This month I’ve been thinking about page speed (wait, please don’t go!). The latest research by Contentsquare shows that for every second your website visitors are made to wait, their satisfaction drops by 17% and rate of conversion by 20%!
Your website’s page speed is important not only because it keeps your increasingly impatient customers happier, but it’s also better for your website’s SEO as load time is one of Google’s ranking factors.
And of course, the faster your site loads the lower its carbon footprint will be.
I gave the PJWD website a spring clean this month. After removing a rather hefty image in the footer, I’m massively proud to have got my home page’s CO2 output down to 0.04g. This puts it in the top 4% of all sites tested on the website carbon calculator.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about this month’s newsletter please drop me a message.
Recycle your old blog content
Another useful part of a website spring clean is refreshing your old posts and deleting ones that are no longer relevant.
During my recent review I found an old favourite on ecommerce tips for small businesses which I originally wrote back in 2020. A few tweaks and updated references later, it’s back with a new lease of life.
To help you focus your efforts you can refer back to your website analytics:
- Posts with high traffic – Revise the content to better suit your current values and promote your latest offerings.
- Posts with low traffic – tighten up their SEO, include more of your current keywords and include internal links.
Read more blogging tips for small businesses
SEO Lesson 7 is now live!
Speaking of SEO, I’ve just launched the penultimate lesson of the SEO for Small Business course which is all about backlinks and growing your website’s reputation.
If all goes to plan, the final lesson (Using Google Search Console) will be online next month (at which point the early bird discount will end and the price will rise from £200 to £300).
I’m super excited to launch the full course next month and wish to thank my early birds for their feedback so far.
Dear Bo: How can I set up a website without a big budget?
Dear Bo, as Stockport’s finest web design hound, can you tell me if it’s possible to create a good site even if I don’t have lots of spare cash?
Dear Reader,
A DIY site is better than having no website at all. I’ve seen lots of people on Paul’s online SEO training course do just that!
Depending on your business and unique circumstances, it might make more sense to invest your available budget in getting your marketing plan or branding spot-on before investing in a site.
Totally cool.
Here are 3 things to think about if you go down the DIY route.
- Which content management system (CMS) will you use? Most people choose between WordPress and Squarespace.
- If you want an online shop, how will that work? You may want to look at WooCommerce, Shopify or Squarespace’s ecommerce functionality.
- Choose a good hosting provider. (I’ve given Paul some tips which he shared in this blog.)
If you need help or advice while you’re DIY-ing, you can pick Paul’s brain in a Power Hour or have him review your website and give you pointers on where to make improvements.
If you’d like to ask Bo a question for next month’s newsletter, drop us a message!
Elsewhere on the Internet
Going Amish
I loved the recent Channel 4 documentary The Simpler Life, which followed a group of people giving up their devices and living an Amish lifestyle for a summer. It was a very interesting experiment which found that without the constant digital distractions the participants measured a universal improvement to their physical and mental wellbeing as well as stronger relationships. (If you’re interested in the concept of digital minimalism, check out my series of posts on the topic!)
Time to ditch Google Analytics?
Google has announced its release for Google Analytics 4 and the closure of its existing Universal Analytics tracker in 2023. Whilst GA remains an ‘industry standard’, earlier this year an Austrian court deemed GA illegal and in breach of its GDPR laws. I personally recommend using a privacy-focussed alternative such as Fathom.
When online battles spill into the real world
It’s fairly widely acknowledged that Twitter doesn’t bring out the best in people. This article in the Guardian considers the polarising impact on politicians (and their very real-life influence on government policy) who must constantly traverse the social media battlegrounds to maintain their platform.