It's time to revisit your website and make a few updates. Here are some key things to look out for to make sure you're providing the best customer experience and that everything is running smoothly.
So you have a website that showcases your products or services, at least to whoever should stumble across it. Job done, you might think, as you’re busy running all the other parts of your business.
The team at Coellaborations recently reviewed a Shopify website that had been up and running for a little over a year. Here’s a quick recap of some of the things that we looked at and why it’s so important to do a regular health check on your website.
Review your website at least annually to make sure everything is up-to-date and running smoothly.
#1 WALK IN YOUR CUSTOMER'S SHOES
At Coellaborations, creating a fabulous customer experience is at the heart of what we do. After all, your customers are your greatest asset and deserve to be well looked after. Finding ways to reduce friction as customers navigate around your website is a great place to start. For example, can you better signpost your key products or services and reduce the number of clicks making it easier for customers to purchase? Introducing new ways to keep your customers coming back for more, such as fresh content or a loyalty program, will also help to increase your bottom line.
#2 TALK THE TALK
As a small business, you have an amazing opportunity to learn directly from your existing customers and apply what you have found to help you grow. What language do your customers use to describe what you do? What resonates with your customers and get’s them excited? Small tweaks to update your language and keywords based on feedback from current customers can also go a long way in improving your rankings on Google so your ideal customers can find you.
#3 REVIEW YOUR APPS OR PLUGINS
Many website builders have a multitude of apps or plugins that will enable your website to do almost anything you want it to. It’s very easy to get carried away and keep piling them on. As a general best practice, we recommend that you review these regularly and uninstall any apps that are no longer in use or are not meeting your needs. The more apps you have in place, the greater the risk of incompatibility. Not to mention each app installed will slow down your website’s speed to varying degrees. It’s also a good idea to check if there are any updates that need to be installed to make sure things are working as they should do and minimize potential security risks.
#4 CHECK OUT ANY NEW FEATURES
Any good website builder will be constantly updating the features and functionality available. Not to mention new apps and plugins are being released daily. Perhaps when you build your website originally there wasn’t a good way to incorporate an online calendar so people can see when you’re available for bookings, or you had to make compromises when it came to capturing customer reviews. Don’t be afraid to try out new tools to see if they might be a good fit for your website.
#5 UPDATE YOUR SEO
In reality, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a moving target. Google are continually changing their algorithms and remain opaque about how exactly they rank websites. That’s why it’s important to keep up to date and follow current best practices. If that sounds like too much hard work, you might benefit from expert help. We recommend refreshing your SEO every 6-12 months.
Taking the time to review your website and make incremental changes can go a long way in improving your customer experience and increasing sales. In addition to your day-to-day content or product updates, we recommend you take a deep dive once a year to make sure your website is in the best shape possible.
If this is something you need help with, simply contact the Coellaborations team for more info.