3 Easy Ways To Polish Your Website
When was the last time you took a good look at your website? What about checking your links?
In my Entrepreneurship program, they would often use the phrase “no one thinks their baby is ugly”. Meaning, you won’t see that your great idea may actually be problematic, overdone, or simply not good. Back then, we were pushed to be innovative and our ideas needed to be on another level - we could’t just open a fast-food place with a different recipe. The same applies to your business and how you market it.
As the creative mind and soul behind your business, you have to keep an open mind and be willing to look at your work with a critical eye. Sometimes that means redoing everything you thought was working. Other times you just need to make some tweaks to maximize your results. Even if you don’t have a masterfully built webpage, you should at least put extra care into the details, showing that you’re trying. So without further ado, here are the 3 easiest ways to tidy up your website:
GRAMMAR + SPELLING
This is one of the most noticeable and simplest things to adjust on your website. Correct spelling and properly showcasing your writing skills will exude professionalism and impress your audience.
Try this: Copy and paste each section into a program that checks it for you like Grammarly. Even if you don’t agree with all of its suggestions, it’s a fantastic and quick way to check if your message is free of avoidable errors.
I do this with all of my client’s social media posts and I’ll admit, there have been times when I thought everything was perfect and was SO thankful I plugged it into Grammarly anyway.
Be sure to do this on each page of your website to ensure you don’t miss anything! It also doesn’t hurt to have someone you trust to take a look. Although they may be biased, remember that they have your best interest at heart.
2. IMAGES: SIZE, SPACING, AND RESOLUTION
Another killer! I wish I could tell potential clients that they need someone to tweak their website, on top of everything else they have going on. When I see little things that aren’t done, it hurts my soul because these small mistakes can be LOUD and are easily fixable.
For example, I’ll know how deep your web design goes within the first 10 seconds. I’m looking for:
A web browser thumbnail image
Your logo is legible and clearly visible, without being blurry or pixelated
Whether or not your other images are properly placed and sized.
Consistency will provide tone and direction to your brand/website/timeline, so having a few super crisp, well-lit photos will only make the poor-quality shots look more of an eye-sore. Knowing what size your images should be is only part of the formula. If you’re unsure where to start, find a VA who can get your website up to par.
3. REMOVE OUTDATED CONTENT
Please take time to do this AT LEAST once every quarter! Too often do we evolve as business owners but our websites still reflect our older views, work, and style.
Not only do you want to ensure that old/irrelevant content gets removed, but you’ll also want to be looking at what no longer works. Take a look at your analytics and find out where you're strengths and weaknesses are. If you’re finding that your audience doesn’t spend enough time on your “Past Work” page, it could be because that content no longer matches the new work you’ve released on your social platforms. This could lead viewers to assume that you don’t keep your website updated, which could drive people away.
It’s so important to keep our websites up to date with our best/newest content that we have to show off what we’re up to. While this can be timely, start with a mental plan of where you’d like to make changes and then execute when you have an extra 30 minutes.
If you are going to keep old content on your pages, find a way to relate it to how much you’ve grown since then!
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BONUS TIP: As mentioned in the beginning, checking your links can be an easily missed mistake that we all make. Sometimes we change the flow of our website without checking the buttons to make sure they're going to the right place. Other times, you may add pages to your site without giving your viewers a way to get there!
I recommend taking a few minutes to pretend that you’re a potential client who just found the site.
What are your first impressions?
What draws you to click on a link/button/image?
Was it easy or difficult to access/click on?
Did the correct page load up?
How many clicks did it take for you to get the information you were looking for? Start there.