Part 2 of 2: Does your website need a little attention (or an overhaul)?

Hello!

Last week, I was reminded of the importance of colour choices when faced with white text on a yellow background. It was nearly impossible to read, and my eyes were not the problem!

Read on for more about this and other things to review and rethink when it comes to your website.

All the best,

#7 | 17 November 2024

Part 2 of 2: Does your website need a little attention? (or a complete overhaul)

In Part 1 of this newsletter topic, I covered responsive design, content quality, and design consistency. Now, let’s look at 3 more areas to consider: accessibility, search, and what’s happening in the back end of your website.

Accessibility

Just as accommodations are required (and the right thing to do!) to allow people with physical disabilities to navigate the physical world, your website should be accessible to everyone. A large percentage of people have disabilities, including physical, sensory, cognitive, and intellectual, that impact their use of digital media.

Accessible web design is a huge topic so I can’t cover it all in a newsletter, but you should know it’s vitally important and required by law for some websites (such as government sites).

Whether you’re required to meet accessibility standards or not, it makes sense to ensure your entire audience can use your website!

Three key elements to review

• Do your informational images have ALT (alternative) text for screen readers to read? 

  • Decorative images, on the other hand, should have an alt attribute with nothing in it (alt="") so the screen reader will skip over them

• Does your text have a strong colour contrast with its background colour (dark on light or light on dark)? Strong colour contrast for text is important for your entire audience, not only for people with visual impairments.

  • Use a tool such as the WCAG Color Contrast Checker to check your colour combinations

  • You may be surprised by what doesn’t pass! I changed my site’s button colours after using this tool

• On a desktop computer, can you navigate your entire site without using a mouse?

  • Click your mouse in the top left corner of the web page, then use only the tab key to move through your site and see if you can access everything

  • Press the return key to open a menu or link

Many more things can affect web accessibility. To check your website’s compliance with standards, try using a tool such as the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. You may also hire someone to audit and improve your site for accessibility.

Search results

Keeping your website up to date and your content fresh not only looks good, it can also help attract new and repeat visitors.

Do your web pages include the keywords that people use to search for your type of product or service? Take some time to research what keywords your target customers are using to find information in your industry or niche.

Search engines love relevant and searchable content. This is why content marketing is an effective strategy for drawing visitors to your website. The more content and pages your website offers, the higher search engines will rank your site.

Single-page websites have gained some popularity in recent years. While there may be some benefits to this approach, it could affect your site’s ranking in search results. See articles such as Single-Page vs Multi-Page Websites for more details.

Local SEO (search engine optimization) is important for any business with a physical location or serving a geographic area. Make sure your business name, address, and phone number are consistent across your site.

Behind the scenes

Beyond what’s visible on your website in a browser, it’s important to keep the inside of your website healthy, too. Here are some things to check:

• For WordPress websites, is your site on the latest version of WordPress?

• Are your plugins and theme up to date? Updates are often related to website security, so it’s important to do these updates regularly

• Do you have plugins installed that you’re not using? Declutter your dashboard

• How fast is your website? A slow-loading website can frustrate visitors

  • Google PageSpeed Insights is a tool you can use to monitor and diagnose performance problems

• Do you have a backup of your site’s content? It’s wise to back up your site regularly and store the backup files separately from your web host

Be sure to give your website routine care and attention so it’s a positive reflection of you and your business.

What’s on your mind after reading this newsletter? Reply to this email and let me know. If reading this on theowlsedge.ca, subscribers can log in and leave me a comment.

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