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How to put the spring in your website’s step

Fay Roe

Spring has officially sprung, and the change of the season brings with it a renewed sense of energy and vitality. Typically, this means that at this time of year we undertake a deep clean of our homes and catch up on chores that have been neglected over winter. However, spring cleaning should not be restricted to your home – you should apply the same diligence to cleaning your business’ website too – there will undoubtedly aspects of your website that need attention to optimise its performance.

Spring cleaning your website is a business necessity, and your efforts will be rewarded – visitors and search engines alike will appreciate the update. Here are two critical elements that you need to review to pass a white-glove inspection.

The functionality of your website

Test-drive the functionality of your web design – fill out forms, subscribe to your newsletter and complete the checkout process. Your business’s website is crucial for providing your customers with information about the products and services that you offer but it is also a valuable tool to streamline your business for growth. Are there any tweaks that could be made to make your operation run more efficiently?

Can you publish a booking system so that customers can make appointments at their convenience?
Do your sales update your inventory and populate your accounts automatically?
Are you actively collating customer data to inform your marketing strategies?
Is your website compatible for fast access from all devices?
Are you helping visitors on their buying journey with clear and strong calls to action?
Is your website security updated?

Your web design needs to make processes simple, intuitive and most importantly functional. Thorough testing is the only way to ensure that your website is doing what you want it to do!

the word seo is hanging from strings on a blue background

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

The clearest sign that your website is need of some SEO TLC is a decrease in visitor numbers – if you have noticed a drop off, you need to address the issue before it escalates and impacts your revenue and profit.

Search engines have a habit of adding new layers of complexity to the algorithms that they use to rank websites. Your understanding of what is SEO and how it works needs to be up to date. This means that your website could start to underperform even though you are applying the same SEO tactics that previously worked. Yes, it’s frustrating but unfortunately it cannot be ignored.

A little housekeeping can go along way to boost your search engine ranking position:

Check that the links on your website work and direct visitors to where they want to go. Broken links are as repellent to visitors as they are to search engines.
Check that contact information is accurate and optimised for local search .
Review your FAQs, terms and conditions and relevant policies and publish them on your website. They are a gold mine for SEO purposes and can be exploited to attract quality leads to your website.
Review the content of your website. You may find that some of the keywords you previously focused on have lost their power over time – you don’t need to delete content, just edit it to make it more relevant to searchers. Relevancy is vital for keyword success and if your keywords are not performing as they should chances are high that any related Google Ads campaign that you are running won’t be either – they are intrinsically linked, and you have to keep up with what works and what doesn’t!

It’s best practice to review and spring clean your business website periodically to ensure that your website’s performance is optimised for success and that it represents your brand in a way that consumers relate to.

Digital Presence is an SEO company in NZ that looks at your business holistically – using web design and web development to streamline your business processes and boost your digital marketing success. Call us on 0274 278047 or drop us a line at hello@digitalpresence.co.nz to learn more.

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