Outsource2Us is your web development partner in Brisbane when you want to refresh your website.
A website can boost or break your company’s success, and a well-made website opens businesses to a world of opportunities. Part of our job at Outsource2Us is to create those opportunities through marketing strategies so you can watch your business grow.
Want to start the new year off right for your business? Here are ten things to consider when refreshing your website:
1. What Is the Purpose of Your Website?
Before analysing how your website is serving your company, revisit the initial purpose of the website to make sure that it is still aligning with your overall business offerings. Was your website created to promote your brand or to sell a product or service? Do you have new services offerings or products to add? A stable and strong purpose gives your company clarity and drive.
2. What Are Your Competitors Doing?
Keeping an eye on what your competition is doing allows you to ensure you maintain market share. Innovation is still essential, but you can ensure that your competitors don’t get ahead of you or offer something you don’t offer (but easily could). By doing this, you can keep up with industry trends and customer demands. This is a crucial learning process to be a leading and active company in the industry.
3. What Platform Are You Using?
A platform is what you build your website on. This can be confusing at first as there are multiple options; Wix and Squarespace is a basic solution for people wanting to create their own website, as they are built using templates. However, platforms such as WordPress, Shopify and Magento allow for more customisable and unique websites, as well as more functionality. Talking to an experienced Brisbane based web developer, like Outsource2Us can help you decide on which platform best suits your business.
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4. Where Would the Website Be Hosted?
Different from website platform, website hosting refers to the location of your website. Understanding your website host decides if you host it yourself or pay for packages with services that host the website for you. At Outsource2Us we use dedicated servers to provide a fast and seamless hosting service with expert support.
5. What Do Your Customers Google When Searching for Your Products or Services?
Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Keywords are the focus of a great marketing plan; these are search terms that users search when looking for your product or service. When you think of your company, what comes to your mind? Keywords shape your brand and direct users to what your brand is known for. The more accurate your keywords are and the more they define your brand identity, the more traffic your website will have. Our team of SEO experts at Outsource2Us know just what you need to boost your website traffic.
6. What are the Key Functions for Your Website?
Your website functions should reflect your website purpose. These functions are actions that lead users out of the website and into your business. For example, a clinic’s website function will be a “Book an Appointment” form, or a childcare centre will be a ‘Book a Tour’ forms and ‘Enrolment’ forms. Ensuring that there are ample opportunities for customers to engage in key functions increase your likelihood of converting them into future customers or clients.
7. Is Someone Managing Your Website?
Not all companies can afford a designated website manager. Depending on your company structure, you may or may not need one. While having a website manager is beneficial, websites like informational or showcase websites do not require daily management. Which is why using a company, like Outsource2Us will allow you to have a website manager who can ensure the website stays up-to-date and assist with updating content at a time that suits you, without the price tag of a full-time staff member.
8. Maintaining Content Quality
A polished website gives your brand a professional image and reputation. A website should contain a combination of written and visual content. Images, Animation, Videos and Infographics are just a few of the ways you can capture a customer’s attention. Understanding the dimensions, resolutions, format and file types that your website accepts will make this process easier.
9. How Is Your Target Audience Using Your Website?
Not only do you need to understand what your customers search for when looking for your company, you also need to understand how and where they are looking for your business. Understanding what devices your target audience is viewing your website on will ultimately decide how it should be designed. Website layouts show differently on desktops, tablets and mobile devices, so having an optimised layout and navigation for each device shows your professionalism and attention to detail. Knowing which devices they use also lets you promote your website differently.
10. What Is Your Budget?
As a bit of a culmination of the above tips, have you decided that you need to make some changes? How extensive, do you think they are?
Setting a budget for your website refresh is essential to ensure that it doesn’t grow out of hand. Make a list of all of the changes you require, which will help you decide if a refresh is sufficient, or whether it will actually be cheaper to build a brand-new website.
