Your website is like a car. Regular maintenance keeps it running smoothly, year after year. And just like with a car, if you continue to let things slide you will end up having lots of extra (expensive) work to do down the line. So, what are the essentials for your website refresh checklist?
Evaluate your content. Is your content accurate and up to date? What is (and isn’t) performing well? Map out your content and make a list of what needs adjustments. What is working well and what is underperforming?
Search Engine Optimisation. The first point of contact for most businesses, a strong position at the top of the search is pivotal. Review your applicable keywords and meta descriptions, ensuring your results are shown at the top of the pack in an online search.
Learn from your customers. Do you have a blog post that is getting a lot of attention? Or a product outperforming the rest? See if you can spot any trends that might help inform your future marketing and outreach efforts. Prioritise the content that is doing well and give your customers more of what they want.
Check that your links are working. Broken links are more than just a bad look for your business – they actually can hurt your search engine ranking! Many customers find them off-putting, which will potentially drive them off your site and damage your brands reputation.
Optimise your site layout for all devices. Mobile-friendly formatting is an absolute necessity in today’s digital world. If your website is not easy and intuitive to use on all platforms/devices, then you’ll want to schedule in a time to get this updated.
Take note of loading times. If your website is slow to load, you are running the risk of losing valuable customers who simply get bored of waiting or who lose trust in your brands legitimacy. In this case, changing the host server or platform to optimise speed could be worth consideration.
Secure site by keeping software and plug-ins up-to date. As tempting as it is to ignore the reminders to update to the latest version, it is actually a vital step in keeping your website secure. So make sure you are working with the latest versions of software and plug-ins, all year around! This is not only vital for your own security, but for keeping your customers’ information safe as well.
Update your passwords. Again, it is so tempting to just use the same password over and over, year after year. Do yourself a massive favour and reset your passwords at least once or twice a year and always avoid reusing the same ones for everything. There are tons of reliable services that generate and store secure passwords for you, so not being able to remember different passwords is no excuse!
There you have it! It might be a bit daunting, but it is well worth it. A website review best done bi-annually, so putting them in your calendar on a recurring basis can prevent them from getting away from you! Just a little bit of effort and organisation every year can pay dividends when it comes to keeping your website secure, up-to-date and performing at its best over the long run.
BROKENIMAGE Creative is a full-service marketing and advertising agency specialising in photography, videography, graphic design, website development, digital marketing and digital content creation. From concept to execution, we have the technical knowledge, necessary skills and applicable experience to make your ideas a reality. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help with your website refresh, or with any other project!
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