new years website resolutions

A new year, a new…website? Well, you may not need to go that far, but the truth is this: Your website could be dragging you down. With a new year beginning, maybe it’s time to finally resolve to get your branded website up to date and working hard for you.

“But how much could an outdated website actually hurt?” you ask. Believe it or not, you could be missing traffic, leads, and conversions due to several seemingly insignificant issues. If even the smallest of problems deny you new customers, what are those big problems doing to your brand?

So, here’s a list of resolutions to make for your company’s website.

Finally Get Mobile Friendly

We know; this one should have been on your list years ago. It was still too easy to skate by with your old site, especially since conversion to a truly mobile friendly design costs money. Now, however, Google has drawn the line in the sand. You can’t apply a mobile template and expect to get away with it anymore.

Here’s how Google works: The search engine giant crawls your website to look for new pages to index. In the past, it’s crawled all websites as though they were displayed on desktops and laptops. Now, however, it crawls your website as it would appear on a mobile device. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, then you have to rely on the information the Googlebots find to make sure you end up in search engine results. Not sure what the bots will find on a mobile version of your non-mobile friendly site? Then maybe it’s time to finally invest in responsive design.

Boost Your Brand SEO

Let’s say you have a bad cold, and you’re looking in the drug store for some medicine. In many stores, you’ll find the branded medicine right there alongside the generic offers. What if you couldn’t tell the difference between the two? What if you went searching for something to solve your pain and had no idea which of the results were of higher quality, simply because you couldn’t determine which was the brand name and which was generic?

Now, this can actually happen when people search for your products and services online. Google and other search engines try hard to differentiate between brands and generics, but they need a little help.

So, how do you let search engines know you’re a brand and not generic? Here are a few things the bots will look for.

  • Employees – Introduce your team
  • Social media – Share your social profiles and keep them up to date
  • About Us page – Tell your story and make a connection with buyers
  • Physical address – A PO Box doesn’t cut it with Google
  • Licenses – If you need certifications to do business, let people know you earned them

The old SEO tips also apply: make sure your brand name is part of your website address, use quality internal and external links, and always provide fresh, valuable content to keep your site updated.

Pay Attention to Your Metrics

If you’ve been watching the numbers on your website, such as:

  • Number of visitors
  • Time spent on site
  • Pages viewed
  • Conversions

…then you know what’s working and what isn’t. It’s important to keep improving, and you won’t know whether you’re improving or not if you don’t watch your numbers.

If you’re not getting the traffic you want, explore new SEO tactics, update that website already, and boost your social shares. If people don’t hang around long enough to see what you offer, test the user experience, change your navigation system, update your content, and test to see what works. If you’re not receiving conversions, add more landing pages. All the while, watch those numbers grow.

2017 is upon us! Make these resolutions to get your website in shape so you can experience your best business year ever. If you need help, we’re always here for you.