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As the end of 2016 looms near, now is the time to take a look and see what you can do to reboot your site to keep (or get) your web presence firmly established and engaging in the New Year. Make it your New Year’s Resolution to refresh and revitalize your website, but don’t wait until the last minute to do so. We’ll even help you with some tips to get started! Ready? Let’s go!
Review the Current Content
Check the current content to make sure it is accurate. Is your name and address accurate? Is the “About” section up-to-date? Are all of your important links working? Sometimes, updates are made to host sites and links that previously worked end up no longer working. The same can be said for your menu, categories, and all other tabs. Everything on your site that will remain needs to be double-checked to ensure it is in proper working order. Nothing makes a reader or site visitor leave quicker than websites that do not work properly. Verify that your website is doing everything it should correctly.
Visual Impact
Kissmetrics reports that content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images. To determine if your images are relevant ask yourself these questions:
- Does the image fit my brand’s style?
- Does the image fit my brand’s voice?
- Does the image fit my brand’s mood?
Just because you love a particular image does not mean it fits your brand. The images you choose should appeal to your target audience. Additionally, crisp, clean, sharp images draw attention. Posting blurred, dark, or irrelevant images on your website is not smart marketing. Images that include people and draw on others emotions capture the most attention. Readers can “see” themselves as the person in the photo and this emotion grabs them and draws them in to engage with your website.
Analyze Popularity
Review your posts and see which were most popular. Which ones received the most comments? Which ones were shared the most? This is how you can tell what’s working and what is not. The ones that were not popular are what you want to focus on. Why were they unpopular? Were they not aligned with your brand? Did the content jump from one subject to another? These are the things you want to avoid.
Brand-Boosting Your Web Presence
It is vital that the components that identify your website align. This includes domain name, website name, and logo. Your site should have a logo that your target audience identifies with. For example, when you see the logo of an apple with a bite taken out of it, you know exactly what brand it is, right? Your company may not be as big as Apple, but you still want to be recognizable by the logo you choose. Boosting your brand with a customized logo is an excellent business decision. The logo identifies with one web presence only – yours.
Fully Commit
Keeping your content fresh and new images posted frequently can be challenging. Make it one of your New Year’s resolutions to publish twice a week or three times a week. Whatever works for you is what you should do, but you must fully commit and follow through. Your audience will begin to recognize how often you publish and how current your content is and you will gain a following that stays engaged with your website.
If you start now, your web presence will be rebooted, refreshed, and ready to start the year off on the right foot. Good luck!