(Newswire.net — September 14, 2019) — As a web design company and digital marketing agency, we’re constantly trying to get our clients to do more so they can grow their businesses. However, with the start of a new season right around the corner, we want to take a different approach and point out some areas of your website where you might be able to use addition by subtraction.
You can save time, money, and frustration by getting rid of the unnecessary in your online marketing efforts. To show you how, let’s look at seven ways to seasonalclean your business website…
#1 Remove Pages for Old Products, Events, or Employees
As time goes on, most business websites accumulate content that gets outdated. Unneeded material can include notices about upcoming events, bios for employees who have left the company or specifics on products that aren’t actually sold anymore.
This is the perfect time to take these down, so you don’t confuse customers or search engine spiders. Otherwise, you might have content that refers to things you no longer sell, or people who can’t be found within your business. That can lead to frustration for buyers and make it hard for prospects to find the accurate and up-to-date information that would lead them to work with you.
#2 Delete Inactive Subscribers from Your Email List
It’s not a big deal to have inactive subscribers on your email list, but holding onto them isn’t helpful, either. For one thing, you’re probably charged a monthly subscription based on the number of addresses you send to, so wiping them away can save you a load of cash. More importantly, you want to measure engagement from real-life potential customers, so it doesn’t make sense to keep mailing to individuals who haven’t opened one of your newsletters in many months.
It’s hard to get a good picture of what’s going on with your email marketing campaigns if you have “zombie subscribers” clogging up your list. It might feel good to see those extra names in your CRM, but they aren’t helping you to make sales and you’re just annoying prospects by sending them messages they don’t want.
#3 Get Rid of Plug-ins That Slow Down Your Website
Many business websites are constructed with a lot of extra plug-ins and features that don’t add much to the functionality of the underlying pages. By removing them from your website, you can speed loading times up and eliminate online security issues that arise when you have extra and unnecessary code.
It is unusual for us to find dozens of old plug-ins when looking at a new client’s website, particularly if the pages were built from a template. Each one can slow your website down, or conflict with one another and cause problems with certain browsers or device types. It’s a good idea to get rid of them, and to make sure they are properly uninstalled.
#4 Wipe Out Broken Links or Missing Pieces of Content
Few things are as frustrating as a dead end on a website. If you have links that go nowhere, pieces of content that are missing, or other stopping points that frustrate potential customers you should eliminate them.
The biggest issue with broken links is that they can be difficult to spot with a naked eye. However, a detailed website audit can help you find and correct these kinds of issues quickly and inexpensively. And at the same time, that will allow you to catch other issues (like the unneeded plug-ins we’ve already mentioned) that might be lingering on your pages.
#5 Update Any Posts or Content That Aren’t Accurate
Do you have pages or posts on your website (not to mention your blog or social media accounts) that are no longer accurate or up to date? This could be your chance to take a couple of hours to clean them out or make some small revisions and corrections. Doing so makes your website more valuable and signals to Google that you are a current source of information for its users.
We’ve entered an age of search engine optimization where being current and relevant is just as important as having the right keywords and links. So, while your content profile should always be growing, it’s important to trim and edit on a regular basis if you want to remain as a thought leader in your industry.
#6 Delete Unprofitable PPC Ad Groups or Campaigns
It’s easy to forget just how much money pay-per-click campaigns can cost you every week when you get used to seeing the automatic billing on your company credit card statement. But, by evaluating your ads to see which ones aren’t producing a positive ROI, you can actually save yourself a significant amount of cash, or at least put it to better use.
It’s amazing to see how many PPC ads (or in some cases, keyword bids) can remain unprofitable for a long period of time without being addressed. If you aren’t pruning them regularly, you could fail to notice a change in search trends or conversion rates – leading you to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars you’ll never get back.
#7 Clear Away Any Vendors Who Aren’t Doing Their Jobs
In some ways this is the most important step of the seasonal-cleaning process. If you have web designers, SEO consultants, or other vendors who aren’t producing results you need to stop paying them immediately. Your partners should be helping your business to grow, not sending you invoices for projects that don’t pan out.
It’s often difficult to evaluate the creative teams you work with in a dollar-and-cents fashion, particularly if you struggle to understand the technical details of their work. However, if you’re paying for online marketing assistance month after month and don’t see your company getting any stronger, then it might be time to reevaluate that spending… or at least take a closer look at the progress reports being generated.
Ask yourself, is Your Website Ready for a New Season of Business Growth?