Welcome to the land of “zombie websites” – websites plagued by outdated, lackluster content that drains the vitality from your business’ online presence. Oh no!

Your website serves as the face of your business, often helping potential customers form their first impressions. But, the face of your business could just as easily scare them away! 

Symptoms of a Zombie Website

Fortunately for you, brave zombie-hunter, zombie websites are easy to spot. They exhibit symptoms like: high bounce rates (ooo!), dwindling traffic (ahh!), and low engagement (oww!). 

Imagine this: You enter a grocery store with dusty shelves and expired products. You’d turn around and leave without a second thought, wouldn’t you? This is exactly how visitors feel when they stumble upon your zombie website. 

Customers want a brand that is posting fresh content that looks towards the future. They trust a brand that demonstrates it’s here for the long haul, and is on the hunt for innovative new ideas! An outdated website not only repels potential customers but also stains your brand’s credibility. 

How to Revive Your Zombie Website 

Want to bring your website back into the land of the living? Well, then it’s time to clear away those cobwebs and perform some CPR on your content:

1. Search for Inspiration: To inspire your efforts, take a look at before-and-after examples of websites that transformed from lifeless to lively. 
2. Content Audit: Track down the areas of your website that need some life breathed into them. Identify outdated blog posts, old product or service descriptions, and irrelevant pages.
3. Refresh & Rewrite: Update your website’s content with the latest information and bring it into the modern era, while being careful to maintain your brand voice.
4. Optimize for SEO: Incorporate relevant keywords and meta descriptions to enhance search engine visibility. Fresh content is the Google algorithm’s favorite snack!
5. Enhance User Experience: Improve readability by using shorter paragraphs, clear headers, and opting for engaging images and videos. 

Measure the Success of Your Revived Website

How do you know if your efforts have paid off? Here are a few stats to keep an eye on:

• Organic Traffic: An increase in organic traffic shows your fresh content and SEO optimization is working.
• Bounce Rate: A decreased bounce rate indicates that visitors are engaging more with your content.
• Conversion Rate: Improved content often leads to higher conversion rates.

Consistency is key to your website’s success. Don’t stop here, either: you’ll want to regularly update your content to prevent a zombie website relapse. Remember, your website is your business’ digital identity. Don’t be an unhelpful bystander and doom your website to a zombie half-life. Be the hero who resurrects it from the dead!

Does reviving your zombie website feel like too much to stomach? That’s okay! Our Upswept Team of expert zombie-hunters is here to save the day. We’ve got an arsenal full of tools that are sure to bring your website back stronger than ever. 

That kind of energy is huge this time of year, in life and in business. We want to make the most of it, so it’s tempting to do ALL THE THINGS… and yet, you probably don’t have room to do ALL of the things right now, right?

So, if one of your big changes is about a redesign of your website, I’m going to suggest you pump the brakes for a second. (A web designer telling you to slow down with your website? What?!) 

Yes, seriously, because as excited as you might be to dive in, it’s worth your while to do a quick sanity check! There are a few big things to think about that’ll help you decide whether the time is Now or Not.

Is your website actually reaching your goals?

Think about it: if your website is doing the job it’s designed to do, then there might be other parts of your business that need your attention more.

If it’s not bringing you those leads or sales or email newsletter signups, though, then now is the time to fix that!

If you’re thinking, “What do you mean, goals?” then the answer is probably No. That also means you have some thinking to do! 

Before you start to redesign your website, you’ll want to know what results you want to see from it! Even a simple website plan can be a huge help for the web designer you plan to work with.

Does your audience know how to find what they need?

Outside of serving your goals, your website’s job is to give your audience what they want. So ask yourself: can they find it?

If you’re getting constant emails and phone calls with questions that you know your website is supposed to answer, your website likely does need a tune-up.

Or, maybe your website used to be a great fit! …But now it feels more like you’re trying to fit an entire circus’ worth of content into a tiny clown car. If you’ve outgrown what you have, it could be time for something new.

Does your website feel like a maze? Simply sitting down and planning your website can help you and your web designer get a handle on what content needs to be there–and what’s most important.

Does it look appealing to you and the people you want to attract?

I’ll be the first to tell you that even the prettiest, most dynamic website won’t sell a damned thing without appealing and inviting content. 

Even so, I’m not going to tell you that looks don’t matter, because, well, they do. 

Good content does a lot of the heavy lifting on any good website, but it can’t do any lifting if you’re embarrassed to show your website to anyone!

