Have you lost sight of your website’s goals?

When you started your company you probably knew precisely what your goals were, what your product/service offering was and who your target audience was. It may be several years since operations began or a website went live. The question is what’s changed?

• Are you regularly reviewing your aims to ensure you are still on track?
• Has the business model shifted?
• Have you streamlined or expanded your services?
• Did an unexpected demand take you in an otherwise unforeseen direction?
• Does your current website reflect these latest offerings?

It’s 2022 and time to take stock

I’d say the past 12 months have been hard but let’s be honest the past two years have created many difficult challenges, with the impact of Covid and Brexit (there’s something you’ve not heard a lot about recently). Now, more than any other New Year, it may be time to take stock of your business and ensure your website reflects your new goals.

What is your goal?

Stop and think for a moment about the aim of your business. Is it still the same as when you began? Based on what you are currently doing, are you set to achieve your goals? Take time to reflect on the services and products your company offers, think about whether or not they are taking you in the direction you want to go. Sit down and spend some time looking at your own website and goals, and see if the two align.

Once you have decided where you want to be heading and you have assessed what you have, think about the type of clients/customers you need and consider whether your website appeals to that audience.

If the answer is no then try to identify what needs to change. If this is proving difficult, it might be wise to contact a design and marketing agency for a branding/website audit. This can be executed for a relatively low fee and would take time to discuss your goals, assess your material and devise a plan to bring you back on track.

Is your content right?

Menu

Does the menu structure reflect your business closely or does this need restructuring? Or has the direction of your business shifted and the menu no longer displays your key products/services? Have you added to your website and now have a bloated menu structure that needs some refining?

All of these changes are can be rectified easily within the WordPress content management system but if you need help, please get in touch.

Pages

Is the page content, products and service offering aligned with your company goals or does it need restructuring and rewriting? You may want to take time to read through your key pages. Assess if the information is still relevant or is some of it now outdated? If you can make the modifications then great but if you are struggling to get your ideas across, don’t have the time or writing simply isn’t your thing, employ the skills of a good copywriter, preferably one with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) capability.

Google Analytics

It’s also a great opportunity to take a dive into your website’s analytics. Discover which pages are more popular with your visitors and which ones are of little interest or have a high bounce rate. How do your visitors find you and what do they do once they’re on your site? You can then use this data to inform any planned changes to your website.

Competitor Analysis

Take a look at your competitors’ websites to benchmark how your online presence compares to theirs. Do their websites have any useful functions that would benefit your customers? Are they ranking higher on Google search results for a particular service or product that is your speciality? Identity Studio can provide a full website audit and keyword gap analysis that compares your website with up to 4 of your competitors.

Does the design appeal to your audience?

Are you happy with the content of your site but feel that the design is letting you down? Maybe your audience has aged with your business and the styling now needs to reflect this. Perhaps your site was designed five years ago and trends have shifted to make it appear dated. The sector you work in may have been much smaller when the website was originally designed and now you have new competition that are setting new standards.

If your content is good but the styling is outdated, you may not need a new website but could probably just have the current one ‘re-skinned’. This would involve just changing the design and adding new imagery, and can be much more cost-effective than a completely new website.

However, if technology has changed significantly since it was built, it may be more efficient to have a brand new website.

New website or minor changes?

A new year has arrived and now is a great time to assess the direction of your business and align your website to your goals and your target audience.

If you just need help to refine a few things or if it’s time for a big change, we are always here to help. Whether that is to offer advice on site maintenance or to provide a full website overhaul. Just get in touch!

Happy New Year and good luck in 2022.

NB: If you are looking to implement significant changes to your site, it is always best to seek the advice of an experienced website designer. And make sure there is a full back-up of your current site and its database beforehand.