Here are 5 things to check as part of your website spring cleaning. All are fairly simple fixes. In no particular order:
Site Speed
One of the biggest barriers to good user experience is a slow loading site. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to wait more than a few seconds for a page to load. Slow load time means a high bounce rate, less conversions and visitors who aren’t likely to return. Take a good look around your site to see if pages load at a speed that’s conducive to good user experience. There are plenty of tools you can use including Googles PageSpeed Insights.
Broken Links
Broken links are another major barrier to good user experience. If your site has lots of 404 errors visitors will soon get tired of clicking on links that don’t work and will look elsewhere. Again, there are lots of tools you can use to locate 404’s. Webmaster Tools is a good place to start. Use redirects of create new pages to solve the problem once the errors are located. A custom 404 page, like this, will help keep visitors on your site despite hitting a bad link.
Social
The buzz arond the importance of social metrics has been going on for a long time now. The fact is you cant do any harm by signing up to the leading social networks and adding buttons to your site. Most settle for Facebook, Twitter and Google +. Pinterest is also useful if you use lots of images of products.
Content
There no better use of your time than that spent reading through your main pages. Check the content and ensure its relevant, up to date and error-free. If you haven’t updated your content for a few months the chances are you’ll find some areas that can be improved. Moreover Google favours sites with fresh content, so not only will new content improve user experience but could also help search engine performance.
Duplicate Content
While you’re checking the quality of your content its worth checking the originality of it. Duplicate content will do your site no favours so its important to find pages with the same content and adapt them. If you copied content from another site then you need to create your own, original copy. Other sites may have copied your content. Look for duplicate pages using this free tool.
Time spent tidying up your site is well worth it. These are just 5 simple things that you can look at, taken from a list of hundreds. You may also wish to consider the design of your site. Users favour sites that appear up-to-date and good looking. Design is a major factor when it comes to conversion.
If you are concerned about the quality of your site and wish to get more out of the internet Miromedia can help. We have over 10 years experience in getting websites to generate business. Get in touch to find out more.
