We all have our favourite websites but are they effective?
When planning or reviewing your firm’s website, consider these 5 basic but essential top tips…
1 Are your contact details easy to find? Is your phone number on every page? Is your contact page clear and helpful?
2 Is your website mobile-friendly? From a user perspective, viewing a clunky old-fashioned website on a mobile phone is very difficult and Google now penalises you for it by down-ranking non-mobile friendly sites.
3 Is your site well laid out and easy to navigate? Is there a clear, consistent route through your site? Ask people from outside the firm for their feedback.
4 Does your website offer added value? It’s all very well having an attractive ‘shop window’ website as an alternative to your company brochure. However, if you can provide useful information, of any ilk, your website will provide reasons for people to return to it. Such attention magnets include useful tools, blogs, downloads, diary dates, reference charts and so on.
5 Does your website change? A good website will have refreshed content, images and information. You don’t need to change every part of it every week but I’d say you do need to update it and renew words and pictures every month at the very least. Look out for out of date information too – nothing is worse than promoting something that has been and gone!