It’s finally happened. You got your website done!
It’s new, it’s shiny … and in 6-12 months it will be old and you’ll be back to square one:
you, the expert, with an outdated website.
Now, you have two choices.
1) proceed to bang your head on the desk, mumble, groan, and shake your fist in the air. And cry. For 30 minutes.
Or, option 2) set aside three hours to get your website back into shape.
There are 3 ways you can update your website today that take one hour … total.
If you’re anything like the 66% of other small business owners, updating your website can be like trying to figure out a pre-calculus equation where you eventually just take your best shot at it and walk away.
It shouldn’t be that complicated–and it doesn’t have to be.
Here’s How to Update Your Website in 3 Simple Ways
1) Give Your Copy Some Personality
Copy is the James Bond of the website world. No one wants a swagger-less James Bond. If your website copy is still chock-full of stiff business terms like, “We pride ourselves on,” and “Contact us today to find out … ” Then your voice is what’s missing from your copy.
Take five minutes to evaluate your business voice and use that voice in all of your website copy. You’ll find that clients will be more responsive to you and also more interested in what you want to say and sell to them (which are the first steps in a sleaze-less sale).
2) Update Your Photos
Pictures are prime real estate on your website! Visuals are the first thing that moves the brain of your clients. If your pictures haven’t been updated this is a subtle way that you’re telling your clients your business isn’t too active. After all, 78% of people validate a business based on their website. If they’re repeatedly seeing the same images with the same content on your site they’re going to think your business is stale, so why would you be able to help them?
Now, because of how Google treats new images, I wouldn’t suggest updating the images of your blog content or pages. What I do suggest is adding a client testimonial with their photo or a before & after or a new image along with a new blog post. All of those show that you haven’t gone the way of the dinosaur. So, if you have photos you haven’t used or testimonials without pictures, that’s a great place to start updating your visuals.
3) Turn Off The Rotating Pictures Anywhere on Your Site
A homepage carousel is a virtual equivalent of that classic “squirrel” meme. Using the hero image of your site as a carousel puts your audience’s brain in unfocused mode.
By the time someone reads what’s on the first image, the image has moved on to the next. *If* they want to go back how do they even do that? The end result will usually be frustration, a huff and puff, an eye roll, and a click out of the site or–if you’re lucky–onto another page going on a treasure hunt to find the three words they did catch on that last image!
Stop the madness! Help them out and increase your site’s retention rate by turning off rotating images within the prime real estate sections of your website.
What I Would Recommend
Schedule three hours this week (not on the same day), and go through all of those things on your website from the list. Remember, only spend 18 minutes on each thing. Set your timer and fix away.
If you are a time-starved business owner and prefer to have me do a website audit for you, request a website audit and I’ll help you understand what’s working on your website and what needs improvement.