It may be high time to redesign your website if:

• it doesn’t visually align with the look of your other marketing materials
• the design doesn’t appeal to the audience you want to attract (note: the audience you want may not be the same as the audience you’re already getting!)
• the look and feel doesn’t fit with where you want your business to go next.

So, how much do looks matter to you? They could be a good enough reason for a redesign.

If you redesign your website, do you even have time to think about it?

This is a really hard question for small businesses, because we always seem to be busy! Still, even if you hire a professional to redesign your website, it’s still going to take some of your time.

Any good web designer will at least some of your time for things like:

• giving them a sense of what you want your website to look like
• telling them what you want your visitors to do on your website
• giving them feedback about whether things are headed in the right direction
• making sure all of the information that needs to be there is included.

If it’s your busy season, and you don’t even have 5 seconds to reply to your web designer with a thumbs up emoji, you might have to put redesigning your website on hold for a bit.

Do you know you’re too busy now, but want to make sure you don’t put it off? You can book a web design consultation now, and let them know when you’ll be ready to start! Your dream web designer may not even be able to start right away, but even if they are, no creative is ever going to complain about being booked out into the future.

If all of this talk about website goals and content has you reeling, my Simplify + Sell Website Planner is just the thing! Get your own copy, organize your thoughts, and get clear on your goals for the new year.

A team like ours is ready to help, but good web designers can get it done better and faster if you have a good idea of what assistance you need. 

Before you start vetting web designers or jumping on consult calls, let’s discuss how you can start outlining a smart plan for your website design.

What Exactly Do You Do?

If you’re thinking about a website, your initial thoughts might lean more towards design elements – colors, fonts, logos, et cetera. While these elements are certainly important (and we’ll get to them!), your offering should take center stage. 

Start your design mission with clarity about who you are, what you offer, and who will benefit from this offering.

What Exactly Should Your Website Do?

Consider your website as your virtual storefront. If someone were to walk into your shop or office, what kind of experience would you want them to have? Would you make a great first impression if a potential customer had to wade through piles of boxes just to get to you? Probably not!

A physical storefront exists to feature what you’re selling, and make it easy to buy. From the customer’s perspective, they want a place where what they need is within reach and easy to find. Your online storefront should have the same intentions. 

As you embark on your website design project, be clear about what you want your website to feature and how you want your potential customers to engage with you.

Put the “Fun” in “Functionality”

With your offering taking center stage, you should also think about how your new website can improve the experience you deliver to your client. 

Having your contact information accessible and easy to find is an excellent start. Perhaps there could also be questions you can add to a contact form to speed up the onboarding process.

Can your website eliminate some extra steps for the customer as well? Functionalities like online scheduling or payment portals can help them start working with you quicker. 

Online stores or e-commerce plugins can also improve the shopping experience if you’re selling products. Again: the goal is creating a clear path for your customer to get what they need.

Good Design Solves Problems!

Remember when I said we’d get to design elements earlier? Well, here we are! Smart, intentional design sets you apart from your competitors. A unique look or brand can also help attract your dream customers.

You may be thinking, “Geez, if design is so important, why’d you wait so long to bring it up?” If you’ve chosen a smart design team, their goal should be purpose-driven design. You want the look and feel of your website to support your mission and vision, and to guide your site visitors on a clear path through your site. Yes, the design should attract your ideal folks – but it’s your offering that should keep them engaged and interested.

All of this said: it definitely helps if you have at least a general idea of how you’d like things to look. If you already have a brand kit, complete with a logo and color palette, that’s a great start. 

Maybe you’ve seen other websites that inspire you (or turn you off!). Sharing these with your design team can get the creative wheels turning. Don’t be shy about letting them know about your likes and dislikes!

If a new or refreshed website is one of your 2023 goals, you know we’re ready to help! If you want an assist mapping it all out, our website planner is the perfect tool to get that started. Or jump on a consultation call with us! 

Still, with this July being the 32nd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, now is a good time to think about website accessibility, too. Some accessibility issues can get pretty technical, but there are some simpler ways to improve website accessibility that will help other folks in your audience, too.

Headings can improve your website accessibility.

Using headings throughout your website is just good practice, especially if you have a longer piece of content. Larger and more visually interesting headings help break up content visually for everyone, whether they have a disability or not. 

If you’re using a website builder, making the text “look nice” isn’t enough for website accessibility. If you see text options in your builder such as Heading 1, Heading 2, etc., you want to use them! Those Heading options correspond to their own special tags in the website code, so assistive technologies can recognize them as headings, making it much easier for folks to move through your website.

