I originally wrote this article in 2020 during the height of Covid. But a lot has changed since then, most importantly the introduction into all of our lives (whether we like it or not!) of AI. Love it or hate it, it’s undeniable that when used responsibly, it can make our lives easier and help us generate growth in our businesses.
So with September fast approaching (can you believe it????) I thought I would dust off the old blog and update it for Spring 2024! You can tell I’m in Australia, right! Sorry to all my northern hemisphere friends wondering what on earth I’m banging on about…
Whether you’re a small business owner or a company with a large team, ensuring your online presence is top-notch is essential for attracting new clients and retaining existing ones. So here’s your step-by-step guide to spring cleaning your website, integrating the latest trends and technology of 2024, including how AI can help streamline these tasks.
Step 1 – Reevaluate your website’s main goal
First things first, what is your website’s primary objective? Over time, your business goals may have shifted, and it’s essential to ensure your website reflects this.
When I start working with a new website client, the first thing I like to discuss with them is what their Main Site Goal is. You’d be amazed at how many people have never even thought about this, or if they have, what they tell me isn’t what their site could and should be achieving for them.
Action:
- Identify your current main site goal.
- Assess whether this goal aligns with how your business attracts new clients.
- Determine the purpose you want your website to fulfil.
AI Assistance:
AI tools can analyse visitor behaviour on your site to determine which goals are being met successfully and which areas need improvement. Tools like Google Analytics with AI integration can provide insights into user behaviour and engagement metrics.
Once you have honed in on your main site goal, tools like ChatGPT can ensure the language you use on your website is constantly reinforcing that goal to visitors so they are unconsciously led in the right direction.
Step 2 – Create an effective visitor journey
Consider the path you want visitors to take on your site to achieve your main goal. Providing your visitors with a clear roadmap will take them on the most direct and easiest route to achieving this.
Giving people too many options will confuse them and lead them to places you don’t necessarily need them to go.
Think about the information people may need to take the next step with you. The pages that provide that information should go in your header navigation.
Anything superfluous to this can go in your footer navigation.
Then, to help people travel along your site’s preferred journey, create Calls to Action throughout your site.
If you’re not sure how to figure out if your website has an effective roadmap, ask someone unfamiliar with your business to navigate your site and observe their journey. Adjust based on their experience to improve user flow.
Action:
- Map out the ideal visitor journey.
- Ensure your header navigation includes only essential pages.
- Place additional information in the footer navigation.
- Use Calls to Action (CTAs) throughout the site to guide visitors.
AI Assistance:
AI-powered heatmap tools like Hotjar can help you understand where visitors click most often and how they navigate your site, allowing you to optimise the user journey more effectively.
Step 3 – Refresh Your Content
Content is still king in 2024. With the average time spent on a website being 54 seconds, it’s vital that your content is concise, engaging, and valuable.
In my blog post “How to write engaging copy for your website” I talk about exactly what information you should include on your site, and trust me when I say, less is more is everything when it comes to website content.
So, take a look through your current content and see if there are ways you can communicate your message more succinctly or if people even need to know all the details upfront.
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Action:
- Review your current content for relevance and clarity.
- Highlight key points.
- Move detailed information to sub-pages with “read more” links.
- Delete outdated or unnecessary content.
AI Assistance:
AI tools like Grammarly and Hemingway can help refine content for clarity and readability. Additionally, AI-driven content creation platforms such as Neuron Writer, can help you generate high-quality blog posts and articles that align with your brand voice.
Pro Tip:
Always include a CTA at the bottom of sub-pages to bring readers back to the main journey.
Step 4 – Boost Your SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is more important than ever. With constantly evolving algorithms, staying on top of SEO and what can affect it can significantly impact your website’s visibility. Whether AI driven content affects your website negatively is still a little blurry. But what I think we can all agree on, is that reading content that has been purely created by AI is bland and monotonous. There’s nothing like a little originality to keep things interesting.
On that point, AIis incapable of original thought, so if you want to give your customers something they can’t get anywhere else, use AI sparingly, to help with structure and grammar, but keep the content original.
A word on blogging, if you haven’t started yet, now is the perfect time! Regular blog posts help with SEO and provide content for social media.
Action:
- Research keywords relevant to your ideal client and industry trends.
- Update page titles and descriptions with these keywords.
- Integrate keywords naturally throughout your content.
- Blog regularly on topics related to your business for organic traffic.
AI Assistance:
AI-powered SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs can help identify the best keywords, analyse competitors, and track rankings. These tools can also provide suggestions for improving on-page SEO. Use tools like ChatGPT to help you come up with content ideas based on you keywords and ideal clients.
Step 5 – Optimise Your Images
Fast-loading websites rank higher on search engines. Google values fast websites, so image optimisation can significantly boost your SEO. Ensuring your images are optimised for both quality and size is critical.
Action:
- Use tools like Canva and TinyPNG to resize images.
- Ensure all images look crisp on any screen but are small enough to keep load times quick.
AI Assistance:
AI tools like Adobe Photoshop’s AI-powered features can automatically optimise images for web use, adjusting sizes without compromising quality.
By following these steps, you can ensure your website is in excellent shape and ready to attract and convert visitors. Take it one step at a time and enjoy the process. You might discover new insights about your audience or find ways to improve how your website works for you.
Happy spring cleaning!
