1: Is your website secure?

Website security should be a top priority for all businesses.

It was previously thought if your website didn’t collect sensitive data, like credit cards numbers, date of births, etc., you wouldn’t need an SSL certificate. However, with updates to browsers over the years, it’s now very important to ensure you always have an SSL certificate for your website and it is loaded via HTTPS. This will make your website more trustworthy to search engines and visitors and stop your website getting flagged.

You can check if your website has an SSL certificate using simple tools like DigiCert which can identify if a website is compliant.

Don’t overlook the security of your website. If your website is hacked and client information is compromised, this will lead to a lack of trust that will harm your businesses reputation and could lead to fines under GDPR.

If it’s time to revisit the framework and platform contact me today here 

Is your website visually appealing?

Your website is your online shop, and as such your homepage is your shopfront and your pages are your aisles. For some companies, a website is the only interaction their customers will have with them and for others, it can be the first impression of their brand.

This means it’s extremely important to keep the website looking current and appealing. Like clothing changes styles rapidly, what was trendy for websites a couple of years ago could be out of date today.

There are constant improvements to functionality for websites and theme styles with significant changes roughly every 2 – 3 years. If you’re visiting others websites and feel yours doesn’t compare in style, it’s time to update.

Is your website mobile friendly?

You’ll most likely have noticed from your website’s analytics, more and more people are accessing your website via smartphones. If you think about the way you access websites, you’ll also probably find you’re spending more and more time researching via mobile.

The impact for you is that you need to make sure your website is optimised for mobile. If not, you risk causing your visitors frustration and potentially losing them to a competitor with a better, easier to view the website.

We expect websites to be fast loading and easy to navigate no matter what platform it’s on, if yours isn’t, it’s time to upgrade.

Is your SEO working to its full potential?

If you’ve not been updating your website for quite some time, it’s likely you’ll have noticed you’re starting to become less visible on search engines.

With continuous advancements in SEO on search engines, it’s very important to make sure you are aware of the correct keywords to be used, how to use them within your content and make use of not only keywords but searched phrases too.

Also if you haven’t started, begin using a blog, this is a fantastic way to keep adding new content to your website as well as incorporating keywords.

If you’re struggling to understand how to improve your SEO, send me a message (link to contact page) and let’s get your website ranking highly on search engines.

Does your website take too long to load?

You’ll know the frustration of going on to a website which takes a while to load, did you know that anything over 5 seconds is considered a long time?

If your website is slow to load it could be due to a number of different reasons including images with large file size, and out of date theme, etc. Sometimes it can be a very quick fix, like reduce the image file size, this will automatically enhance your user’s experience.

You can use free tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to analyse ways to improve your websites speed.

Is your website difficult to navigate?

It’s very important to make sure your user has the best experience they can on your website and this is partially affected by how easy they are able to find what they’ve been looking for when visiting your site.

You can take a look at your analytics to see which pages have a high bounce rate. It could be they’re coming straight through to your homepage or contact page and getting the details they require then leaving. Though it could be they simply can’t find what they’re looking for and leaving. Make sure your website has a clear call to actions to guide your visitors on your website.

Go through your website and try imagining different items your users would commonly visit your website to find. For instance, are you contact details easy to find or do you have a search bar if you run an e-commerce website? By doing this action you’ll be able to easily assess if there are any improvements you could make.

Does it contain dead links?

Otherwise known as broken links, dead links can be detrimental to your website user’s experience.

They appear on your website as normal links, but unfortunately, as the name may suggest, they send visitors to a 404 error page which isn’t where they intended. This can then result in the visitor leaving your site completely.

Don’t panic, you don’t have to go through and manually check every link on your website yourself, use Online Broken Link Checker which will be able to show you if there are dead links on your website and where they’re located. Then simply go on to your website’s admin and either correct the URL and remove the link entirely. This will greatly improve your visitor’s journey and help you with losing potential sales.

It’s now time to go put these tips into action and determine if it’s time to upgrade. If you have any questions contact me here and I’ll get your site optimised.

Do you dream of starting your own business but aren't sure where to start when it comes to finding an idea? Don't worry, we've got your back. Here's a simple guide to help you think of that perfect business idea.

Look at What Bothers You

Think about everyday problems you face. Maybe you've thought, "I wish there was something that could help with this!" That could be your business idea!

Improve Existing Products or Services

You don't always need a brand-new idea. Sometimes, just making something better can be a great business. Have you ever thought, "I like this, but I wish it could do this other thing too"? There you go!

Turn Your Hobby into a Business

Do you love doing something in your spare time? Maybe others would pay for it or products related to it. From baking to crafting, hobbies can be great business opportunities.

Think About What People Need

Pay attention to what people around you complain about or wish for. If many people have the same need, you might be onto a winning idea.

Do Some Research

Look at the market and see what's missing. Use the internet to help. Maybe there's a product that's popular in another country but isn't available here. That could be a gap you can fill.