An added bonus of using headings properly: they can also help your search engine rankings! Using key search terms in heading tags is great for SEO.

Use descriptive link text.

“Click here” is a frequently used phrase for links on websites, and I’m here to tell you: that is precisely what NOT to do for website accessibility. 

People who rely on screen readers to navigate your website won’t know what the purpose of the link is or where it will take them, if you just use “click here” for your link text.

Instead, be descriptive with the link text you choose. For example, you can let folks know that they’re about to learn more about web design services. For buttons, you can keep it shorter but still give a clue about what will happen when they click, like saying Book a Consultation on a button that leads to your bookings calendar.

Check your color contrast.

Colors aren’t just for making your website look engaging and pretty–they also help your audience easily distinguish different pieces of content! However, when folks in your audience have color blindness, or even just have trouble reading dark text on a darker background, you can lose their attention pretty quickly.

This is why it’s important to choose colors carefully. If you’re working with a good web designer, then they’re hopefully checking for color contrast already! If you aren’t, there are some tools that can help, such as this color contrast checker, or even a Chrome add-on that lets you see like someone who’s color blind.

Use Alt tags on your images.

Something we’ve definitely noticed in web design trends is a reliance on photos and graphics. And hey, I get it. They’re eye-catching and inviting when done right! 

Unfortunately, screen readers can’t interpret photos and graphics used on your website. (sad trombone) That’s where Alt Text comes in! In short, alt-text describes the photo that a screen reader sees when it’s on your website. That way, folks with vision impairments can at least understand what’s in the image, even if they can’t see it.

And, just as with headings, using Alt tags on your images can also boost your SEO, so it’s definitely worth doing. Just look for an area in your website builder (such as WordPress) for a place to type in the short description of your photo.

This post isn’t an exhaustive list of ways to improve website accessibility, but I hope I’ve given you a few ways to help make sure your website is inviting in all of the people who are looking for you. To learn more about website accessibility, take a peek at ADA Site Compliance’s 20 Ways To Improve Web Accessibility. If you’re looking for help from a website pro, give us a shout.

Let’s be real, though: it’s not just a brand identity. It’s a first impression, an aesthetic, a mood, a visual representation of what we’re about. Making this change is not something we took lightly. Since branding is at the heart of our business, we asked our Creative Director/Benevolent Overlord Sarah Giffrow to give y’all a peek behind the curtain into our rebranding process.

Upswept Creative: What inspired the rebrand? And why now?

Sarah: I’m a little embarrassed to admit that this is something I’ve wanted to do for well over a year! I’ve been sitting with the feeling that our brand didn’t quite measure up to the quality of work Upswept has been providing for our clients. We’ve learned so much and worked to refine our skills and processes, and it was time to look at how we’ve changed, and how we can update our brand to better reflect that growth.

I think there just wasn’t enough space in my brain to really bring all of these ideas together until now. The stereotype about designers being too busy to work on their own brands or websites is very real!

UC: Walk us through the rebranding process. Where did you start?

SG: I started by thinking about what was working well for us, and what we wanted to see more of in our work and our clientele. Our values and overall mission were still on-point–the change and growth was more about who we want to design for. We’ve also worked on our brand voice and website copy within the last year. So, after looking at all of the various pieces, I knew it was the visual design that needed the most attention.

As far as visual design, the logo is where we like to start with our brand projects for clients, and it was the piece that really kick-started our own rebrand, too. I wanted to keep some aspects familiar–such as the teal color–but I definitely wanted the new logo to look cleaner and less literal.

UC: What was the most surprising part of the process? How about the most challenging (if you can pick just one part!)?

SG: The biggest challenge might have been keeping the finished logo under wraps for over two months! Our whole team was excited about it, and it was tempting to just blast it out everywhere, but we also knew we had to do this rebrand right. It was definitely worth taking the time to update our entire visual presence, which meant everything from our website to business cards to proposal templates. But, it did take a lot of patience!

UC: What advice would you give someone looking to rebrand or refresh their brand identity?

SG: Always, always start with your values. Businesses grow and change, and things are going to look different after 5, 10, or 20 years. And, well, what we want out of our work is also going to change, because that’s part of being a human being.

Does the mission you came up with when you started your business still make sense now? Does your visual presence reflect the nature and quality of the work you want to be doing? Looking at how far you’ve come, and where you want to go next, makes a powerful foundation for your brand decisions.

