Spring Cleaning—Your Website

It’s the time of year when everyone opens their blinds, cleans out their closets, and dusts their homes from top to bottom. But have you ever thought to take the spring cleaning to your brand? Just as your home looks refreshed after a good tidying⁠—your brand is likely also due for a facelift. Not everyone needs (or has the time and budget for) a major rebrand. Sometimes all your website, logo, or marketing materials really need is a little of that KonMari love.

Ready to dust off that homepage? We’ve gathered some tips to get you started! 

Behind the scenes boosts.

Some of the most important improvements you can make to your website are on the back end. Updating your SEO for each page, updating plugins, and ensuring your website is up on the latest ADA compliance can make a huge difference in how your site performs. It can also help you reach your audience more effectively. While a Jennergy Web Audit will clearly outline everything your site needs, we have some tips for things you can do now.

• Check out our post on simple ways to improve your site for 10 easy things you can do for your website. 
• If you know you need to work on SEO, we’ve put together a list of everything you need to get your site ranking high.
• Accessibility is important, not only to ensure your website is properly viewable to everyone, but it helps with search engine rankings as well. While our Web Audit provides a detailed report of everything needing to be done, there are some easy things you can do to get started:
  • All images should include alt text. Alt text is short for alternate text. It’s an attribute added to an image tag in HTML. This helps visitors who can’t see the image and search engine bots to understand what an image is about. Here’s how to do it in WordPress.
  • Make sure you have enough contrast between your text and background colors. We use Coolors Color Contrast Checker when evaluating and designing websites. 
• Keep your site up-to-date. It’s not only important for making sure your website stays secure but will keep it running smoothly as well. Themes and plugins should be updated regularly⁠—making sure to check plugins are compatible (otherwise you might need to find an alternative plugin). 

Content is king. 

Now that the back end of your website is all buttoned up and running smoothly, it’s on to the fun stuff: fresh content. Websites should be updated regularly to connect with your audience, improve your SEO, and speak to your business. Many businesses have pivoted greatly in the last year and communicating updated offerings, hours, or just comforting clients you’re still here to help are all helpful things to update. If you think your content needs a good overhaul, we would love to help with content strategy. If you’re ready to spruce up your content and dust off your social media, here are some quick ways to improve:

• Your homepage is often the first point of connection, so you want to make a good impression. There are a lot of ways to improve or just refresh your homepage but we recommend prioritizing these things:
  • Make sure the most important information is first and foremost. If people have to dig too much to find what they’re looking for, they will just move on. This can be done with quick links to top pages (check your Google Analytics), a brief service update, or a bold call to action. 
  • Refreshing some homepage images is a great way to quickly give your website a new look— of course, don’t forget that alt text! 
  • If you’re active on Instagram, consider adding an Instagram feed to your homepage. Not only will it provide for automatic fresh content on your website every time you post, but will connect users back to your social media organically. 
• Add more information! This may seem obvious, but it’s often something that gets pushed aside. Perhaps you have a service page needing a boost to showcase its value, or maybe your product pages could benefit from a more robust description. Think back on some of the frequently asked questions you receive and see how you can incorporate those answers onto your website. 
• If you are struggling with how to add more information or how to reorganize your homepage it can be helpful to create a user journey. Put yourself in the shoes of your user⁠—where do you want them to go? Where do they want to go? Do these align? Map out each step they need to take and then craft your content around that journey. We’re happy to help map the user journey out for you, it always answers many of the questions you have about where users need to go! 
• A blog can be a great way to connect with your audience and keep content on your website fresh. If you haven’t posted in a while, perhaps have a brainstorming meeting to generate some post ideas. If you don’t have a blog, we’ve outlined everything you need to start one—it’s never too late to get one started. 

It’s always a good idea to give your website a cleanup and whether you get to everything we recommended here or just some, the payoff will be there. Happy Spring Cleaning!