Writing your website copy is flippin’ difficult so when you’ve finally got it into a place where you’re just about happy with it, why would you then go and review it? The short answer is because your business will adapt, grow and change so your website copy also needs to change. You need to review your website copy to make sure it’s still relevant.
And I’m here to help because reviewing your website copy is no mean feat. There are all those big important pages like your home page and services or the sales and landing pages that you’ve created over the years. Plus, more dynamic pages like your blogs. Or hidden pages such as thank you pages. It’s all a bit overwhelming and can be hard to know where to start.
It might be a tiny bit tempting to ignore it but you’re only making the job worse further down the line. Plus, writing your own website content (especially if you’re a copywriter) is so blinkin’ difficult.
Alright, that’s all the bad stuff. Now for some good bits.
Why you need to review your website copy
Copy will become outdated. Reviewing it on a regular basis will stop you having those cringe moments when you realise exactly how out of date your content really is.
Copy reviews will also help you keep your customer, purpose and mission front of mind. Going through and making sure it’s still relevant and sounding like your brand will help keep it on brand. It’ll also catch those little proofreading niggles you missed last time around. There will always be something that you miss.
And as you learn and develop, so does your business. You can add in more of what you know your future customers want into the copy. It doesn’t always have to be a big sweeping change. It could be little bits.
Your business will change
It’s inevitable that your business is going to change. Who you were last year is not who you are now. How your business helped clients a year ago is not as good as how you help them now. That’s normal and natural.
Imagine getting better in business, getting better results and not sharing that with anyone? Keeping it a little secret all to yourself. Nothing good comes from not sharing the amazing results that you get. So having a regular date with your website to make sure all that good stuff is on there for the world to see is pretty important.
Quarterly dates to review your website
It’s good practice to check in on your website once a quarter. Make sure that what you’ve written is still relevant and working for you. You’ll often find that what you wrote when you started at best makes you cringe and at worst makes you stop sending people to your website.
Checking in on what you say on those big important pages should be done about once a quarter. Most of these checks really need to be a quick glance of the pages and asking if that still represents your business, brand and offering.
At least once a year you should go through with greater care and make sure that what’s going on within the website as a whole is tip-top. It might be worth having a full content clear out, a bit of a spring clean up or a pre-Christmas emptying of the content cupboards to put off starting the Christmas shop.
When you do it depends on your business. I have quieter months in August and December so tend to do it in December. Mostly because my kids still live at home and tend to be knocking about in August. Website reviews need a bit of deep thinking. But make sure you set aside time for both reviewing the website and putting the changes in place.
How to review your website
You know why and when, let’s look at how to approach this mammoth task. These steps mostly apply to doing a deep dive but you can apply them to a quick once over as well.
1. Take it page-by-page
Don’t try and do it all at once. Start with your home page and as you read the copy, ask yourself:
- Does this page reflect my brand?
- Is the purpose of the page clear?
- Can a visitor find what they need right away?
- Is there clear options to take visitors to their next place?
- Does the page have a clear call to action?
- Does the language fit in with my tone of voice?
- Am I truly happy with what it says and the way it says it?
- Is it free from spelling errors?
- Is the language clear?
- Is there anything confusing on the page?
- Do all the links work?
- And do the images, graphics and videos all add to the content of the page?
- Finally, is the page missing anything?
2. Make a list of things you want to change
The trick here is to be super specific. So instead of writing down, “update the copy” you’ll write something like “make the first line call out the main customer problem” or “put more tone of voice into the whole page, it’s sounding pretty dry”.
For a deep dive, you really want to write down every last niggle and annoyance. Even if you suddenly hate everything on the page, make it a super specific list.
If your list is looking a bit light, get out your market research, customer needs, and brand values. Make sure these are all making sense together and that sense is translated to the webpage.
3. Split your list into urgent and can wait
Regardless of how long your list is, if you try and tackle it from top to bottom and all in one go, then you’ll soon lose enthusiasm and remember why you never do this exercise in the first place. Instead, pull out all of the urgent stuff and quick wins. These would be broken links, things not loading, spelling errors, and the glaringly obvious that you don’t want anyone to see.
Next, take a second list of the chunkier jobs like rewriting copy or restructuring the page. It might not be perfect to begin with but you want o make sure you get the changes made.
Often when I’m doing this job I find that if I make one significant change, I find five other pages that also need updating. An hour job turns into two days. I want you to avoid this, so when you’re looking at the big changes, take a moment to check how that links into other parts of the site.
If you spot big changes on those pages, try to ignore it until you get to them in your website review.
4. Crack open your diary
This is possibly the most important step: making time to do the work. Be realistic about how much you can get done in the time you have and then put in a meeting with yourself in your diary so that a. you do it and b. no one else tries to pinch that time from you. Then all you need to do is put the changes in place.
The hardships of the DIY approach
Sometimes we are our own worst editors. Re-reading your own copy is a hard thing to do. It’s a bit like sketching a self-portrait. How you look at yourself is different when it’s down on paper. And you just can’t get the curves and shade just right.
It’s the same with our writing. Others can see things in it that we cannot.
Having a second set of eyes look over your copy and ask questions about it is the best way of making sure your website is working its hardest.
Get a friend or someone you know through your business to go over your site. It helps if you can see their face when they do this. Are they looking confused? Do they have to read things a few times? Is it clear what they need to be doing?
Of course, friends and family will want to tell you it’s great and they love it. That’s because they care about you and your feelings. Get someone who you know will be honest with you. You can always book a content clear out and get the whole thing done for you.
And when everything is in place?
Sit back and admire your brand new website that you’re happy to share with people safe in the knowledge that you’ve booked in quarterly reviews to stay on top of future website changes.