If your website is starting to show its age or isn’t quite up to the standard of where you think it should be, it might be time to improve it. One major issue with this is that it can be quite tough to know what to change. You know that you want to improve your website, but where do you start?

Your first thought might be that the best way forward is to have an entirely new website built from scratch. While this may be the best solution for some, there are many small changes that could be made to improve your website that are both quick and easy compared to a complete overhaul – saving you a lot of time and money.

Here is a list of 13 tips that our Wigan web design team has compiled to help you improve your website.

Shorten your menus

A menu with a large amount of links under them can make it more difficult for users to find what they’re looking for. This can be frustrating to users resulting in a higher risk of losing potential clients. If you have over ten links under one heading, consider moving some of them elsewhere to help the ease of use on your website.

Create ‘Call to Actions’ on all pages

Adding a call to action on every page can help you to guide a user to the information that you want them to see, whether it’s to direct them to your portfolio, contact page or encourage them to buy a product or service. In the form of stylish buttons or images, this has the added benefit of improving the look of your website and the ease of navigation to pages the user wants to find.

Add contact details on your home page

This may seem obvious, but there are many websites out there that have hard to find contact information hidden on a sub-page somewhere. There are many users that could be navigating to your website with the sole intention of contacting you; therefore you should make this information as prominent and easily findable as possible – displaying your phone number and email address in the banner or footer for example.

Display your opening hours

Along with contact details, the times at which you’re available to be contacted or your business opening hours are just as important as this is simple information that is commonly wanted by potential customers so make it easy for them to find.

Create an ‘about us’ page

Having an about us page on your website is very important. If potential clients are going to use your services, then they’ll want to know a bit about who is behind the branding and company name. You shouldn’t add just information about your qualifications (although it is important!) but also add some personal details. For example add photos of your employees with small paragraphs about what they do in their spare time. This shows the faces behind the company and can start to build a client’s to trust you and your business.

Integrate a map or ‘find us’ feature

Another piece of information that users may want to find is where you or your business’s stores are located. It is possible to implement a widget that upon imputing an address can provide directions directly to you. This shows that you care about making information as easy as possible for your users to find.

Make your website easy to navigate on mobile devices

The amount of mobile and tablet devices has been rapidly increasing over the past few years. With such small screen resolutions it can be frustrating for mobile users to navigate a website designed for a much larger desktop resolution. There are existing tools available to build mobile friendly versions of your website. Alternatively you could hire a designer to help create a fully functional mobile site.

Remove unnecessary features

If you’ve ever been on a website that blasts music out at maximum volume while you try to find a mute button, you’ll understand how annoying this can be. Remove any unnecessary splash pages or music, and ensure that any embedded videos do not automatically play as this can be distracting and annoying to users – likely resulting in them leaving your website.

Add social media buttons

With the rise of social media it’s a good idea to add social features onto your website, helping your customers connect with you and your businesses and recommending you to their friends. Consider adding ‘share’ and ‘like’ buttons on your website to promote the sharing of your content, and possibly add Twitter or Facebook feeds into your website to communicate more effectively.

Create additional and relevant content

Adding relevant and up to date resources to your website can keep people coming back to find out more information about the industry that you work in. This can include how-to guides, reports and surveys or even a blog to let people know what your business is up to. Increasing the relevancy of your website is a great way to have your website perceived as high quality with more people spending larger amounts of time on your site.

Display testimonials

Your existing customers can be quite influential by providing reviews of how using your business benefited them. Providing testimonials on your website can go a long way towards convincing prospective clients to trust you.

Decide the purpose of your website

Think about the overall purpose of your website and why it exists. Once you know exactly what you want your website to do you can start to restructure it to maximise the potential of the website as it works to accomplish that target.

Talk to us!

If you’re struggling with getting the most out of your website, it may be worth considering external help to bring in new ideas and experiences. At Nexus Websites, our friendly and knowledgeable Wigan web design team are always on hand to give advice and offer solutions to meet your needs.

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Bespoke Website Design

Established in 2010, Nexus Websites are a creative digital agency based in Wigan working with clients all over the UK. With a vast range of experience and a proven track record we have everything you need to take your business to the next level.