If you’ve had your website for a while, you may be thinking about making some changes to it. But what site upgrades are worth the investment? Here’s a list of change that will actually make a positive impact on your website.
Install Website Analytics
Before you dive into any changes, you should consult your analytics to make sure you’re making the right decisions. If you don’t have analytics software, it should be your first site upgrade. Without good analytics, you’ll have a hard time gauging what is working on your site and what isn’t. Most web hosts supply a basic program for analytics, but much more robust solutions exist, like Google Analytics. This great, free application can provide a goldmine of information to support ongoing improvements for your website.
Upgrade Your Content
Content is going to be the #1 thing you can do to improve your website dramatically. Look for out of date information that may be giving the wrong message to your visitors. Better yet, hire a copywriter that can write more effective copy – copy that helps to convert potentials to clients.
Install a Blog
Blogs are a great way to help serve your existing clients and capture new potentials at the same time. Both users and search engines love blogs because of their fresh, relevant information. Be sure to install the blog on your domain so you can get all that great search engine traffic to your site. And make sure to have the blog skinned so that it matches the rest of your site, and presents a professional image.
Capture Leads
Most websites deliver information passively–like a brochure. However, developing a system for capturing leads can make your website a powerful sales tool. A great way to do this is to create free useful information that you can deliver as a PDF, webinar, or video. Give this information out for free, in exchange for a small amount of information from your visitor, including their email address so you can follow up.
Improve Your Navigation
When a website is new, it’s well organized and every page has a place in the architecture. But as your site ages, new information gets added and it is usually tacked on with links or graphics, but not included in the main navigation. This makes things start getting messy, and that translates to a site that is harder for users to navigate. Review your site to see how complicated it is for people to find things. Ensure that all important information is easily accessible from every page. Look for ways to simplify your navigation and reduce the number of clicks it takes to get to your pages.
By making these smaller improvements to your website, you should see a marked improvement in leads, potentials, and even sales – without investing in a whole new web site. If you want to make improvements to your website, we’re happy to do a website review and give you recommendations. Just give us a call or contact us to get started.
About the author: Jeune Ortiz is VP of Marketing and Creative Director at future-ink. With more than 20 years of experience in graphic design and marketing, Jeune brings extensive knowledge and creativity to each website and internet marketing solution to grow your business.
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2 Comments
Graphic Forums | May 12, 2010
Very inspirational post! Thank you!
Mauricio Planer | May 13, 2010
Thank you for this blog entry. I’m sure it will help us out. Thanks again!