Webinar recap: Updating your website? What to be mindful of before starting
Thinking of upgrading your website or buying a whole new one? Before you meet with any website developers, check out the highlights from our recent webinar, “Updating your website? What to be mindful of before starting,” to make sure you go into that purchase knowledgeable about what you want and what you need to be successful.
Watch the webinar below, or jump down to the highlights and key takeaways for a high level overview of the presentation.
Quick highlights
- Symptoms that your site is outdated:
- Poor SEO metrics like a high bounce rate
- Poor SEO implementation like poor content or missing meta data
- Design limitations
- Not meeting your business goals
- 60%+ of your website visitors are using their mobile devices
- Use free tools to understand your website’s current performance and opportunities for improvement
- Don’t forget to seek multiple design proposals before moving forward!
- Important elements for your site:
- Flexibility in design and management
- SEO-rich elements, like keywords, meta data, alt tags, etc.
- Site speed and responsive design
- CTAs and widgets
Key takeaways
- Your website must be responsive or at the very least have a mobile-friendly option
- You should have a seamless connection with your booking engine, meaning the colors, theme, and layouts are consistent and guests don’t feel like they’ve landed on a whole new website
- Get ready for a new site by:
- Implementing website tracking tools to understand your current site’s performance
- Create a content sitemap to organize your new design
- Determine your budget
- Your website should meet basic SEO standards
- Has website and revenue tracking, like Google Analytics
- Has the right meta data
- Gets an 85 on the Google Speed Test
- Is secure with an HTTPS
- Has a responsive design
- For a site with advanced SEO tactics:
- Have a continual Internet marketing plan
- Automated reporting
- Think about your business goals and the ROI of your website and design it with those in mind
- The three types of website solutions on the market:
- DIY websites like Wix or SquareSpace: ~$2,000 annually
- Templated websites: ~$2,000 – $4,000 annually
- Custom websites: ~$5,000+ and a one-time purchase
Conclusion
Before deploying a new website, it’s important to understand your options with design and types of sites and what elements your new site will need to be successful in today’s online world. Go into conversations with web developers with your business goals in mind and your budget.
Watch the webinar recording and view the presentation for a deeper dive into this topic.