For many entrepreneurs, their business website just is. It’s an area that they focused on for awhile while the site was first being built, but then it was complete, it seemed fairly functional, and that was that - most entrepreneurs move onto other areas of the business, leaving the website to largely manage itself.
This is, of course, completely understandable, and if you approach your business website in much the same way, this makes sense. After all, you have to manage the day-to-day operations of your company; the hiring and firing; the customer service; the advertising and marketing… there’s precious little space left in your schedule for constant monitoring of your business’s website. If it’s up and primarily functional, it seems safe enough to leave be.
There is an element of truth to this belief, too, especially if your site does not include any ecommerce elements, and serves to direct customers to make contact in other ways rather than to generate sales in and of itself. However, while a predominantly hands-off approach to a business site is somewhat manageable, it’s inadvisable to be completely hands-off.
The Need For Reevaluation
If your website is static and serves to drive queries to a contact point rather than brand your business or generate sales, you can indeed afford to focus your thoughts elsewhere - sometimes for months at a time. However, there is a need to ensure that, occasionally, you take the time to reevaluate your site.
There are numerous reasons for this, but as is so frequently the case, the most persuasive reason is also the most obvious: you have to reevaluate your website to ensure it’s up-to-date. Website design trends change; SEO strategies evolve; and what works to call customers to action in January may no longer be capable of delivering the same results in June. These changes do not happen overnight - which is why many business websites can afford an element of relative neglect - but they do happen eventually, and all entrepreneurs need to schedule their website for a check-up every now and again, just so they can catch up.
How Frequently Should Your Website Undergo A Check-Up?
In many ways, answering this question is subjective. As a general rule, the more important your website is to your business’ ability to generate sales, the more frequently it needs to be checked. If 10% of your business is created by your website, a check-up every couple of months should be sufficient. However, if 90% of your business comes from the site itself, then a more frequent maintenance overview is preferable.
With that said, unless you have staff you can outsource the check-up task to, it’s important to note that these check-ups do somewhat have to happen on an as-and-when basis. The life of an entrepreneur is busy, and it’s unlikely that being a few months out of date will harm your site too much - so prioritize a check-up, but don’t harm other business operations in order to meet a predetermined check-up schedule. It’s simply not worth it.
So, essentially, you must evaluate the importance of your website to the company and the demands on your time to decide how frequently your website should undergo a reevaluation.
What Should Be Included In A Website Reevaluation?
Essentially, everything. Your website’s check-up is your chance to ensure everything on the site is running as it should, is up-to-date and relevant, and performing as well as it can for your business. Below, we have put together a few questions you should ask of the key components of your business website during the check-up process, but it’s important to note this is far from exhaustive.
Your CMS
• Does the CMS need upgrading?
• Is your site running the latest version?
• Are all the plugins you are using still compatible?
• Is your chosen CMS still the best CMS for your needs?
• Is there any news about your CMS that you need to be aware of - for example, new developments, or pricing changes?
Your Design
• Is the design aligned with current website trends?
• Is there anything about your design that is now being described as out-of-date or obsolete?
• Is your mobile-compatible theme still working as it should be?
• Is your site loading quickly, especially in regards to images?
• Is there anything that could be done to improve the design for either desktop or mobile visitors?
Your Content
• Does your content need updating to reflect recent developments? (Please note, in almost every case, this should be answered with “yes”.)
• Does the content still reflect your business; i.e. are you still offering the services or products mentioned on the site?
• Does the content reflect any new products or services you have added in recent months?
• Is the tone of the website content consistent with the approach you have been using on social media?
• Are there any inaccuracies in the content, i.e. the business phone number or email address?
Miscellaneous
• Is your SEO up-to-date and reflective of current trends?
• Does your site look good when compared to your main competitor website? Is your website personalized sufficiently?
• Is your domain name the best available for your business?
• Does your site have calls to action throughout its design?
What Should You Do If You Identify Problems?
Asking and answering many of the questions above will frequently reflect that there are changes that need to be made to your business site - which can be inconvenient, but is actually positive. While you’ll need to find time in your schedule to make these changes, it is still preferable to know about potential issues, so you can rectify them before they have the opportunity to damage your sales or reputation.
In Conclusion
For many entrepreneurs, simple time demands dictate that they are unable to monitor their website as intently as they may hope. However, with a reliable website reevaluation regime in place, you can be confident of the fact that your site can receive the attention it needs, while still ensuring you benefit from the day-to-day freedom to run your business.
I hope you enjoyed this article about how to reevaluate your business website and what factors you should consider for optimization.
Interested in more articles about website development?
Read My Blog Posts:
- Beginners Build Guide For Business Websites
- How To Build A Dependable & Profitable Website
More Bootstrap Business Blog Below
