How To Take This Time to Give Your Site Love
Hoagie keeping me company while I work
How To Take This Time to Give Your Website Some Love
How’s everyone hanging? We’re halfway through our week one of self-quarantine and I’m going stir crazy, ha! I’ve got to admit though, I’ve been working from home for some time so it’s not that new. But I can’t imagine how it must be for those of you who’ve had to shift gears completely! I can imagine it’s tough. But on the bright side, and if you’re looking for something to do, now might be the time to work on your site. Here are 5 things you can implement to improve your website today:
Make your text styles a rule.
These would be your H1, H2, H3, Body Copy, Links and Metadata to start. If type is not your strong suit, pick a font family and stick to it! You can explore more pairings later on. Font families such as Futura and Avenir all have several weight options (from light to heavy) to give your information hierarchy. Why do this? Because cohesive, on-brand fonts can go a long way. Have you ever visited a website that had too many fonts you don’t know where to look first? Or not enough distinction to know which information is important? (contrast is key!) Don’t sacrifice function for design and vice versa. Find a sweet spot where you get both.Check the flow.
Check all of your buttons, links, navigation, social and make sure they’re all still working. We know it happens but it doesn’t make it any less disruptive. If you click through your site and find there’s an issue, just course correct and make a note to see how you can turn your 404 or Error page into an opportunity to redirect your user to other content.Rethink your site’s flow in the context of designing mobile-first interaction.
Website viewing these days happens the most on desktop and mobile. And while the experience is similar, pay closer attention to how the experience is like on mobile. People are on-the-go and need to multitask - make it easier for them. Does the narrative flow? Meaning, does it behave like you’re having a conversation or more like info vomit? Are you jumping from one main idea to another unrelated one, or is there a sensible step by step progression? Considering these types of questions can really help your website help you and your intended user better! If you need help with this, start from your end goal and work backwards.
Using myself website as an example: The goal of my homepage is to summarize how I can help my current and future clients.
Homepage flow BEFORE I answered the question:
I. What I do and who I serve
II. Who I am
III. My past work
IV. Call to action: Get started
V. Insights
VI. Instagram
VII. Subscribe
Homepage flow AFTER I answered the question:
I. What I do and who I serve
II. Who I am
III. How I can help (Services)
IV. My past work
V. Call to action: Get started
VI. Insights
VII. Subscribe
The first approach was just information overload! You could tell clearly who I was, what I do and how to work with me, but it doesn’t GUIDE the user through the journey of actually hiring me! It feels a lot like:
“Hi! I’m Celestine and I make websites. Here are some I’ve done in the past. You get the gist and probably don’t have any questions right?.. Just hire me now! Oh and look! I have a blog and you can find me on social too!”
The second approach is more like a conversation.
”Hey! I’m Celestine and I help brands with their websites. Here are some of my current offerings and the work I’ve done in the past. If you want to reach out, here are two painless ways to get in touch with me. And if you wanted to stick around a little longer, maybe you’ll find something valuable in my blog.”
Doesn’t the second approach drive it home so much better? There’s a flow and strategy to actually help the user find what they’re looking for, instead of dumping all this info with no direction or queues to follow!Optimize your images.
Ever visited a website and it’s so cool and sleek, but damn does it take forever to load! You can be losing on some serious interaction here. Optimizing images just means uploading the smallest file size without sacrificing quality. It also means applying SEO to your images so Google can index or find your content in the vast sea that is the web. To course correct, simply check your image sizes before uploading - if you can help it. If they’re already up, simply resize them smaller and reupload. There is a lot to unpack here so we’ll have to dive into more details in another post!Update your SEO
When was the last time you published or uploaded a photo and gave it extra treatment so people can find you? The simplest way I can explain SEO is that it’s a string of words and tags designated to pages and images on your site that drop breadcrumbs on the internet so Google (or any search engine) can find you. Using easy, searchable language (think of how your customer is searching for your content) really helps.
For example, I’ve added this string of words to each of my pages:
Page Name | Business Name - What I do, Where I’m located
Rationale: I use this format because I do business under my legal name, my title being a web designer, and because I’m targeting local businesses in San Diego
About | Celestine Fabros - Web Designer San Diego
Portfolio | Celestine Fabros - Web Designer San Diego
This helps Google to find me easier when someone searches for:
San Diego Web Designer
Celestine Fabros
Web Designer Portfolio
Or really any combination of these words
Again, there’s a lot to unpack here so I’ll dive in deeper in another post.
I know it’s crazy out there and things are uncertain. But hopefully you have some good takeaways from this post that can support your website and business during these trying times. I know a lot of us have to shift gears and work from home but my hope is that, if nothing else, this time can give us all the opportunity to revisit and reconnect with the things that matter to us.