Wow - it’s been a crazy week. So much has happened, it almost feels like we are all living on a different planet, right?

It has made me even more grateful to my online business and I feel weird saying that my day to day hasn’t changed much. Either than being able to stay even more time indoors!

One of the conversations I’ve been having with a lot of people during this time is using this time for introspection and tending to your house, family, and maybe those things you keep putting off.

And one of those things on that list might be refreshing your lovely website.

Of course I decided to create a video for you, walking you through my own behind the scenes process for updating + improving my website.

I’m actually planning in the next few weeks to take a good look at my site copy, keywords, and the overall flow of things.

Watch and enjoy!

If you prefer just audio, you can also listen to the podcast version here:

Here are the steps for doing a website review:

1) First define what kind of review you want to do for your site

Getting clear on what you want to specifically review on your site is important.

The review might be:

Technical
Copy + Keywords
Overall Site Flow

Once you’ve decided what you want to review, make a list of which pages are you going to focus on changing. If you want to do them all, make sure to list the order of the pages, based on priority.

Also decide how much time you want to give yourself to make these changes. I usually do about a week to two weeks, depending no how big the changes are. Putting a timeline is helpful, since it gives me a deadline and something to work around my schedule. It also help me really look at things with a critical eye and focus on the changes that I think will produce the most impact.

2) Do an ideal audience check

This is a great time to revisit the Search Persona exercise (blog post + worksheet download here). Who do you feel called to help with your website and business? Why?

Also, where are you going next with your business? What are your goals in the next 90 days? This year?

Thinking about all this will help you make sure that the content you create is actually relevant to your overall marketing, services and/or products.

Ideally, your website should be aligned with the rest of your business, not isolated from it.

3) Set your intention for this page and the site overall

For the final preparation step, think about your intention behind these changes. How do you want people to feel when they visit your site?

I like to pull an oracle card here since it helps me really think about the whole experience of my site.

If this isn’t your vibe, that’s totally fine.

Doing this pre-work is crucial to making the right changes on your site.

Ok - time to start reviewing!

4) Open the specific page or pages you want to update.

Review each page top to bottom and make notes about anything you’d like to change.

This might be:

Specific copy
Images
Headings
Adding text
Removing text
Changing the Call To Actions at the end of each page
Adding more internal links to the page

Whatever changes come to mind, just note them down and keep reviewing. This can be on a piece of paper and/or digital document.

You might be tempted to actually make the changes now but I recommend first doing the complete top to bottom review. This way, you can really focus on the overall flow of the page.

5) Keyword Research

Now that you’ve got a sense of what changes you want to make to the page, take a look at what keywords you are targeting on this page.

You can open up your Search Console here to also start getting keyword ideas.

If it’s a main site page, like your Home Page, About Page, or Services, you will probably be targeting your name, business, or brand name.

If it’s a blog post, then you’ll be targeting the specific keywords or phrases related to that topic.

Again you can use the Search Console to look at which keywords are already ranking on that page.

Once you see which keywords are naturally ranking, you can decide to use them more intentionally by including them in the Title, Meta Description, and Body of the page.

You can also introduce new keywords, if you think they are relevant to that page. This post teaches you how to search for keywords.

Once you are done deciding the changes you want to make here, make sure to document as well.

6) Draft all changes in a Google doc

Maybe many of you are tempted to go ahead and make those changes immediately. And if you are only changing things like the Title, and Meta Description, then yes, making those changes right away is fine.

For bigger changes like adding copy, moving images, and improving the overall structure of the post, I recommend drafting it in a document.

This gives you time to sleep on the changes and looking at it the next day.

You don’t want to wait too much but giving yourself at least a day to draft changes and take a look will give you fresh eyes. This will ensure that the time you spent doing all of this is really producing powerful results.

While you’re waiting, you can use the time to bring together elements you need for the page like new images, code (sign up or opt-in forms), all those things that you do rushed last minute, you can take your time doing now and putting them in one place so they are ready to go once you update the site.

7) Review the draft

So you’ve slept on the draft and come back to it. You’ve reviewed it again and decided that all looks well (and maybe added a bit more to the page).

And since you have everything to go, it feels like you have all the ingredients to the perfect recipe, instead of having to do a mad dash to the supermarket (you know what I’m talking about!).

8) Update site!

Finally - we are ready to make the changes to the site!

You add new content and images, but you also take your time with formatting headings, making certain words bolded, and creating space between paragraphs.

Doing it this way gives you the breathing room to focus on these details, instead of rushing through it.

Bonus Step: Ask for feedback

This is kind of a bonus step but it is also useful to get a second set of eyes on your page. Please make sure to ask someone who truly understands your industry (don’t ask your dog! unless maybe you have a dog website).

It might be a coach, mastermind, or even one of your ideal clients.

Be specific when asking for feedback and send them the specific page that you want reviewing.

Also give yourself time to incorporate any new changes you get from the feedback.

Last thing I want to mention is to make sure to set a date for when you will come back to the site.

Many of us abandon our sites until they’ve collected way too much dust and instead this might be something you update quarterly.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should reflect your current goals and be inline with who you want to attract.

Let me know in the comments what parts of your site you are wanting to update right now! Accountability and sharing your goals make them more reality.

Happy site updating!

Website Review: How to review your own site