According to a survey 77% of homes do some sort of spring cleaning. Spring cleaning is a great idea for business owners. It can also be used to clean your website, which contains a lot of information. A website “spring clean” every year is a good idea for any business.
Basics
You should start with the most important areas when you are cleaning.
In a VistaPrint poll, as reported in Smart Hustle, respondents ranked up-to date and accurate content on small business website to be the most important. The respondents were concerned about outdated contact and product information, as well as a lack in directions and hours of operation. A poorly designed website also made consumers less likely to purchase.
You can either correct the outdated information on products and contacts as they happen, or add this to your monthly calendar.
You can find out more about the Build A Website Guide on Alice, an online platform that helps you to start and grow a business.
What to Do Now
It can be challenging to keep up with the constantly changing world of search engines algorithms and website technology. Consider making the most important adjustments to your site at least once a year.
What’s important right now?
1. Mobile-friendly websites. Online searches via mobile devices now surpass searches on desktops. Your website must be easily accessible on mobile devices. Most likely, if you’ve created a site in the past few years, it has a responsive design, which adjusts text, graphics, etc. according to the screen size. Google ranks “mobile-friendly” sites higher, not only because they offer a better user experience, but also because Google rewards them for it. You can test if your website is mobile-friendly using Google Mobile Friendly Test by entering your URL. You can find out how to make your website mobile-friendly by using on different platforms.
2. When you do a search on the internet, you may see “Not Secure” appear when you arrive at a website. This will happen if you see “http” in the address instead of “https”. If the site is secure, it will have https or a lock next to the URL. Google announced it would give higher rankings to secure sites. Ask your webmaster for more information or click here to learn how to convert a site to a secure one.
3. Sign up for Google My Business if you own a physical business. GMB is easy to use and free. You can control how your website appears in Google Maps and Search. Its biggest benefit is the increase in your search visibility. Imagine you’re a CPA located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. You might appear on the first page of Google’s search results if you register for GMB.
Amazing, right? You can find step-by-step directions on how to sign up for GMB here .
Looking forward
You will benefit from the changes you make to your website during the spring cleaning process. We hope that your sales and profits will increase!