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New Years Web-solutions

business | marketing | web design by Shannon Noack on January 17, 2011 | 0 Comments

newyearsWhile everyone else is making their resolutions to lose weight and be more productive, you can make your Web-solutions, resolutions for your website. Set goals for the new year that allow you to reach more people online and better satisfy your online audience.

We talked about taking a look at your overall online marketing plan for 2011 back in December, looking at your website, social media, blog and email marketing. Today we’ll talk more specifically about your website and what you can do to improve so you start the new year out right.

Right now is a great time to look through your site and resolve what to fix, clean up, or add for the new year. Here are a few things to think about to get your site in tip-top shape.

Clean up content

Keeping content up to date is important but now is the time to go through all of your content and evaluate its effectiveness. Do you need it? Can you word it better? Should you add more to clarify? Your content should be sharp and carefully targeted to your audience but also optimized to get great search results through using good keywords.

Update images

Imagery is a great way to add visual interest to a page and visually describe an idea better for your users. Make sure your images are as powerful as they can be. Is each image the most appropriate image for that page or could you find something that might fit a certain page better? Check out sxc.hu for free images or istockphoto.com for great fairly cheap images.

Evaluate the navigation

The navigation of your site is an essential piece of your website, allowing people to find what they need and surf through your site. If the navigation isn’t set up logically for your users then they will become frustrated and leave without getting what they need from you. Move around pages and items in the navigation as needed to make it easy to see and use.

Integrate social media

Social media is a great thing to integrate with your site if it hasn’t been already. Make it easy for people to connect with your company by adding icons and links to your profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Also, consider adding a place where your social media profiles are posted automatically on your site, every time you update your status or twitter feed.

Analyze home page

The homepage is one of the most important pages on your site. It needs to be striking enough to capture your audience’s attention and make them want to go deeper in the site. It should be concise and valuable for your users, giving them a good idea of what you do and what people can do on your site. Have you noticed people don’t often leave your homepage and go deeper in your site? You may need to find a better strategy to get users to stay on your site.

Shift around content as needed

Maybe you’ve added a new service this year, or maybe you have more details to add to a particular service. Evaluate your content and decide if new pages need to be created or content moved around to have it make more sense for your users. Condense and expand as needed to create a more user-friendly and relevant site for your audience.

Make plans for the year

A new years web-solutions list wouldn’t be complete without goals and plans for the new year. Keeping your company’s goals and plans in mind, think of what you want from your website this year. Do you want to incorporate a new blog, add social media, create a new design? Think about what will help make your site greater and more powerful for you this year, and how you can go about achieving a great online community with your website.

We talk a lot about the importance of keeping your site up to date and accurate on our blog. However, the new year is a great time to take a hard look at everything on your site and evaluate what you have, keeping what’s working and revising or throwing away what’s not working. Try new things or start anew if needed. Start the year out right with a powerhouse website that’s going to target your audience and deliver the message they need effectively. What are your plans for your website this year, let us know in the comments below.

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