What do you immediately think of when you hear the word “Spring”? Flowers? Thunderstorms? Cleaning? If you’re like us, it’s the latter.

We find Spring to be the perfect time to get our digital ducks in a row. We’re no Marie Kondo, but we’re all about helping clients put their most polished, organized foot forward, too. That often starts with a site audit and subsequent cleanup.

Make sure your website is in full bloom. These five simple steps will showcase the best your site has to offer this season…and beyond.

1. Start with the home front (page).

The most logical place to start is at the beginning. In this case, it’s your website’s homepage. As the most visited page on your site, its ability to make or break your brand cannot be overstated.

Done right, your homepage is an effective sales tool that can help grow your business by leaps and bounds. And when you only have about 15 seconds to get it right, it pays to pay attention.

The single most prevalent layout we see is a scrolling homepage – and for good reason. It gives visitors the opportunity to learn more about your brand without having to click around. It’s also an ideal design for your mobile site. The receptivity among browsers proves that scrolling layouts are simple, easy, and aesthetically pleasing.

2. Update your copy.

Whether you’re switching to a scrolling site or updating one, you’ll want to give your copy a refresher. It’s an effective way to increase your SEO and improve your search ranking. Plus, a lot can happen in a year. Make sure you’re adding any new press you’ve gotten or awards you’ve been given.

3. Upload video content.

Interactive content can be a nice brain break for site visitors. Many sites accomplish this by incorporating video content like GIFs into their landing pages.

Some estimates suggest doing so can increase your conversion rates by 80% or more! Whether you’re showing off products or people on your team, this kind of visual content is captivating and a nice change of pace from the wall of words they’re confronted with on most other sites.

Just make sure to loop video clips to about 5 seconds. It’ll cut back on your load time while helping them appear longer than they really are.

4. Check your links.

Broken links are just plain unprofessional. But if your web host changes its code often (cough, cough WordPress) then the links and content you currently have could stop working without warning.
The best way to catch, and fix, broken or outdated links is to do an annual check.

5. Revisit your titles and tags.

Algorithm changes. They impact us all, but they don’t have to become a source of worry.

No matter which flavor of the week the search engines are prioritizing, some content is a necessary evergreen that may require a bit of pruning.

At a minimum, you should use this Spring to revisit and refresh your:

• Title tags
• Meta keywords
• H-tags

Though browsers may remain wholly unaware, this labor of love is what ultimately marries their search queries with your brand.

As a Dallas digital marketing agency, we’ll take any opportunity to organize our online presence and suggest you do the same this spring.

Need a hand cleaning up? Let us help your site shine.