Xebit Ltd

How is your website?

Websites are a reflection of your business – tastes change, laws change and technology moves on.

It’s no longer enough to build and launch a website – it should be regularly updated with fresh content and frequently reviewed to ensure it is still active and meeting your objectives.

Marketing overhaul

At some point every site needs a marketing overhaul, is it time for yours?

Your marketing budget dictates how much you can improve your website, but a full and thorough evaluation of your site and an investment in making it work for you will pay dividends.

Here are things to consider:

Are you secure?

That little green padlock that you look for when entering your details on a website means that the information moving between your computer and the website server is encrypted – it can’t be snooped on or read by anything intercepting it.

Google is quite keen to see this on all websites and is favouring sites that have it in searches.

To provide it you’ll need an SSL certificate that is set up on your site and renewed annually – a small additional cost added to your hosting brings rewards in greater customer trust and better search results.

Do you comply?

Business websites in the UK need to comply with distance selling regulations and E-Commerce regulations. It makes good sense to comply with all UK legal requirements even if you’re not selling directly from your site.

Every business website in the UK should:

• Display company registration details
• Have a clear cookie policy and a way to obtain consent
• Show the company privacy policy
• Meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010
• Have a disclaimer limiting liability for the use of published information
• Display terms & conditions; delivery and returns policies
• Comply with anti spam laws

Contact details

Apart from the legal requirements, it makes sense to have your contact details prominently displayed and easily accessible so that customers can email or phone you – Many people are just looking for your contact details – nothing is more frustrating to a site visitor than having to dig through pages looking for a way to contact you.

Building trust in your company via your website is vital – personal photos of you and your team go a long way towards this.

Collecting feedback, building a community

In addition to having your email address, phone numbers and postal address easily found, it is advantageous to have the means to collect and gather customer enquiries – a simple feedback form is a good start, but if you need to pre-qualify enquiries or direct them to different departments in your business, an online form can make this much more efficient.

You may also think about building a mailing list to send customers news and updates.

Can your customers find you?

If you have personal callers, can they find where your office is? Can they get directions easily and quickly? Adding interactive maps to your site will improve your visitor rate by making journey planning simpler for your customers.

Mobile friendly

Technology advancements over recent years and the rise in smartphone use to browse the internet has led to Google prioritising ‘mobile friendly’ websites in search results. If your site is hard to read on a small screen, then users will move on.

Responsive design may be as simple as a template change or as complex as a full re-design, but making your site mobile-friendly has significant benefits in search engine results and visitor numbers.

How fresh is your content?

Keeping your site current is key to good search engine results and visitor trust. A site that hasn’t changed in five years could be giving the wrong impression, and it will almost certainly affect Google ratings.

Keeping your site fresh can be as simple as a news section, or as comprehensive as a full-blown content marketing plan.

Frequently asked questions

An area where you can create fresh content and reduce your workload is to answer the questions that you get asked most often on your website – an FAQ page can be invaluable and include ‘calls to action’ and may become a silent salesman for your business.

Where do your visitors come from?

Do you know how well your site works for you?

Analysis of visitor numbers is a good start, but digging deeper into the way visitors found your site and what pages they look at may better inform how you improve and grow your site and business.

E-Commerce sites should take full advantage of Google Analytic’s sales funnels and target analysis, but setting it up can be a complicated matter.

Dated design

Keeping customers interested in your business and maintaining their trust is hampered when your site looks as if it hasn’t been touched in years. One of the most visible signs of neglect is a design that looks ‘old’.

It may be enough to tweak the fonts and colours, or it may need a complete rebuild, but fresh design, mobile friendly and accessible websites are what customers now expect.

Can we help you?

If you’d like us to help you with any of the above, get in touch today.