Like your car, your website also needs an annual checkup. Internet trends and technology seem to change overnight. The way we live changes the way we search, our habits, our preferences. The web responds. If you want your business to remain competitive you have to change too.
Changes We Saw in 2018:
- Google launched Mobile First Indexing, making mobile content increasingly important.
- Google also began notifying searchers when websites were unsecure.
- GDPR made its appearance, putting in place stricter guidelines for Europeans customers.
An annual website checkup keeps your performance high and forces you to take a fresh look at who your customers are and how they behave. It’s one of the best website management habits you can adopt that will help keep your systems and overall functionality performing effectively.
Start With Goals
Most importantly, use your annual checkup as a chance to gauge your progress toward established goals and to set goals for the next year.
Identify potential design or technical improvements. What kinds of changes in your traffic would you like to see? Develop priorities. Make notes about anything you want to incorporate in your next redesign.
Once you’ve made your list, share that information with your team and anybody who contributes to your website. If you aren’t sure how to examine your website for strengths and weaknesses, Web Design by Knight is here to help you with that process. We have been building and securing websites, for all kinds of businesses, for more than two decades. We monitor internet trends and best practices on a regular basis. Need some help with your website? Feel free to contact us to learn more.
Know Your Competition
Get a general sense of how you compare to the competition. Is your business falling behind? Do you see innovations you might like to build into your own website?
Content
Review the overall state of your content, again starting with pages that are visited the most.
- Is your contact information and other basic information about your business correct and complete?
- Do your forms work?
- Does your website presence reflect your brand and message standards?
- Are there areas of duplication?
- How does it “look?” Do you need updated photos, graphics, maybe a complete new look?
- Are you talking to all kinds of customers? Does your website attract a diverse audience of all kinds of customers?
Answers may help you create specific goals for the coming year, or send you in a different direction for developing new content.
People And Processes
As part of your website checkup, take a look around at the people in your business who contribute to your website and your social media. Do they have the training and experience to represent your business in a way that works for you? Internet trends change so quickly. Maybe the person assigned to your website needs to update their skills. Or, there might be parts of your website that could be improved, simply because no one has been directed to work on that area.
Analytics
Analytics are crucial for business. Take a look at your Google Analytics setup. Is it collecting the correct data, in a way that makes sense to you? Check out any features that might make things easier or better in the coming year.
Then review the past year in Google Analytics. Focus on the prominent and the busiest areas of your site. Start with your home page and then move on to second level pages. Check any pages or sections that have been recently redesigned. For starters, explore the following:
- Audience: Compare the last year’s views and sessions to previous years. Make a note of any big changes, even if you aren’t sure immediately why the change occurred. This information might help you later.
- Devices: Check the mobile versus desktop performance, especially if you need to make the case for mobile-friendly improvements.
- Traffic: Where is your traffic coming from? How much is local? Look for spikes in visits from particular cities or states.
- Acquisition: Examine where visitors are coming from. Are they coming through social media, from a recent blog series?
Tracking simple top-level analytics is fine. It provides an overall picture of the trends. But you might want to study analytics a little more closely, to answer more precise questions.
If all of this is confusing, rest assured. The team at Web Design by Knight is here to help. If you are overwhelmed with managing your website, or if you just don’t have time to do it anymore, we offer several levels of website security and support. Click here to see how we can help.