Now is prime time to make sure that when customers come to your website, it has been primed for purchases with a spring clean. Here are six ways to get your website spring ready.
Step outside and between the rainstorms, you’ll notice the first signs of spring are already in bloom. But is your business ready for the new season?
Now is prime time to make sure that when customers come to your website, it has been primed for purchases with a spring clean. Here are six ways to get your website spring ready.
1. Update your website software
Firstly, check your software. This is because website software is updated all the time often to fix bugs or give sites better functionality. In some cases, the software may update automatically, but otherwise, you might need to give the go-ahead for manual updates.
As well as the main operating system, plugins need to be updated regularly to stay secure and work optimally. It’s worth checking that these key elements of your site are up to date to prevent any unnecessary faults, downtime or glitches in your customers’ shopping experience.
2. Check your performance on mobile
More than a third of us shop on our smartphones, so checking that your site loads properly on a mobile device puts you in your customer’s shoes and allows you to identify any issues.
How long a site takes to load is another key consideration. More than half of visits to mobile sites are abandoned if the load time is longer than three seconds, which isn’t very long to catch a customer’s interest before they tap away to a competitor’s site. Using such tools as SEM Rush and Ubersuggest can give you insight into how your website is performing.
3. Create quality content
If you want to attract visitors to your website, start by creating quality content that weaves in keywords and phrases that your customers are searching for.
From how-to tutorials and videos to interesting blog posts and eBooks, there’s potential to create all kinds of content tailored to your audience. Sharing this via your social channels or including the information in a newsletter will attract traffic.
4. Freshen up the design
Spring is the perfect time to freshen up the graphics and colours on your website. The new season stock should take pride of place through attractive images and enticing content. You might also decide to incorporate lighter, brighter colours now that winter’s almost over.
Small changes can make all the difference in how welcoming a website feels to customers. Keeping the design clean and the main functions easy to use should always be a priority, even if everything else changes.
5. Rethink your links
Checking your website for broken links is part and parcel of regular maintenance. There’s nothing more frustrating for customers than not being able to access the information they need. Keeping on top of broken links will help improve the customer experience, as well as helping your business maintain its reputation.
In addition to checking internal and external links, have a look at where links to your site come from. You might have some great referrals from authoritative sites but any ‘bad backlinks’ will negatively affect your search rankings. If you spot some less than desirable backlinks, contact the website and request their removal.
6. Give buyers more choice
Finally, it’s important to note online retailers are increasingly offering customers more choice and flexibility when it comes to payment methods. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all, and a more personalised approach to making payments can be convenient for customers who’d like to spread the cost.
Some shoppers might not be able to make a large purchase in one go but would be willing to split the amount over several months, especially interest free.
Platforms like DivideBuy integrate with your website seamlessly, subsequently giving your customers more control over how they spend their cash. If you’re looking to give your customers more choice at checkout, book a demo today to find out more!