In today's digital age, your website serves as the virtual front door to your business, welcoming visitors and potential clients alike. But have you taken a moment lately to really scrutinize what lies beyond that door? In today’s fast-paced online landscape, it's easy for elements of your website to become outdated, cluttered, or even malfunction without you realizing it. To help you maintain a strong and polished online presence, here are some things to watch out for on your website:
1. Check Your Links. Isn’t it annoying when a website directs to you a broken link? Make sure that’s not happening on your site by checking each and every one of them.
By the way, make sure that when a link takes somebody off your site (e.g., to a book you mention), that it “opens a new tab” in the browser. That way your website visitor can easily click back to your site and keep looking around. Making this happen is just a simple setting when creating the link.
2. Read Every Page. Yes, read every single page on your site. Does it still represent you? Is your message clear? Could someone reading your site understand why they would want to work with you? Is your phone number on your contact page?
Read every blog post, too. Some posts may have font discrepancies, spacing issues, or links that are different colors than your website palette. You may find posts that need to be taken down because they are no longer relevant. It will take some time, but it’s worth it to be confident that every page looks consistent.
3. Get Great Graphics. Take a close look (with your reading glasses on if necessary) at the graphics on your website. Is your logo pixelated or fuzzy? Do you have images with a white background instead of transparent on pages that have a colored background? How old is your headshot? Are you using bland stock photography? Time to upgrade if any of this is you.
4. Check Your Phone. More than half of the visitors to your site will do so on a phone – make sure your site looks good and is easily readable.
5. Review Your Dashboard. Take a peek at the back-end of your website (or get a qualified professional to do it with you). Are there plugins that you aren’t using that might be slowing things down? Is your website running on the latest version of the software it’s built on? Keep your website running smoothly by paying attention to these important details.
Remember that for many people, your website is the first place where they will form an impression of you and your business. Take steps now to make sure the impression is a good one!