Your website is center of your business's digital presence. It's where prospects and customers research your company and decide if they want to make a purchase - often without talking to anyone at your company. With that much power, it's important to make sure you're putting your best foot forward.
How to know if it's time to update your website?
Are people getting to your website? Look at your web analytics to see where your website traffic is coming from. What does your traffic trend line look like over the past 12 months? If that trend line is headed low and to the right, then it's time to consider an update.
Do your customers find your website helpful? You can ask each customer their opinions, or you can look at your website's bounce rate. The bounce rate shows you the percentage of people come to your website and leave within a couple of seconds. If your bounce rate is over 50% then you need to update your website.
Is your website mobile friendly? We all use smartphones to watch videos, get directions, check our social media, and more. Make sure your website adjusts its formatting to work better on a mobile device. If your website is not mobile-friendly, then you definitely need to update your website.
Has it been more than two years since the last time you updated it? In the past two years, 75 percent of US consumers have tried a new shopping behavior in response to economic pressures, store closings, and changing priorities*. With these changes to consumer expectations, it doesn't matter what industry you're in, if you're not meeting these expectations, then consumers are going to find another company who will.
Ok, it's time to update your website - now what?
Just like if you're remodeling a house you're going to want to create a plan before you start making any changes.
Assess where your site is today by running diagnostic tests (i.e. site speed, bounce rate, etc.) and seeing where your site ranks in organic search results.
Identify your target market and what they need from your website in order to make a buying decision.
Start to create the content to help nurture your target market down the path to purchase.
Implement the changes using technical search engine optimization (SEO) best practices.
Promote your new website (i.e. Google ads, social media, etc.).
You can certainly do this work on your own by conducting your own research, creating your own content, and updating your site. But, when you hire a professional you'll benefit from their experience and minimize the interruption to your day-to-day operations.
At Violet Clover Consulting, we're here to help you every step of the way. When you're ready let's schedule a meeting to discuss your goals, run some initial tests on your website, and decide on the next steps.