And, give yourself time and space. You’ll need time to do the work, and to really think about the hard questions, so plan for that. Block it out on your calendar, set aside that time, and make that commitment to yourself. You’ll also need to show yourself some kindness, because a change like this can be intimidating! It’s okay to take time to adjust to your new brand and the new way of thinking that often comes with it–as long as you make sure to plan for it.

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If our story resonates with you, but you’re not sure how best to start your rebranding process, we’ve got your back. We can help you make a plan for your business brand with a Two-Hour Strategy Session, if you’re just dipping your toe in the water. Or, book a consultation with us, and you’ll get a taste of how we can handle everything from top to bottom.

Making your website findable is one of the most difficult tasks in creative branding online. To be findable, your website needs to be search engine friendly. This is accomplished with a number of techniques under the banner of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. If you’re not familiar yet, take a look at my previous post on SEO Basics.

One simple technique is to create user-friendly URLs that permanently link to the different pages of your website. These URLs are ideally custom, short, easy to read, and use keywords that people are likely to search for when searching for your business. They should also be accurate to the information that’s on the page.

Sound like a lot of work?

It’s really not with WordPress. We do love building websites on WordPress, and one of the reasons is how easy it is for users to work with. Changing the URL naming conventions of your website is very straightforward, and making a custom URL for any given page is a breeze. This lets you name important pages of your website based on keywords people might naturally associate with your business. A page’s current permalink is located below the page title on the “Edit Post” page. Changing the naming conventions of every page automatically is found in Settings > Permalink Settings.

 Upswept Creative is a Portland based web design and creative branding company. Someone in need of web design services may use the search terms “website,” “professional,” and “Portland.” So, I commonly include these terms in custom URLs for different pages on our website – blog posts, service descriptions, even the main landing page. The more pages that have these keywords, the higher the search engine ranking will be for those specific terms.

If you need more guidance on where to start, Yoast is a tool that helps make sense of all this keywords business. It’s a WordPress plugin that outlines common  SEO techniques for each of your WordPress pages, and empowers you to take control and make adjustments to your site for better SEO. It allows you to define many different aspects of a page that directly affect how a search engine interacts with your website, like keywords, URL, and meta-description.

Identifying and defining aspects like keywords and meta-descriptions is closely tied to the core of your brand. Finding your brand center is what Upswept Creative specializes in, as well at the practical, nitty-gritty aspects of web design.

If you need some help with your website and SEO, we can help! Schedule your free consultation with us today.

STARTING OUT

Cherry City came to us with an outdated website, in terms of both content and design. The platform on which their site was built made it difficult for league leadership to post updates. Key information for a roller derby league would get buried in the design. Upcoming events like fundraisers, bouts, and recruitments  were hard to find. League sponsors were also not prominently featured, making sponsorship a less attractive prospect. That can be a big problem for a non-profit!

ROLLIN’ UP OUR SLEEVES

We knew we wanted to build the site on WordPress. This would be a big usability upgrade for Cherry City, and would help them keep  the site’s content fresh and up-to-date. But, we also had to consider how to organize the content in a more beautiful and less confusing way.  Upcoming events needed to be easily accessible, and presented in a consistent visual format.

We drew on our experience working with Portland’s roller derby league, Rose City Rollers, to find approaches that we knew worked with this kind of content. We knew that public bouts needed to be at the forefront of their online presence, so we made their games the star of the show. But, Cherry City also puts emphasis on recruiting, and makes a special effort to be a welcoming league that keeps its members and volunteers engaged, so we created space in their Events area to highlight Recruitment events as well.
Keeping track of Sponsors at different levels would be important to growing their sponsorship base. We also knew that the same individuals could be involved with multiple teams or committees. We created structures for both Sponsors and Team Members, so Cherry City could easily manage those details all in one easy-to-find place, instead of updating multiple pages.

THERE AND BACK AGAIN

To get the visual and functional improvements we were all looking for, we communicated regularly with Cherry City’s all-volunteer Board of Directors about our design inspirations. We shared with them our wireframes and graphic mock ups, ensuring that we were persisting in the right direction on the project.
After many rounds of feedback, and all of our tweaks made, we were happy to launch their brand new website near the beginning of April!  Their league leadership is quickly gaining comfort with the new structure we’ve built, and they’ll be able to keep their fans, future skaters and volunteers, and sponsors engaged with ease.

It’s All About The Interface.

How You Connect People and Ideas Can Make You Memorable.

Good Design Means Working Together.

“Real design does not have an end point. It is infinite; it is iterative.” #Webvisions

— Upswept Creative (@UpsweptCreative) May 15, 2015

Good Design Thinks About The Next Step.