15 Ways to Make Your Website Do the Work for You

Let's talk about business.
When a client calls, do you answer it?  If a deadline is approaching and a project's not finished, do you stay late to complete it?  Do you post your store's hours on the front door so people can easily see when you're open?
I will assume you answered yes to all three of these questions being that you're a wonderful business person.
The question that begs answering then is why you wouldn't be this courteous and responsible when it comes to your brand's digital presence?
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself that may reveal some areas in which your business needs a bit of help and revitalization:

1. Are your hours, location, and contact information up to date on your website?
2. Do you utilize social media to propagate industry and company-relevant information?
3. Is your website's design up-to-date enough that visitors will perceive it as trustworthy, compelling, and helpful?
4. What is your one most important
   business objective in the digital sphere?
   1. How are you achieving this using your current online setup?Are there other means of providing useful resources and tools for your customers?  (ie Web applications, iPhone and Android applications, mobile applications, mobile websites)
5. Are your online marketing campaigns providing good returns?
   1. Are your Pay-Per-Click campaigns resulting in profitable conversions as opposed to fruitless click-throughs?
   2. Are you advertising on the right websites?
   3. Are you reaching your target demographics?
   4. Do you have good, solid landing pages?
   5. Have you begun utilizing social media as a means of advertising? (ie Facebook ads)
6. Are potential customers able to find your website by using a search engine?
   1. If not, why?
      1. Are you optimizing your website for ideal keywords?
      2. Has your developer structured the code of your website in a standards compliant, organized way?
      3. Take a look through these points for more information on search engine optimization.
7. How long does it take for your website to load?  Maybe it's time to have someone cut down the page's weight?
8. How frequently do you update your website with fresh content?
9. Do you use images well?
   1. Too many images can be distracting as well as slow the page speed down significantly.
   2. Too few images can make your pages boring and monotonous.
10. Do you use lists and headings to make content easy to browse and skim for your readers?
11. If there's a lot of content on one page, do you utilize javascript libraries to show
    and hide content as necessary?
12. Do you make good use of interactivity and user contributed information on your website?
    1. Can users sign up for your newsletter on each page?
    2. Can they generate quotes, submit inquiries, upload photos, change account information... In other words, are you helping them help themselves?  Are you giving them the tools that will pull them into your products and services?
13. Does it take 5 clicks to get anywhere on your website?  If so, it shouldn't. The most important information should only take one click to get to; make getting information quick and easy for your visitors.
14. Do you use various forms of digital media to get your point across?
    1. Take advantage of YouTube and Vimeo in particular for videos - both of these services use HTML5 videos that iPhones and iPads can view (otherwise, Flash videos will not work on these devices).
    2. Use social media outlets, they're a great way to remind people that your business is there to help.
    3. Create web, mobile, and native device applications that pinpoint, cater to, and solve your customers' problems.
    4. Do you blog?  Giving a little information away can be a great way to
       draw new clients and customers in.  This also provides users with a wayto follow your company via RSS.
15. And finally, do you fully realize the importance of your company's digital presence?  If not, it's going to be extremely difficult to make full use of your website, applications, advertising, and communications.  If you don't believe in what you're doing and the ways in which it can truly propel your business to the next level, you're going to have a tough time convincing your customers of it.