Deep breath everyone – the school summer holidays are nearly over.
How have they been for you? If it’s anything like ours then you’ll have had children running wild during Zoom calls, water guns being sprayed everywhere and paint ending up on every type of surface imaginable!
It’s nearly time for a breather surely?
Yet it’s also a good opportunity to take stock of where your business is at the moment and where you want to go with it. Autumn is lurking in the sidelines, bringing with it the looming “C word” and the run-up to the festive period.
Spruce up your website
If you’re in the retail business, the last quarter of the year can be particularly exciting for you. In fact, Statista reports that UK retail spending during November and December is the highest in Europe.
If you sell online via your website then spend some time having a good look over it. Make sure all of your products are clearly presented, each of them with an image and description. How straightforward is the purchase process? Can all the text be read easily?
If you can, try asking a friend or family member to spend a few minutes looking at it. They may offer a fresh perspective, picking up on issues that you’d not considered.
But what if you’re not in retail? You’ll still want to make sure your website is spick and span. It’s the online face of your business and needs to present the best possible impression. If it’s slow to load, or fiddly to use, it could be putting potential customers off. Are you on the best package for your needs? Is there plenty of room for future growth?
Don’t get overwhelmed by it all though. There’s still time to start from scratch and get a whole new website designed if you like. Our Web Design team can have one built for you in as little as six weeks, so you can be up and running well before the end of year rush.
Check you’re compliant
In this short lull before peak trading, it could also be sensible to check that you’re still compliant with GDPR and other such regulations. The rules change quite often, so the situation may have changed since your last check.
Once the kids are back at school and you’ve got some peace and quiet (finally!), why not use our online scanner to check over your website and see if anything is missing?
Set some goals
Finally, why not give yourself a challenge by setting some business goals? Make sure they’re ones that are actually achievable, such as improving revenue by 5% or gaining 20 new customers by the end of the year.
You’ll need to decide how to measure them as well. Tools such as Google Search Console can help you monitor your website performance and see where your visitors are coming from, or how they’re finding you. This sort of information can be very useful in identifying the areas to grow your business in, or for planning future marketing campaigns.
Get some rest
Most importantly, as the long summer holidays draw to a close, make sure that you get some rest and are fully refreshed for the months ahead.
Give yourself a pat on the back for getting through it. Celebrate all that you’ve achieved and start planning what your next victories will be.
The kids may be going back to school now but, for you, the real work begins.
Best of luck!