Ready to give your website a boost and bring in more sales? 

Start by checking off these 10 easy makeover tips.

1. Review brand positioning

Don’t be put off by the all-encompassing phrase ‘brand positioning’. It generally describes what makes your business unique – what sets it apart from the competition. You need to know this inside-out so you can position yourself in the marketplace. Ask yourself a few questions to ensure you’re on the right track:

• Who are my direct competitors?
• How do those competitors position their brands?
• How does my brand position compare to theirs – and what makes mine unique?

From there you can develop a value-based positioning statement, and adjust your website to convey exactly that.

2. Pop-up strategy

No, we’re not talking about the ugly, seizure-inducing pop-up ads from the early days of the internet. Pop-ups these days are used by even the most reputable news agencies – especially as a means to capture ad revenue when print media is dying.

When used intelligently, pop-ups can generate thousands of additional leads every month. But be care not to fall into common traps like displaying pop-ups too many times to the same visitor, or bombarding them the moment they click on your site. Take your time and define a pop-up strategy for the rest of 2019.

3. Freebies

Who doesn’t love free stuff? It’s an easy way to get people ‘in the door’ and from there it’s up to you how you turn that freebie lover into a customer.

But make sure even your freebies offer something of worth. That could be a free online seminar from an industry leader, a free eBook with tips and tricks related to your market, or anything that has something of value – if your site offers it for free, people will check it out. It’s at that point you should leverage your lead-capture system.

4. Review opt-in strategy

How easy is it for your website visitors to opt in to your email list? Is the opt-in button obvious on your homepage – and throughout the rest of your site? Does it sit above the fold or do people have to go searching for it?

If your email numbers – or anything you want people to opt in to – are low, make sure you analyse the data. If you’re using something like WordPress then you’ll be able to use a range of opt-in plug-ins to entice your visitors and then see at what point during their browsing journey they decide to opt in. From there you can re-jig your website layout to grow your opt-in numbers.

5. Sharpen descriptions and CTAs

With Google algorithms becoming more intelligent – and more complex for the regular business owner to understand – one thing remains constant. Your content must be quality. That doesn’t just mean your blogs and website copy.

Make sure all the nitty-gritty – your meta descriptions, your tags, your H1 headings – are concise, relevant and well written. Sharpen up your calls to action (CTAs) to improve click-through rates and, hopefully, conversions. If you’re not confident assessing and improving your content, ask a content marketing agency to help.

6. Give most-visited page a once-over

Jump into the back-end of your website and review your visitor numbers. (Google Analytics is one platform that can help you with this) You’ll be able to see a wide variety of statistics, but one of your key focus areas should be on your most popular page.

It’s the most-visited web page for a reason, and as such you need to put even more effort into keeping it relevant. A quick refresh could do wonders for your website’s overall performance, and the right internal linking strategy could mean greater visits across the rest of your site – and even into your social pages.

7. Shine a light on social and testimonials

Speaking of social, don’t keep it separate from your website. Show off your social prowess by including widgets that link directly to your accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr… whatever your customers find interesting. You can also use social plug-ins like Get Social or Buffer that publish any updates on your linked accounts right there on your website.

Take advantage of your brand ambassadors as well. If someone has taken the time to positively review your product or service, make their beautiful words sing on your site. This might be from an online review or a cheeky social post about your terrific café. Do make sure, however, to ask permission before re-posting or reusing anyone else’s images.

8. On target brand-wise

With so much to manage on your website – and several years’ worth of website updates and additional pages – it’s easy for your brand message to get lost in the ether.

So is everything still on-brand? Take stock of your content, your social posts, your testimonials, your offering and your general services – then make sure it’s all singing from the same hymn book. If not, it’s time to get your brand message back on point.

9. Update images

Things age pretty quickly in the digital universe. That means you shouldn’t wait for a major re-brand before updating your images.

Is your website starting to look a little dated? Are you still in the same business premises but the photos are from several years ago? Do you look about a decade older than the picture in your ‘About Us’ page?

There’s no time like the present, and your customers will appreciate a modern, sleek and most importantly honest representation of your business.

10. Create awesome content

Without content there wouldn’t even be an internet. And in the online world, businesses live and die by the quality of their content. You don’t have to be the next Gillian Flynn to publish blogs relevant to your industry. But if you do need a hand, there are content marketing experts and professional website content writing services that can help give your brand’s content the extra punch it deserves.

And if you’re been tweaking and polishing to no avail, it could be time for a more detailed assessment of your content strategy!