The start of a new year is a perfect time to review brand and marketing collateral for potential updates and optimizations, and what better place to start than your website? Devices, technology, and user behaviour change regularly, so staying current is critical. Here are some ideas for staying up to date.

• Refresh Content: Update your website with fresh content, ideally every month or at least once a quarter. The content refresh should always be SEO-optimized to increase search ratings and provide visitors with the most current information.
• Streamline Navigation: Take a close look at website analytics to understand the consumer journey, entry, engagement, and exit points on the website. Streamlining the consumer journey based on analytical data can increase time-on-site and conversions exponentially.
• Product Information: Most websites have a product or services page, which is essential for consumers to interact with the website. Keep your product or service information current with the latest terms and conditions, stock updates, rates, discounts, etc. Tracking should also be updated based on the consumer journey.
• Security Updates: This is one of the most important factors for website stability. Run scans on your website, check for any domain or server issues, keep the SSL updated, remove spam from the website, and do a security audit at least once a month.
• Social Media Integrations: Update and correct social media icons and links from your website to your social media properties. For example, many websites still use the old “Twitter” logo instead of updating it to X.
• Backups: Before making any significant changes to the website, secure a backup. Websites with considerable traffic and engagement should be backed up periodically, at least once a month, if not more frequently.

There are other optimizations that can help to ensure a top-notch website experience. This short list is a guide to helping you plan your updates and make your website a top business priority in 2024.

(Digital Digest/Business Digest is a continuing series provided courtesy of the MPE Caribbean Report, which offers travel and tourism news weekly. It is published by US-based integrated marketing agency Marketplace Excellence, which has an office in Richmond Hill, Ont. www.marketplaceexcellence.com)