End of summer is the perfect time for starting new things. Kids go back to school, adults come back from their vacation with new energy, eager to start new projects. Despite the fact that nature is calming down and preparing for a period of hibernation, it seems as if people get a wave of new energy and will to do new things. In light of that atmosphere, consider some of these suggestions to update your business in this period of creativity.
Health-check your SEO
As you might already know, having an SEO strategy is vital to staying in the game when it comes to small and medium sized businesses. Having implemented a strategy, however, does not mean you can just check that box and forget about SEO. Unfortunately, there is always something to do for your SEO. This is why health checks are extremely important. Make sure to do them on a regular basis and the best way to do so is to add it to your business plan. Time goes by quickly and it is extremely easy to lose track. On the other hand, when your calendar says it’s time to check SEO, you will know and not have to think about it at other times. A regular part of a health check should be list of key words and phrases. It is possible that some of them will become obsolete over time and new ones should be added. Simply doing this check will make a huge difference in the way you do business and it is not that big of an effort.
Check out the competition
This is also something to put in your business calendar. It is an activity that should be done on a regular basis. However, it is encouraged to do it at the same time as keyword checks. These two issues are connected as they both demand research. This one should be more extensive than the first as you need to cover a number of topics or sections. It is best to document your research, so start by making some sort of a sheet or a table where you would list all the categories in which you would like to compare businesses. You can choose the top ten, fifteen or twenty businesses in your domain, including your own, of course. Make notes of all the pros and cons for each category and, in the end, see where you stand. Numbers and charts don’t lie so this is a quite efficient way to assess the state of your business. Once you have it all listed, you can draw some significant conclusions and determine the course of action. The good thing about this activity is that it motivates other activities. It is step zero for what comes next.
Boost your visuals
How old are the photos you are displaying on your UI? If the answer is more than a year, you definitely need to upgrade the media content of your website. Have you heard of the power of 3D rendering, augmented reality…? The best way to capture people’s attention is through visual aids, so you need to prioritize eyesight among all senses of your potential customers. Hire professionals that will photograph your product, people and work their magic on those photos. Spare no expenses when it comes to this topic since it is a very important one. Just imagine yourself as a customer and see how important it actually is to visualize what you want to buy. Not only that, but visualizing any content that you find attractive will instantly increase your affection to the product and the brand you are researching.
Cut the extra talk
Another thing you could and should do is revision of content. This is especially important if your business has been around for a while. Standards are different now than they used to be. People are also different. Our attention span is decreasing with time. This decrease is particularly visible when you compare generations. This is why you need to adjust your content to the current situation among the people. This means cutting all extra information. Go through all your textual content and butcher it. Keep only the most concise version. People don’t have the time or will to go through some long texts from which only one piece of information can be extracted and summarized in one sentence. If that is the case, summarize it yourself and keep that version. This is guaranteed to have a more positive effect on the readers.
Hire a control group
This may sound like quite a high expense, however, the benefits are quite immense, too. Hiring a test group is a great way to validate your new feature. This is an ace up your sleeve whenever it is time for big decisions. Once you are about to launch a new feature, gathering your control group will tell you everything and, if they dislike your idea, it may save you a lot of money. Of course, the main trick is to choose the members adequately. You need to choose people that are accurate representatives of a random sample of your target audience. This is a very challenging task, but if you manage to do it right, it will turn into a powerful force. It is definitely the best way to check whether a new feature you are developing is going to test well or poorly, thus it will help you act accordingly.
Basically, whichever aspect of your business you choose to focus on should not be in vain. It is important to use this time to do something new. Keep in mind that all competitive businesses will do something new and your goal is to stay ahead. If these ideas do not appeal to you, you can always think of something new. The only thing you cannot do is maintain the current state. So, make sure to do something, anything is better than nothing. Either way you would be moving forward.
