It’s Time for a Spring Clean: 5 Ways to Declutter your Digital Space
Posted on 11th March 2022
Spring is fast approaching (thank god, we chime!) and it’s traditionally the time of year to get the feather dusters out and spring clean. There’s nothing more satisfying than dusting away the cobwebs of winter and refreshing your environment.
But your home isn’t the only thing that could do with a spring clean and declutter; your digital space could do with a clean-up, too. In particular, your website. No doubt your website looked great six months ago but, and be honest with yourself, is your content still hitting the mark? Does the design need updating and freshening up? Have you really done all you can to get yourself to the top of the search engine tree? Most importantly, does your website still drive traffic to your door?
We’ve put together a website decluttering checklist to help you give your website the spring clean it deserves.
1. Refresh your images – sometimes you don’t need to go the whole caboodle and get a professional web design to refresh your site. Changing, updating and re-arranging the images is easy and can give your site a completely new look. As we all know, an image can say so much more than words and they are far more effective. If you have an ecommerce site, look at your least popular product pages. A simple change or rearrange of the product images can transform that product’s popularity. Think about the time of year and consider adding a spring or summer image instead of a winter or autumn one. Google Analytics is a good place to see which pages are visited the most and have a little swap around.
2. Update your services/products/prices/packages – not everyone changes their services, products, prices or packages from one year to the next but if you have, change them on your website, too. This is particularly relevant for ecommerce websites as the spring retail season gets underway. For example, you might still be selling casual jumpers but are they the same price as last year? Have you updated your delivery costs? Does your membership package have added benefits or features? Go through your website’s details and see if there is anything that is now out of date or not relevant anymore. This includes your About Us page, too; if you’ve mentioned how long you’ve been in business, you need to add a year! If you have an FAQs page, are the most asked questions and their answers listed?
3. Got any new reviews? If you are using a reviews platform, have you updated the old ones on your website and added new ones? We’re guessing you haven’t! Of course it’s been on your to-do list; it just hasn’t been a priority. It’s time to make it a priority. Did you know that testimonials and online reviews influence purchase decisions for 90% of consumers? If you haven’t moved this task up your priority list yet, here’s another statistic to persuade you – 85% of consumers think that online reviews older than three months are irrelevant. Time to refresh your online/website reviews.
4. Content is king! It’s a much-used phrase but it is still very true; the better and more relevant your content, the more likely your website will attract and keep visitors and customers. Content marketing is a mantra for many businesses these days and for good reason. Read through your website from the eyes of your customer – does it make you go wow and want to explore the website further? We bet some of it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the ‘wood for the trees’ so ask someone else to read it through for you. Google and other search engines rank new and most recent content first so it’s always a good idea to review your website content every few months. Another key content area is your blogs. Not everyone has time to write a new blog every week but updating and refreshing an old blog is the next best thing. Check which blogs are the most visited/read and give them a new lease of life by updating the content, change the images, add and/or update any stats with the latest figures and re-jig the format – you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes!
5. SEO – although this is last on this checklist, it really should be at the top. SEO, or search engine optimisation, is absolutely key in boosting your business to the top of search engine results page (SERPs). This is particularly relevant for local searches, i.e. ‘near me’ search criteria. Firstly, check that your current keywords are still relevant for your target audience – we’re guessing that you’ll find some have changed and that means you need to update all your metadata (tags and descriptions) as well as your online content – this includes directory listings and social media platforms – with the new, updated keywords. Secondly, make sure the latest keywords are throughout your online content and online presence.
The Konmari method to website decluttering
Before we go, we’d just like to tell you a little about the Konmari method of decluttering your website. Marie Kondo is well-known for her life-changing approach to tidying up and she’s now applied her method to decluttering websites. So, before you tackle the checklist above, take a look through the Konmari method to help you:
Commit to tidying up your website layout and copy – set time aside to focus on reviewing your website.
Imagine your ideal business, customer and user experience – define your target audience and ask if your products/services offer what they’re looking for.
Do a website audit and discard everything you no longer want to keep – look at the bigger picture and then deep dive into every item individually. You’ve got just 5 seconds to make that vital first impression!
Ask yourself, does it spark joy? Does it make you, or more aptly your target audience, go wow and smile? Does your home page clarify what you/your products or services can do for your target audience? Do your website pages have a purpose? There’s no time for industry jargon, vague descriptions, repetitions, blocks of text or clichés.
Alternatively, you could just contact us and let us do the work for you. It’seeze Birmingham is a website design company that provides professional ecommerce website packages that suit your business and your budget. Affordable web design and ongoing expert support in Birmingham has never been more within your reach than now. We can analyse your current website and advise on the areas where improvements can be made or build a website that works for you and your business. Call us today at 0121 270 8478 to create the website of your dreams and turn your business into a success. Contact us for more details.
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