In our previous two articles (Part 1) (Part 2), we talked about things that you can do to redesign the look, layout and functionality of your website. If a redesign for your site isn’t something you feel you want to tackle in the short term, but you still want to freshen up your site with smaller tasks you might be able to tackle yourself, here are some additional ideas we think would be good to consider.
Website Redesign Alternatives
Update your SEO
Perhaps it’s time to create or update your keywords for your website content. If your site is built on WordPress, take advantage of plugins like Rank Math or SEOPress and allow them to help build up your business schema and personalize what shows up in your organic search results. Other platforms have different solutions, so do some research and find one that works well for you.
Generate more website traffic
Get more eyes on your site. Promote your website on your social media accounts. Make displays with your website address on them for your brick-and-mortar store’s checkout counter, bulletin boards, and windows. Add your URL to your business card or other print media, and even consider adding a QR code for a contact-free experience for your in-person visitors. There are a lot of ways that you can get your website in front of more people, so sit down and brainstorm all of the ways that you can do it!
Replace stock photography
Changing up the pictures on your website to give your audience new things to look at. You don’t have to necessarily redesign the spaces that the images appear, but you can update the content of those spaces to contain “fresh” images. For example, you might have photos of your staff appear in your new uniforms, or get some photos of your building with a new coat of paint. New imagery shows your audience you are taking the time to keep your website updated with current information.
Improve your content
Sometimes the content on your site might say exactly what you want it to. However, you may want to take a little time to consider if you are speaking to the correct audience. Even if that introductory paragraph of text on your home page is still as valid now as it was when you first posted it, you may be able to hone it a little to speak more clearly to your ideal visitor. For example, could the tone and voice of the content be more casual or more professional? Could it be reworded to target a younger or older audience, or an audience with a specific lifestyle or beliefs? Changing wording and tone can help you gain new users, engage the right users, or even change the entire impression that your visitors have of your site and your business.
Upgrade to HTTPS
Ever load up a webpage and get a giant warning message saying “Do you really want to continue to this site?” Yeah, that’s scary. Seeing that message can (and probably should) scare people away from visiting your site. Unfortunately as a site owner and business owner, that message can result in lost traffic and revenue. The fix is to get an SSL certificate for your domain. An SSL certificate (https) encrypts communication between your site and your visitor’s browser so that it is harder for a nefarious third party to steal data as it passes through the internet. If you have a properly set up SSL certificate, your visitors will never see the scary “site is not secure” warning message when they visit your site. They will also see the confidence-instilling locked lock in their address bar. An SSL Certificate shows that you’re making effort to keep your site’s traffic secure. Fortunately, free SSL certificates are readily available these days. You may want to check with your web host and see if they have an easy way to enable a free SSL certificate for your domain. If they don’t, check out some other options, like https://letsencrypt.org/.
In Conclusion…
These are just a few things that you can do to improve your website that don’t involve a complete redesign. There are other small tasks that might be a good idea that are perhaps pretty specific to your site.
A Website Redesign Is Not Always Necessary
Sometimes small or incremental changes are the ones that will have the biggest impact on the health of your web presence, so take a careful look at your site and identify which will be the best blast for your effort. And if you’re not sure, just get help! We’d love to discuss these ideas and other ways that Roost Web Strategies can help you improve your site. We’re happy to help you bounce around ideas! Reach out to us, and as always, our first consultation is free.
