When the ball drops and the new year starts, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in your brand new business and life goals that everything else can easily fall by the wayside.
Unless you are in the middle of a rebrand or website refresh, our websites often are forgotten about. (I too am guilty of this crime!) Before things really get crazy, take some time to make sure that your website is in tip-top shape so you can reach those goals big you’ve planned for 2018.
To get you started, I’ve put together 5 easy ways you can review and update your website. And the best part is, you can do most of them in 15 minutes or less.
1. Copyright (time needed: 5 minutes or less)
Now that it is 2018, you want to make sure the copyright date in your footer matches this year. This will help protect the content you spend so much time on.
If you are comfortable adding a bit of code to your website, you can create a dynamic timestamp so your copyright date will update automatically.
2. Google Analytics (time needed: 15 minutes or more)
You will want to take your time reviewing your Google Analytics from 2017. You can find out who visited your site, what content was the most popular, and where the traffic came from. If this is new to you, don’t miss my guide to understanding Google Analytics reports.
The guide covers:
- Audience – Who is visiting your website
- Acquisition – How visitors are arriving at your website
- Behavior – Where your visitors are spending time on your website
If you don’t have Google Analytics installed, here is my quickstart tutorial.
3. Content Review (time needed: varies, depending on size of website)
Now that you have seen what content gets the most traffic, where your clients are spending their time, and how they get to your website, you can move on to review your content from the past year. This process may take the most time, but it can give you a big picture idea of what you’re presenting to your clients and potential clients to better shape your business goals for 2018.
Set some time aside today (or schedule it on your calendar as soon as you can) to read through all of your website content with the exception of blog posts. If you prefer reading on paper, then print out out the content of your site and mark changes on paper.
As you review your content, keep an eye out for:
- Time-sensitive information
- Remove old information or events that happened in the past
- References to your holiday schedule
- Add future dates (Be sure to put a reminder on your calendar to update the information once the date has passed)
- Is the information on your about page accurate?
- Have you recently moved?
- Made a business shift?
- Received recognition for your work?
- Are your services and prices correct?
- Do you need to update your contact information?
- Typos and grammatical mistakes
- Does any of your imagery need to be updated?
Make any changes necessary to reflect your 2018 business plans to ensure that you start your year with a good foundation.
4. Form Testing (time needed: about 15 minutes)
If someone takes the time to email you via your contact form or subscribe to your newsletter via your opt-in form, you want to make sure those forms are working!
- Test all of the forms on your site
- Fill in everything and make sure they function correctly
- Submit the form and make sure it arrives where it should
- For opt-in forms, make sure you receive the right email sequence
There’s nothing worse than not receiving an email or order from a prospective customer, so make sure all of your forms are in working order.
5. Fixing Broken Links (time needed: about 15 minutes)
It’s such a bummer when you click on a link only to find it doesn’t work. It’s not a surprise, but prospective clients and Google don’t like broken links either.
- To find broken links, use a tool like Broken Link Checker or WordPress plugin
- If any links are broken, take the time to fix or remove the links
- Review the internal links on your site and make sure they are directing visitors to the correct page on your site
Updating your website and using any insight you gained from reviewing your 2017 website can help you shape your 2018 goals and improve your future content so you can have your best year yet!
I hope that the 5 updates I’ve outlined above give you a headstart on all of the exciting 2018 plans you have laid out for yourself and your business!