There’s something brilliant about starting a new season, don’t you think? Nothing like a bit of cooler nights and leaves falling during the day to offer that kick along you need to feel motivated and get things done. And while the sun is still shining bright, is your website?

With big plans and projects often commencing at the beginning of the year, it’s vital not to overlook your website. After all, it’s the digital front desk of your business.

Thankfully there are some key actions that can be taken to boost the appeal and effectiveness of your website. Let’s call this the Autumn Site Sweep. Or the Warm Weather Web Audit? Okay, the name is a work in progress, but let’s get into these tips and clean your online act up.

1. Review your content

Let's start by giving your content a good once-over. Take a look at each page and ask yourself if the information is still relevant, accurate, and up-to-date. Email addresses, content forms, phone numbers, links included, please.

If there's anything that needs updating or removing, now is the time to do it. And while you're at it, add any new content you've been holding back on, like blog posts, case studies, or testimonials.

2. Assess its user-friendliness

UX or user experience is crucial for your website to do its job effectively. So head to your website and put yourself into the shoes of your ideal customer. Consider what you want them to feel, experience and do on your website and suss out how easy and enjoyable it is to achieve for your website visitors.

A good website should be easy to navigate, with a clear hierarchy of information and an intuitive menu structure. In other words, it should just make sense from a user perspective. Make notes throughout your assessment — you might find there are some minor or major changes that will make an epic difference. Or you might end up feeling like a new site is in order. Either way, it will help you to gauge whether your website is impacting your growth.

3. Speed things up

No one likes to wait for a website to load. Slow-loading sites are frustrating for visitors and from an SEO perspective, they can hurt your search engine ranking.

So how can you best you make sure yours is lightning-fast? There are plenty of methods to reduce your site’s load speed. For example, it could be that your images need to be optimised, or you might need to reduce file sizes across the site. Either way, site speed should definitely be reviewed in your Autumn Site Sweep.

4. Make it mobile-friendly

As of 2023, about 60 per cent of website traffic comes from mobile devices! And with more and more people using their phones to visit websites, make sure yours is just as fun and easy to use on the go as it is at home.

Of course, bear in mind that not all mobile devices are the same. A range of screen sizes means your site’s elements could look totally different from one device to another. This can impact the aesthetics as well as the usability of things like contact forms, articles, buttons, images and more. This tool via Google tests your website for how mobile-friendly it is, so start from there!

5. Add clear action points

Your website can look great, be easy to use and have a host of incredible content, but if it’s just not getting the love you want it to, you might just need to add a little action.

Give your visitors a little nudge with clear and bold calls to action that make it easy for them to take the next step/s — whether that's buying something, signing up for a newsletter, or reaching out to you.

A website that works for you

Giving your website an Autumn Site Sweep (we’ve committed this name it seems!) is a great way to improve its functionality, increase user engagement, boost your search engine rankings and more.

While these five tips can be game-changers for your website, there are plenty of other things you can do to get your website working for you, too. If you need a bit of help with your website, then get in contact with us and let’s make it happen.