Jason Turnquist on December 14, 2020
The new year is just around the corner, but most websites are still living in the early 2000s. Instead of giving the homepage a facelift, consider these super-effective website modifications to boost speed, SEO, and sales.
1) Add Faces
Who doesn’t love a friendly face? Humans are communicators from birth, so seeing a face makes the website feel familiar, friendly, and inviting. That’s why nearly every lawyer has a face shot on their website. But faces aren’t just for law firms. Photos of founders, team members, and satisfied customers make the whole site more reliable and generate noticeably more sales.
This website Fyresite built for Grant Woods Law features the friendly face of the eponymous attorney. Launch the website!
2) Optimize for Mobile
Fyresite built the State Forty Eight website for mobile first. Read the case study!
If everyone views websites on their phone, why don’t websites ever work properly on them?
Every website must work properly on mobile devices, which is why this is perhaps the most important website modification in this list. Above all, prioritize speed and user experience. Mobile websites are already slow enough with a bad cell connection. If a website takes even longer to load, no one will use it. More importantly, the user experience should be built for mobile devices. Hamburger menus should be within reach of the thumb, buttons should be finger-sized, and content should be big enough for even the visually impaired to see on a tiny screen. Anything short of a perfect mobile website isn’t enough. After all, if a website isn’t built for phones, it’s not a good website.
3) Install HotJar Analytics
No one can truly know if their website works unless they test it. That’s where HotJar Analytics comes into play. Its many analytics tools give website owners amazing insights into how people use their websites. Perhaps the most important tool is the heatmap, which shows exactly where users are clicking. Using this tool to inform web design makes a huge difference and significantly boosts conversion rates. Data should always inform major website decisions, and HotJar is the key. Plus, don’t those colors look pretty?
Hotjar generates a heatmap of where users click. Check it out!
4) Fix Your Content
Copy is never as good as the website owner thinks it is. More often than not, the content is crammed with so many keywords that no one can actually read it. Sure, the site may get picked up, but no human will use the website, Google will notice, and rankings will plummet. That’s why every website owner should have a professional rewrite their copy. The pros know how to optimize content for search engines while keeping it authentic.
This content includes lots of keywords, but doesn’t feel over-stuffed. Read the full post!
5) Improve Service Pages
Since service pages bring in the money, businesses should be optimizing them at all times.
One especially effective option is to add additional pages. For instance, Fyresite has a specific page for website design and an additional page for eCommerce website design. Website design does include eCommerce website design, but since online stores are such a big piece of Fyresite’s portfolio, adding a more specific service page ranks separately and drives more sales.
The eCommerce page ranks separately from the website page and generates more sales. Learn more about eCommerce websites with Fyresite.
6) Review Google Analytics
Analytics are king, but heat maps alone won’t do the trick. Behavioral details, such as time on page, bounce rate, and page value, and page views, are incredibly important. Google Analytics is a very powerful solution, equipped with all the tools you need and more. Review the backend to reduce bounce rate and increase time on page for best results.
7) Embed Original Videos
Videos are taking over the internet. They get shared, viewed, and interacted with more than any other content. Embedding an original video to a website makes people much more likely to interact with content. Upload original videos to Youtube and embed them on your site to get people onto your social media and build a community of followers that lasts. It’s an easy website modification that goes a long way.
Green Mountain Grills includes a video of the grills in action, which engages visitors. Read our case study!
8) Automate Marketing
Marketing by hand is doable but very hard to scale. Instead of emailing every lead individually, feed forms into an automation tool like Keap or Hubspot. Emails are fully customizable and get sent out to all your form leads in an instant. Plus, reports give you all the detailed analytics you need. To scale, automate marketing.
9) Speed it Up
If a website doesn’t load in an instant, people will leave. To test how fast a website is, professionals use GTMetrix.com. Just enter the URL and receive a detailed report with insightful tips. Then, optimize the page to load faster on Google.
10) Install WPRocket
Code can get messy very quickly, but software like WPRocket cleans up the backend and makes the website faster. First, it “minifies” the HTML, meaning the software removes comments, extra space, and any other extraneous code that slows down the site. Then, it uses a content delivery network (CDN) to place the website in proxy servers near users. That way, website visitors connect to the server nearest to their home for faster service. In just a few clicks, WPRocket optimizes a site to run fast.
Is your business due for one of these website modifications? Fyresite is a premium agency specializing in website development. Fill out the form below to find out how we can prepare your website for 2021.
Reed Steiner