Sizeable results now show some local companies do care.
We have been using this time during the Covid lockdown, to check out every single member’s website. The results were very surprising.
A large number of websites had not been updated for a long time, although the businesses are still operating. There could be many reasons, lack of funds could be a major factor, and somebody to do updates. Unfortunately there were a number of dead websites, due to all sorts of reasons.
When was the last time you visited your site?
Possibly not for a long time as results show. There is a website, customers can find the site. The results show that unless action is taken to spread the website address on social media, different types of Directories and a Blog, you will be hard to find.
Do you have a secure https:// or a http:// website?
Security is very important and Google and Bing will always rate websites with the secure https:// higher. In fact, http is a very old format, and a website could be penalised. Ask your hosting company or web support company to have the site upgraded.
Many websites are not meeting the minimum requirements for disclosure. No legal information like Privacy Policy, Terms of trading, Cookie Policy, etc. The requirements of GDPR are not being met.
Results show customers notice the difference.
It is a legal requirement that every website provides the visitor with the opportunity to accept all or some of the cookies used on every website. There are big penalties for non-compliance.
So what did we find?
Sites that did not have https. Forms that did not work, email links that did not work. No GDPR compliance. Very slow loading sites. Many sites had no sitemaps, Copyright year, and never updated. Address and contact details not up to date.
The listing in the Directory, have been not updated, wrong emails, no images, not enough content in the description, etc.
If businesses are going to survive this pandemic and have a future, then taking care of the website, which is one of the most important assets a company owns.
Before we forget, every listing now has a review section for visitors and customers to rate the listing. Every review is checked before publication. This does not effect the primary business website in any way.