sure you have contact information on your site with several contact methods. Put it in a place where visitors can find it. (Hint: not hidden in the “About Us” section).
Blog is old and irrelevant – You should blog only if you can maintain it – Many companies start a blog and the never have time to go back and update it. This looks bad and reflects poorly on your ability to “keep current”. Three options:- Outsource your blog to a writer and make sure you have at least one update a month. Remove the dates, just make sure the content is relevant. Remove the blog, it’s not a requirement. It is better to not have anything than to have an outdated and irrelevant blog.
Slow page load times – technology has improved and so have internet speeds. If your site is working really slow it is worthwhile getting a professional developer to look at it and fix the issues so that visitors will not leave in frustration. It may be as simple as optimizing the images and updating some plugins to make sure you are working fast, and it may be worthwhile looking at better hosting sites that offer more performance. Try using the Google Page Speed Test to track your load time https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Site not mobile friendly – Mobile REALLY matters. Upwards of 50% of internet traffic is on mobile phones AND search engines like Google will ignore you if your site is not mobile friendly. If your site and site content is not Responsive (mobile friendly) it is time to consider an upgrade. You can test your site with this Google tool https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
I understand that not everyone uses their website to attract and capture clients. However, when someone hears about you, the first thing they may do is look at your website and if it is a bad reflection of your business, you can lose clients because of it.
Take a look at your site and see if it needs some updates – don’t procrastinate – get it done now!
