The digital realm is adapting and improving every day. While this is great for web users, it means that keeping up with website design trends and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) standards means that you will constantly be forced to improve and enhance your existing website. As Paul Cézanne famously said “those who follow are always behind” –
1. Improve accessibility
Although this may seem like a mundane task, the accessibility of your website is an essential principle for encouraging all users to use your website – regardless of any barriers that may prevent them from engaging with other websites. Not only is designing your website to accessibility standards now a legal requirement in some countries, but you will also be rewarded with a higher position in search engine results, which in turn will increase your web traffic.
2. Remove obsolete content
Out of date or irrelevant content makes a website look unprofessional, and any news about your product or business, which is over six months old will most likely be irrelevant to current clients. Although it may be difficult to cull content that was expensive to curate or has been extremely popular in the past, articles that are unrelated to your website or product can be detrimental because an irrelevant audience may be directed towards your content.
3. Start blogging
As soon as you create it you will soon be able to reap the benefits of having a blog on your website; from attracting new audiences to your site and entertaining regular visitors, to boosting your SEO rankings. It’s also a great long-form way of keeping loyal customers up to date with your products, services, and ethos over the weeks and months ahead.
4. Optimise your media assets
Uploading photos and videos to your site will definitely give it a professional feel. However, it may be tempting to upload your company’s latest 4K advert or a large gallery of all the photos of your annual fundraiser – but uploading high file sizes will only result in slow page loading speeds. Moreover, your website will also be penalized by search engines because this quality of content is inappropriate for the majority of websites.
5. Create a narrative for your brand
There is a growing trend for authenticity and storytelling through digital platforms and businesses on a wider scale. What is the story behind your company or product? What do you believe in? It is important that your company has a ‘face’ this means that you have a distinct identity with a human touch. Customers are keen to understand their products on a deeper level and it is your responsibility to guide them on a journey towards understanding what your priorities are.
6. Start from scratch
Sometimes there are too many problems with an existing site and there is no point in trying to update a fundamentally inferior product, a more reasonable and long-lasting solution could be a complete redesign. Although this may seem like a colossal task, you can seek assistance from a web design agency for a professional product that will impress your customers.
From creating a story to optimizing your images: there are many ways to enhance your website with varying degrees of impact. Hopefully, some of our suggestions will prove to be useful for your website and the future success of your business.
