It might still be feeling pretty cold outside, but Spring has finally arrived, birds are singing, plants are growing and it’s likely that people are starting to plan their Spring cleaning. However Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be reserved for clearing out your wardrobes and tidying homes, in fact now is the perfect time to take a look at your website and clean that up too!
While you should be maintaining your website throughout the year, it’s always a good idea to do a full clear out or a total overhaul at least once a year, keeping your website up to date, relevant and useful.
If you’re looking to clean up the clutter and keep your website updated, then here’s 5 important tips you need when it comes to Spring cleaning your website.
Update Your Design
One of the most obvious ways to clean out and update your site is to update the design. Every year web design evolved, new trends emerge and people’s opinions on what works well changes, which is why it’s so important that your website’s design is kept modern and keeps up with these changes. By looking at your homepage and working out what still looks great and what could be looking tired, you can start to gain more of an idea about where to take your design and can decide how beneficial a redesign may be for you. Even the smallest tweaks to your design could be the update your website needs.
Remove Outdated Links
If you’re still including outdated or irrelevant links on your website, then it’s time to remove them, the last thing you want to do is send your visitors to a dead end. By working through your website and through your outgoing and inbound links, you can figure out if you’re offering your visitors the best value and sending them to the correct pages. You want your visitors to view your website and your business as professional and trustworthy, which is why you shouldn’t be sending your audience to irrelevant or broken pages.
Update Your Call To Actions
Your call to actions are the copy, graphics or buttons that you include on your website in order to encourage your audience to carry out an action and are one of the most important elements on any website. If you want to make sure that you are guiding your audience in the best direction, then you need to make sure your call to actions are all up to date and are still relevant to the message of your company. There’s no point encouraging your audience to sign up to old mailing lists or to download outdated content, don’t forget to update your call to actions!
Clean Up Your Copy
The same as it’s important to keep your design updated, it’s also always a good idea to update your copy from time to time, keeping your company information and important details current, allowing you to remove any dated or unnecessary information. If your audience are viewing your website often and see that nothing has changed it doesn’t look good and can make your website look old, out of touch and unprofessional. By updating your copy you can also make sure it’s all properly optimised, with no grammar mistakes and that all your details are correct.
Test Your Website
Testing your website is a big deal and it’s always important that you know what does and doesn’t work when it comes to your website. If you’re making changes to your website then you need to make sure these changes work, helping you become aware of any issues that have or could arise. By testing for broken links, browser testing your website and making sure your website works well on mobile and tablet devices, as well as desktop devices you can gain an insight into how your website is performing and allowing you to discover any potential problems that might be about to crop up.
Spring gives your business the perfect opportunity to update and freshen up your website, letting you take some time to optimise your site ready for the upcoming summer months and even in preparation for the winter and Christmas build up. By following these above tips you can give your website a fresh look and can help you improve the image of both your website and your business!
