Get your website ready for 2018
As we come to the end of another year now is a good time to give your website a quick health check and make sure it’s ready for the year ahead. Here are 5 easy things to look at and what to do if they need fixing.
1. Speed
In the age we’re now living in everyone wants information in a split second and gets frustrated if they have to wait. We’re very much a ‘now’ society. With this in mind Google has really pushed on to include website speed as one of their major ranking factors. Forget Google for a minute (if you can), no-one likes watching a wheel spin as a site loads… if it doesn’t flash up in front of your eyes pretty quickly, most will move on to one that does.
There are various reason’s / excuses why your site might be slow; bad code, large images that haven’t been compressed enough, slow server… but the bottom line is that if it is slow you will be losing out. All our sites run on fast reliable servers and use the latest technologies to enable them to run fast and smooth… making your content readily available to your customers in a flash!
2. Mobile Responsiveness
This is a given but you would be amazed at how many sites still don’t work properly on a mobile or tablet. Apparently it is as high as 80% of UK sites are still asking you to pinch and zoom to view their content. I don’t know about you but I will leave a site instantly if it isn’t mobile responsive. Don’t get left behind… If you are in this category now is the time to talk to use about an upgrade.
3. Security
We all want our information to be secure and so does Google. This year has seen them really push hard on security to the point where they now say that being on https has become a ranking factor for websites. So if you’ve not got an SSL certificate for your site then now is the time to do something about it. So what is an SSL certificates? It basically encrypts the data sent between visitors and a website. So for example it helps keep your sensitive information, like credit card information from being intercepted. It’s essential to use an SSL certificate if you are selling online and now Google will even flash up security warnings on contact forms if there isn’t one present. As approximately half of the world’s web users are on Google’s own Chrome browser this is a big deal… would you enter your details on a site with a great big security message… I know I’d think twice.
If your site is hosted with us ask about getting an SSL certificate added for FREE. If you don’t host with us… we can sort you out as soon as you see the light and move to us :)
4. Promotion
Don’t think that once you’ve spent all that time and money building an amazing website it will automatically get lots of traffic, sell loads of products, or fill your hotel rooms… it won’t. Once you have a website that is only the beginning. You then have to market it… to tell your customers about your offering and convince them to buy from you. You need to do this in different way, frequently and in a creative way that will engage them. If you aren’t doing this one of your competitors certainly will be.
How many different ways are customers able to find out about your website – Google, Facebook, email newsletters…talk to us about things that work to increase traffic, both volume and quality, to your website. You won’t regret it!
5. GDPR
Say what? GD what? If you haven’t heard about it yet then listen up. GDPR comes into force on 25th may 2018 and if you haven’t heard much about it yet you soon will. It’s a very big deal.
“The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU).”
Even if you only use Google Analytics or a simple contact form on your website you still need to be aware of this and comply.
Don’t leave it to the last minute and deal with it next May… start now and save yourself a whole load of stress and grief. Talk to us about your options and what it means to you and your marketing.
