By Jean Steckler
When redesigning your website, you may see a temporary drop in search engine rankings and web traffic, which makes many cautious about major redesigns. However, an unprofessional, unpolished website communicates the wrong message to prospects, leads and customers and is a good long-term investment. Consider how well your site educates your prospects, leads and customers. Does the design and writing style provide creditably and trust?
Think about the average life span of your laptop. For many of us, we budget a laptop replacement every three years. Given the rapid deployment of web technologies, it often makes good business sense to audit the company website on a similar three-year cycle.
When auditing your website, consider the following 5 guidelines.
1. Content Management System – technical platforms & business workflows
How easy is it to launch new products on the site? How many people are directly involved and how many contribute to the review process?
2. Responsive Design
Does the website load and view well on multiple devices – desktops, notebooks, and smartphone browsers? If Flash had been used extensively in the existing website design, consider upgrading to HTML5 to improve download speeds and device independence.
3. Design and use of photography
Does your site use a consistent color palette that complements your branding and logo?
4. Home Page Checklist
- Headline – what the site offers
- Subhead – value statement
- Call to Action
- Hero Image
- Audience (who benefits)
- Features and Benefits tailored to each audience
- Secondary Call to Action
- Navigation
5. Secondary Pages Checklist
- Breadcrumbs or Location Marker
- Headline
- List presented in accordion displays for quick scans
Oracle is making a major overhaul of their B2B website, starting with Human Capital Management section of the site. The site is getting great reviews on its focus on making the buyer the hero rather than self-promoting Oracle. The design is clean and information is easy to digest and scan. The information is well organized around their users’ roles with plenty of educational materials to help users sell their products to their colleagues in their companies. And at all times, users can reach out to Oracle through the ever-present calls to action through calls, chat, and web forms.
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