Spring Cleaning Your Website: A Small Business Guide

Your website is one of the first impressions of your business for new customers. If it's slow, cluttered, or outdated, it could be quickly driving them away. Cleaning up your website isn't just about making it visually appealing — it's about improving user experience, site security, and search engine performance. Here’s a quick guide to help small business owners refresh their websites and keep them running smoothly.

Audit Your Website

Before making changes, figure out what’s working and what needs improvement.

• Check website performance: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to measure how fast your site loads. A slow website is frustrating for users and it will hurt your rankings on search engines.

• Review analytics: Google Analytics can show which of your website pages get the most traffic and which ones users bounce from quickly. This will help you prioritize which updates should be made first.

• Scan for broken links: Broken links create a poor user experience and they can have a negative impact on your SEO. Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs  to identify and fix them.

Remove or Update Outdated Content

• Refresh old blog posts: If you have blog posts that are old and outdated, update them with new information or merge similar blogs to avoid redundancy.

• Delete irrelevant pages: If you have services or products you no longer offer, remove or redirect those pages to another page on your site.

• Fix outdated contact info: Make sure your phone number, email, and business hours are current.

Improve Website Speed

• Optimize images: Large image files slow down your site. Compress large images using tools like TinyPNG or ShortPixel. Most experts recommend images no larger than 500KB or 2MB, images larger than 20MB can drastically slow website speed.

• Minimize plugins: If you use WordPress or another CMS, deactivate and delete unnecessary plugins that are running.

• Use a content delivery network (CDN): A CDN helps load your site faster for visitors in different locations.

Improve SEO and User Experience

• Simplify site navigation: Make sure users can find what they are looking for in three clicks or less.

• Improve mobile responsiveness: Over half of website traffic comes from mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you are likely losing customers. If you need assistance with improving the mobile experience with your website, the team at 4 Paws Marketing is happy to help. 

• Use clear calls to action (CTAs): It should be easy for visitors to take action on your website, whether it’s contacting you, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase.

• Update meta tags: Check that your title tags and meta descriptions are optimized with relevant keywords to improve visibility in search results.

Strengthen Security and Maintenance

• Update software and plugins: Outdated software makes your site more accessible to hackers. Run regular updates to keep it secure.

• Set up regular backups: Use tools like UpdraftPlus so you are able restore your site if something goes wrong.

• Enable SSL: A secure site (https://) protects user data and will build trust with your site visitors.

Need Help? Four Paws Marketing Has You Covered

Spring cleaning your website can be a lot of work, but you don’t have to do it alone. Four Paws Marketing specializes in digital marketing for small businesses, helping you create a high-performing website that attracts and converts visitors. Whether you need a site overhaul or ongoing maintenance, we’re here to help.

Let’s get your website in top shape! Contact us today to learn more.