As we head into the midway point for this calendar year, it’s important to evaluate your progress thus far. Looking for ways to improve your website? Here are my top five ideas to review and consider for improvement:
1. Clutter-free zone
It’s very important to have your website be clean and easy to read/navigate. Having too much going on within the page can be distracting and even worse, a turn off.
2. Web Analytics
Website data and measurement is crucial to improve on what you have and evaluate your marketing campaign’s performance. Many companies have analytics code installed on their site, but not 100% correctly. It’s imperative to implement the code on EVERY single page of the website (including landing pages outside the main navigation), in the proper location within the JavaScript.
3. Picture Perfect
Regardless of what your business promotes, it’s always beneficial to have a compelling visual on the Homepage. Many designers will refer to this graphic as a "Hero" image, whereby it takes up a significant portion of the upper half of the homepage – running horizontally across the page. While this size graphic isn't necessary, a professional image to correlate to your marketing message or showcase your product is valuable.
4. Content is King
Having well written content is extremely valuable for SEO rankings of each page on your site, in addition to aiding visitors. In some instances, you may choose to forego the SEO value of a page, in lieu of keeping the content minimal. Speak to your audience first and foremost. Explain things clearly and in language your customers will understand.
5. Socially Connected
There are many ways to communicate and listen to your customers, both on and off your site. Whatever channels your business participates in (social media profiles), be sure to highlight these on your site. Logos from each network that link to your account profile are the most common method to promote your participation. It’s also possible to pull in feeds from your social media accounts (twitter/facebook) and showcase this information on your website.
There's still plenty of time to make 2012 the best year ever for your online business, so don't delay!
