7 Ways Your Website Content Can Help You Stay Relevant During COVID-19
For some companies, business is booming and it’s nearly impossible to keep up. On the flipside, some business owners may find extra time on their hands during this crisis. Whichever end of the spectrum you land on, now is a great time to review your website’s content and make sure it’s optimized. Here are 7 things you can do to update your content and stay relevant during COVID-19.
- Refresh your homepage
More often than not, your website’s homepage will be a user’s first impression of your business. If you were going out on a blind date, you wouldn’t wear “this old thing” you found in your closet from six years ago. You’d try on a few outfits, maybe pull out the old ironing board, and show up completely wrinkle-free.
A whopping 38% of users will stop engaging a website if the content or layout is unattractive! You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to give off a fresh look. Update some photos, change a call-to-action, and throw in a promotion or recent blog. Give users something to look forward to.
- Remove old, outdated content
Think of this step as spring cleaning—’tis the season, right? Now is the perfect time to remove old events, products you no longer carry, or close down promotions that ended. Offering something to a user that is no longer valid contributes to a frustrating experience for everyone.
- Update SEO titles and descriptions
Chances are you’ve added custom meta titles and descriptions to your site at some point. That’s great! Now consider updating them. SEO is not a one-and-done operation. It requires ongoing effort to maintain search rankings and outperform competitors. This is a great time to sort through your site and add in relevant keywords to the meta data. Not sure how to find relevant keywords? Send us a message and we can help!
- Evaluate your website’s navigation
We said it earlier—times are uncertain. You don’t want your website users to feel uncertain when they get to your site. Presenting them with a clean, well-organized navigation will help streamline their experience and hopefully create a raving fan.
When asked about what content to keep on a site, our content strategist shared, “Content is more or less worthless unless it (1) supports a key business objective and/or (2) fulfills your users’ needs.” Essentially, if it’s not meeting a business goal and not meeting a need for the user, it can probably go.
- Don’t be afraid to deliver content differently
Many businesses are working to find a new “normal” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. This might mean you have to think of new ways to engage your audience in order to stay relevant. If your business relied heavily on face-to-face meetings or conferences, incorporating video content and virtual engagement might be a way to pivot. Likewise, if your retail store is no longer receiving foot traffic due to the stay at home order, considering an e-commerce option might be the way to go.
- Incorporate calls-to-action
How will your website users engage how you want them to without a clearly defined call-to-action? 70% of small businesses lack a CTA on their homepage. Don’t let that be you! If you are looking for leads, add a form-fill with a downloadable reward. If you want phone calls, add a “Call Now” button so users can quickly call you. If the user is already on your website, chances are they want what you want—just don’t make them guess what that is.
- Optimize historical content
Again, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Blog posts you’ve written in the past can come back to life with a fresh lead image, an updated date, and accurate, up-to-date information. Optimizing historical blog posts is a great way to link to relevant external sources providing increased credibility to your own site. It also gives you the opportunity to fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may have been missed the first time around.
If you’re looking for ways to improve your digital presence during COVID-19, start with your website. These simple, but effective tactics will put your site in a better position to receive higher search rankings and improved user experience. Digital communication and messaging is crucial in a time like this, and we want to help. If you have needs we can help with, please send us a message.