Happy New Year! Hopefully, 2015 was a banner year for you and your company. As you look back at the past year, it’s important to also look ahead to 2016, and review your website. Much like a car, a neglected website will inevitably break down.
However, with regular maintenance, you can keep your website — your #1 vehicle for customer service and sales — firing on all cylinders. Here are some tips for keeping your website in great shape for the coming year.
Optimize Your Website
Mobile Friendly Design
Bigger isn’t always better, and few things are more frustrating than trying to access a big, bulky website on a small screen. If your website isn’t mobile-optimized, a significant percentage of your visitors will likely hit the “back” button in their browser, and find a website that’s more accommodating.
In April 2015, Google Search expanded its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change affects mobile searches in all languages worldwide, and has a significant impact in Google Search results. Users need to find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results optimized for their devices. You can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to see if your site is ready.
At NDESIGN, we use Responsive Web Design, so our custom websites look fantastic and function flawlessly on all devices — from desktop computers and laptops to tablets and smartphones. Don’t miss this important step: optimize your website for mobile visitors ASAP.
Review your Content Strategy
Without a sound content strategy for your website, you are spinning your wheels. To get the best results from your site’s performance, you need to optimize your text and images so that the content generates conversions. With compelling copywriting, and appropriate calls-to-action, your site will perform beyond your expectations.
If you don’t utilize a Content Management System (CMS) on your site currently, integrating one now will enable you to easily make updates to your site, and self-manage the content effortlessly. NDESIGN can help you with converting your site to include a CMS – our staff specializes in responsive websites built upon our solid CMS-driven framework.
SEO is critical
Has your visitor traffic dropped off? Not getting the results you’d like from Google?
The best way to increase your traction with search engines is to identify keywords that will steer your target audience to your site. NDESIGN offers a full range of SEO services. We can help set you up with the tools needed to manage it yourself, or we can provide a fully-managed, hands-off SEO campaign for you. Build a strategy, and concentrate on your SEO efforts this year.
Social Media
Shift your social media strategy into high gear by adding a blog and integrating social media feeds into your website.
Blogs provide a place to add new and useful content to your site, but they also give your SEO efforts a big boost. Blog posts also are an ideal destination for links from your other social media channels. After all, when it comes to social media, all roads should lead to your website. Think of each social media stream as a fishing line – the more lines you cast, the more likely you are to reel something in!
Use Analytics
Tracking your visitors’ route through your website, and analyzing key statistics give you important insights that help you make improvements in all of the categories listed above. You can’t know what’s working — and what isn’t — until you start charting your progress.
If you aren’t reviewing your site’s analytics, you might be surprised at what they can tell you…
Customization and Functionality
Give your customers the features they need to get the most our of your site. Custom calculators, product wizards, order tracking and other database-driven tools — web apps drive functionality. And functionality gives your visitors a reason to return to your site, and recommend it to others.
Revisit your site’s purpose and performance this year. Optimizing your online presence can help you evolve from a simple “brochure website” to an interactive destination for your visitors. Don’t let 2016 pass without paying some attention to your website, and these critical areas of improvement. Your marketing strategy — and customers — will thank you for it!
Contact NDESIGN to learn how we can help keep your website running smoothly for years to come.
