Ever since the WHO declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic in March 2020, our lives have changed a lot and so have the ways we do business. As we draw closer to the 1st anniversary of this worldwide pandemic, it has become important for you to review how your website is performing. Is it unable to handle traffic spikes? Or displaying outdated/incorrect information? Or lacking interactive elements like live chat or other direct communication tools? Or simply too slow and too old to make a mark? If your answer is yes to any or some of these, it’s time to update or replace your existing website. You can reach out to our web design and development experts for a manual end-to-end review of your website and suggest the most fitting solutions to ensure you don’t lose out on potential clients during these tough, uncertain times.
Top 4 areas to focus upon
When reviewing your website, these are the top four areas we’ll focus upon:
1. Highlighting COVID-19 announcements
You may have decided to close your physical store temporarily and conduct business wholly via the online mode. Else, you may have new store opening and closure timings, or implemented norms like social distancing, wearing masks, and using sanitizers before entering the store along with bringing in other procedural changes. Your website should mention and highlight these COVID-19 announcements (say, via banners, pop-up messages, page headers, etc.) prominently to help your existing and potential customers plan their store visit or online order placements accordingly. You may even add an FAQ section to your present website where you answer common customer questions related to COVID-19 norms and changes.
Here is a great example. One of our client - Shag Hair Salon in Austin - does a great job informing their clientele of their current COVID-19 protocol: www.shagaustin.com
2. Refresh your home page
In about 50 milliseconds, your website visitors will decide if they like your site or not and whether they’ll stick to browsing it or leave it. Since your home page is the location where most of your visitors will land to have a first impression of your products and/or services, you need to design it well. If your website needs a makeover, it doesn’t necessarily mean replacing the entire thing. Our web design experts can make a few tweaks with the images, content layout, and CTAs (calls-to-action), or even suggest starting a blog to give your users something to look forward to. However, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, is non-interactive, too slow, or too old, we would suggest replacing it completely.
Here a great example of a website we designed that has eye-catching home page: www.surfarisalsa.com
3. Check your keywords and meta tags for relevance
You need to do keyword research to find what new terms and phrases people are using increasingly to search for products or services similar to yours. Our SEO experts will get the job done on your behalf and even check Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, etc. to weave these relevant keywords into your page content and meta tags to give your web traffic a boost. Thus, with our SEO services complemented by the relevant web design elements, your website would no longer lose out on the traffic or business from potential clients.
4. Make your website easily accessible
As an increasing number of people with different needs are going online to probably access your website, you need to ensure it’s easily accessible for everyone. You can run a Lighthouse audit for free to find accessibility issues and get them fixed. You could even use paid automated tools like the Wave API or the web accessibility testing extension AXE. However, these automated tools and tests can’t always find all the important accessibility issues. That’s where our expert-driven manual reviews can help. Based on the findings of our reviews, we’ll help you to update or replace your website to ensure faster and easier accessibility for your target visitors.
Don’t let the changed scenario triggered by the pandemic hit your business hard. Let our web design and development experts help your website get ready with a partial or complete makeover to improve your digital presence and stand above the noise online.
Contact us and we can discuss your website and provide recommendations - free of charge. Contact us today at 512.571.2296