Business Surgery: Is your website in need of a spring clean, asks Bird Media’s Lucinda Sloane

Websites aren’t set-and-forget. They evolve with the business. So, let’s give yours a thorough review. Starting now.

1. Does your website still sound like you?

Time for a tone of voice check. Read through your website and ask: does this sound like us? Not how we sounded when we launched five years ago. Like us, now. If copy sounds tired, generic, overly formal, or like it’s trying too hard, it’s time for a rewrite.

2. Is your messaging relevant?

Businesses evolve. Offers change. Audiences shift. If your site is still pitching services you no longer provide or underselling (or not even featuring) the brilliant services you do offer, realigning messaging needs to be top of the priority list.

3. Is your content up to date?

Stale content sends a clear message: we don’t care. Is your team page showing people who left 18 months ago? Are you still advertising Mother’s Day deals – or worse Valentine's? At the very least, check your blog. Are you still leading with “Looking Ahead to 2024”?

4. Are you leaving users hanging?

Every page on your website needs a purpose. A next step. A direction. If someone lands on your services page, what do you want them to do next? Sign up to a newsletter? Make an appointment? Pick up the phone? Websites that lack clear calls to action leave potential customers lost and disengaged, so tell them what you want them to do.

5. Does it work?

An obvious question, but hear me out. Some websites still aren’t optimised for mobile. More than 60% of web traffic is mobile, so if your site isn’t fast, readable, and easy to use on a small screen, you're actively turning customers away. And a quick note on site speed. Slow sites effect SEO and user experience. If your website takes more than three seconds to load because of high-res images that aren’t optimised, clunky plugins, or videos that autoplay for no good reason, users will turn away. Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights. It’s free and it’ll tell you where the problem are.

6. Is it time for a visual refresh?

Does your website still scream 2016 in its design? If your site looks tired, so will your business. I’m not suggesting you need to rebrand from scratch, but modernising your layout, tightening up the typography, and using imagery that reflects your brand today can make a huge difference.

If you're looking for a website review, rewrite or refresh, I’m here to help (I also do rebrands too, just sayin’). Email me at lucinda.sloane@thisisbirdmedia.com