COVID-19 has changed everything about how we do business. Employees working remotely. Virtual meetings. Hours of operation reduced. Drive up or curbside service only. And likely, this is leaving businesses with fewer customers and maybe some downtime on their hands. If your resources allow, this could be a great time to take a critical eye and look at potential areas in need of website upgrades.
COVID-19 Message
How has your business changed since the Shelter in Place order? Do you have limited hours? Limited staff? Is your physical office closed but your team is working remotely? This is all information that you will want to convey to your customers, partners, vendors, etc. This is a perfect opportunity for a pop-up message on your website. Make it easy for visitors to get all the pertinent information they need to know about your operations during COVID-19. Ensure your message is mobile responsive, as more people are at home now and likely using phones and ipads rather than their desktops. You can also include a message on the header or footer.
Content
This could be a great time to take a hard look at your content and see where you can improve. Too often, companies see a website as a ‘one and done’ project, when in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Your business is dynamic and your website should reflect that.
Specifically, take a look at the following areas of your website:
Team Members: Get your staff listing up to date, including any changes in job titles, contact information, etc.
Products and Services Offered: When was the last time you updated this area? Do you have new products and services to offer your customers? Likewise, be sure to remove anything not currently offered.
Images: How old are your images? Is it time for a refresh? Check out free image sites such as Pexels, Pixabay and Canva, or spring for paid stock images that your customers haven’t seen everywhere. Or, can you take this opportunity to take some of your own photos?
Links: Take the time to go through your entire site and check each and every link to make sure they go where you want them to. This includes links to social media accounts. If you’re linking to social media accounts (which you should be!), make sure it’s an active account. If you have a link to a Twitter account that hasn’t had a new tweet since 2016, you’re better off removing that link.
Social Media: This is a great time to update and refresh those accounts. Update the contact information, about section, make sure the links are current, etc. You may also think about refreshing your profile and cover images.
Design
Depending on the decrease in revenue your business is experiencing, this could be the perfect time to make some changes to the design of your site, either minor or major. Using a critical eye, take a look at your site and ask these questions:
Has your logo or color scheme changed, but your website doesn’t reflect these changes?
Are there areas of your site that you or your customers find clumsy or difficult to navigate?
Is your website mobile friendly?
Does your site look modern? Or could it use an entire redesign?
Next Steps
Now that you’ve identified some areas of your website that could use updating, what’s next? Get in touch today and we can help you navigate these changes and updates. Maybe your business has the resources to do everything you want to do all at once. Maybe you would rather approach these updates in various stages, and we can work with either scenario.