Holiday Homework for Website Owners (including me!)

It’s the last week of the year and I always feel a surge of energy at this time, for the coming year and our business. And then I realize I want to clean up some things around the site, make some long thought about improvements, and get ready to open the doors to a fresh new Fresh ID in the new year. Combined with several of our clients needing significant home page improvements, I’ve got a little checklist of site and marketing things I am going to address this week and I challenge you to use it if needed on your own sites. Let’s be fresh together in 2011!

1. Is your homepage in need of an update? If it’s static, meaning, it doesn’t incorporate real-time or dynamically changing elements to keep it fresh, you need to change it at least monthly to create new experiences for repeat visitors. You can also do coding to have content rotate randomly so the mix of content feels fresh, and you can add real-time updates from Twitter or Facebook or YouTube so that users are presented with constantly changing content.

2. Is the content you have in your site, hitting the mark? Using analytics you can determine what’s read, what is never read, and make choices to streamline your navigation and pages of information so that you have less to maintain and dig through, but visitors have more to read and look at that pertains to their needs.

3. Is your marketing copy up-to-date and clear and compelling? Ours is getting a fun re-do and we are going to focus on the “sweet spots” of what we offer (things we love to do + we are good at) and we are going to offload the rest to a simple, comprehensive list (we CAN do a ton of stuff… So much that it can be too much to absorb.)

4. Do you have links on the site that don’t have content? We’re guilty of this and need to get the content there, or delete the links and references to it until it is there.

5. Are there things you want to do that you haven’t done yet, but feel passionate about? We have several things we will do in 2011 that are new for us and will be adding that information to our site so we can get started.

6. Have you been procrastinating about getting marketing tools in place that you need to, including, but not limited to: a Twitter account, an email newsletter or campaign, a landing page to promote something, a Facebook custom tab to take your business page to a new level, a thorough scouring of Google to see if there are business directories or review sites where you should list your company, a Foursquare and Gowalla presence if you are a retail, food or hospitality business… In other words, if you are in need of more business, are you doing all you can to be found online by people who are searching? If not, this week is the time to get things done!

7. Is your portfolio updated, if you have some type of creative service business?

8. Is your ecommerce store updated with all the products you sell, and out of stock products noted, and unavailable products deleted?

9. If you need to be found online, discovered and trusted as a viable consultant or designer or writer or accountant, etc. are you blogging? People who don’t know you will get to know you and familiarity breeds trust to eventually do business with you or recommend you to others. You aren’t doing yourself any favors if you are capable of writing and aren’t blogging. I am the worlds worst offender on this and it is my solemn vow to blog more in 2011 because I know it leads to direct sales, and it helps me to articulate my voice and opinions and our ongoing mission as a company.

10. Are you having fun in your business? If not, are there things you could change to make it more fun, or less stressful, or more easy to accomplish? You know in your heart and head what you need and would help your workday be more sane. Make the plan to make the changes you need to make work a more pleasant place to be.

I’d love to know what you’re working on this week. I better get busy! Lol!

~Kristi