• 11 January 2021
• Jelani Markus

Six Ways to Refresh Your Website for 2021

A new year brings with it a feeling of a fresh start. How you start your 2021 can make all the difference when it comes to the momentum you create for the rest of the year. For a small business owner with a significant portion of your presence online, now is an excellent time to dive deep into your website and take note of what’s working, what’s not working, and what simply needs a new coat of paint. The following six strategies can help you make sure your website looks and functions at its best for 2021.

Do a basic diagnostic check
Websites can be tricky. Without routine maintenance, links and plugins can begin to behave differently than originally intended. Look into the following to keep your site functioning at its best:

• Bad quality and/or missing images

  

• Any user info that is outdated or incorrect
• Plugins that need to be updated
• Themes that require a redesign or an update
• Formatting issues
• Any missing content

Gather feedback from your audience
Your website represents you and your business. To get the most accurate feedback about how your site is truly consumed, you need to reach out to your consumers. Ask your audience what they like and don’t like about the site directly. You may be surprised at their willingness to engage and share their thoughts with you. There are plenty of ways to uncover and organize information such as threads, email campaigns and surveys. Use what works best for you and commit to making the changes your audience will appreciate.

Research the competition
The importance of researching your small business competitors is often addressed. When you want to learn about what is working, looking over the fence at your neighbor could be exactly the solution you need. This remains true for website functionality. Take the time to look over the sites of your contemporaries and note what stands out to you, what you’re doing better, and what strategies you can borrow.

Analyze your analytics
Looking outward isn’t the only solution. To paint a complete picture of what needs to be updated on your site, you want to research what you’re already doing. Sift through your analytic data for the following information:

• Which pages create the highest bounce rate (when a visitor leaves your site)
• Pages that are the most popular
• What pages seem to create the highest level of engagement

Spruce up your SEO
New customers mean more business. And when it comes to your website, one of the best ways for new customers to discover you is through your keywords. Choosing the right keywords through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will help your ranking in searches and land you more visitors. To make sure you have a significant amount of highly searchable words, you will need to do a little homework. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and Wordtracker are just two of the options you can use to help you boost your search results.

Bring more content to the table
Customers who visit a website are not likely to stay very long if they aren’t engaged. When thinking of ways to revitalize your website for this year, keep in mind the fact that many of your customers know what to expect and may have even become jaded with your content. Don’t be afraid to add new content such as:

• Videos to easily describe your products and services
• Create a blog
• Take the time to rewrite sections of your site (factoring SEO and surveys)

It’s best to avoid relying exclusively on regular changes to your website when an additional annual refresh can make all the difference. Using the online strategies listed above, you can continue into 2021 prepared for success.