Struggling to know how to improve your website in order to outshine the competition this year? Read on, because I’ll show you exactly how to refresh your website for success in 2021!

Refreshing my website is something that I do once a year, unless there is a major change to my business. Why? Because my website is my online sales rep and as such, it has to be fit for purpose in both attracting and serving the right clients with my products and services, and also in helping me build a mailing list of potential contacts.

Read on and let me show you how to refresh your website.

Why you need to regularly refresh your website

Typically, over time, your audience and customer base will evolve and change. If you have kept up with your Google and social analytics, and sales figures you will have noticed this and so how you plan to pitch and sell to those same people also needs to evolve. This is why you need to refresh your website on an annual basis, as well as look at your product and service offer.

Over longer time periods, internet and website usage also changes. These trends breed new functionalities such as adding Facebook Messenger as a chatbot to handle initial steps in client contact, or functions like cross device website compatibility. These trends come with the advancement of technology and how that has been developed to serve more demanding online consumers, in the way they both consume online content and interact with websites.

For most of us, in the last point at least, our website refresh will be governed by the technology our website hosts have available, but for most of us simple changes can be made quickly and effectively by reconsidering our customers’ journey.

What are the key elements you need to include to refresh your website?

A refresh of your website doesn’t need to be the biggest of jobs and it doesn’t always mean a complete overhaul. What it does mean however, is an understanding of the requirements in order to carry out a refresh audit and realisation in a cost-effective and more importantly, impactful way.

The key elements to update in your refresh are;

• updating key website pages

• updating your webcopy

• updating your testimonials

Let us have a look at those individually, so you can understand how to refresh your website.

1 Updating key website pages

If you were to refresh just 4 pages on your website each year, I would recommend concentrating on the following key pages;

• Home page – this page should give your potential clients a clear introduction to what your business offers and there are 3 things you need to include here to show your clients how you are the perfect fit for them;⁠

  • Webcopy that addresses your client's main struggle⁠, showing that you understand their problem

  • Webcopy and a service or product highlight that offers a solution to their problem

  • Clear Calls to Action (CTAs), highlighting your potential client’s next step

• About us page – this page is a look at your business from an origin story and an ethics point of view. It helps your clients to find alignment with your brand and your values

• Blog page – a great traffic driver and a source of content you can use to cement your expertise in your niche

• FAQs & Terms – a clear look at how to work with you

Ask yourself, are these pages still fit for purpose? If not how can you change them to make a more meaningful impact on your evolving audience?

2 Updating your webcopy

Writing website copy that converts traffic into clients can feel like walking a tight line between pushy pitching and blah, blah, boring. Let’s look at 3 quick tips to better your copy when you come to refresh your website.

• Talk directly to your audience – Use you/your phrasing, as if speaking directly to your client. This is proven to be a very useful and converting strategy

• Compelling CTAs – make sure that you are clear on every page exactly what the next step for your audience is and particularly if you have something to sell, talk benefits in a concise pitch

• Allow for skim readers – most people will just skim your text, so make sure to highlight the bits you need them to read by using headers or bold text

Ask yourself, are you pitching in the right tone and with the right amount of urgency? If not what and where do you need to make changes?

3 Updating your testimonials

Client testimonials are a great way to show prospective clients how good you are at what you do, and to inspire confidence in working with you. They are particularly useful at helping a prospective client’s decision making process, because they appeal on an emotional level.

Here is how I recommend you add testimonials to refresh your website:

• Add a few to your home page (if you don’t want to use them in a pre-footer) - your home page is more than likely the page most people will visit on your site, even if they found you via a blog page, so testimonials are a great way to give impact to your first impression.

• Add a few to the pre-footer of your website – these show on every page, just above the footer with your important details and often show in a different colour. This is a great way to highlight those really good testimonials you love to show off.

• Create a whole page just for testimonials – keep it refreshed to show your most current reviews and keep linking to this page on other pages where relevant.

• In your product or service pages – if you want to use specific testimonials or reviews on a particular service or product page, then add them where they are easily visible. These will enhance your pitch.

Don't ever feel afraid to ask for testimonials for your products and services! These are a great way to build audience confidence in buying from you.⁠

⁠How do you ask?⁠

• ⁠If you have a product, or a one off service you can encourage reviews on delivery, or a follow up email.⁠

• If you sell a month to month service I usually tend to wait until around the 3 month mark. This gives my clients enough time to see what I am about and have a range of work to draw experiences from.

Your Content Marketing Manager’s Top Tip – How to plan to refresh your website

Your time is precious and so you want to make sure that you plan to refresh your website in a way that helps you keep on top of the overall project management of this task, as well as the finer details.

Details of your plan should include

• Which pages you need to refresh and how - in other words copy, layout, or testimonial additions

• How much time you think each page will take you to complete

• A time scale for your workload - in other words a deadline

Once you have this down on paper it is much easier to break your individual tasks and page focus down into manageable chunks of work that you can fit into your days. Remember, handling everything all at once is a quick route to overwhelm!

If you need a copywriter to create compelling copy, someone who understands the customer journey, fill in the project brief form below!