4 Powerful Strategies to Kick off Your Website Optimization in 2023

While it’s tempting to get carried away with pretty design ideas and trending website features, in the end, your target audience cares about one thing — and one thing only …

Themselves.

Yep. When your ideal client visits your website, they’re there for one reason: To look for a solution to their problems.

So, if you’re a business coach, your website visitors are likely to peruse your site because they’re looking for a business support aid.

In this case, your website needs to effortlessly convey that you’re the right person that can solve their “problem” — which is, answering their questions and helping them grow their businesses.

If you sell handmade one-of-a-kind dresses, then prospects likely visit your site searching for unique, artisan-made dresses. That means your site needs to showcase why you're the one for the job — or in this case, why they should invest in your dresses over other designers'.

With that said, there are several website optimization strategies you need to take seriously if you want to create a website that serves your ideal customers.

If you’re ready to revamp your site to prepare for 2023 visitors, we have a treat in store for you.

In today’s article, we’re covering four powerful strategies to kick off your website optimization in 2023.

Ready to discover what they are?

Let’s begin!

 

1. Use site design to enhance the user experience

Your site design is the glue that holds the user experience together — but we’re not talking about colors, bells, and whistles.

No, we’re referring to the way you structure your website for your visitors.

Here are a few key things to keep in mind when structuring your website.

 

Intuitive design (aim for seamless navigation)

Does your website look overwhelming? Confusing? Busy? If so, you might lose visitors before they even find out what you do or how you can help them.

To keep visitors on your site longer, create your site with them in mind.

From navigating tabs to consuming content to signing up for your email newsletter, make sure every aspect of your site feels intuitive and easy-to-use. Put yourself in their shoes — how intuitive does your website really feel?

 

Readability

Piggybacking on our previous point, take inventory of every detail you have on your site, including buttons, tabs, images, and copy.

Review each detail and consider the following questions:

• Can you read and see everything well?
• Do your images look crisp and load quickly?
• Can you see important information clearly? Can you access it easily?

 

Clear value offer

Does your website accurately portray what you do for a living and who you serve? What about your prices, solutions, products, and/or services?

Whether you sell digital products, physical products, or whether you run a service-based business, make sure visitors can quickly understand:

• What you do
• Who you work with
• How to work with you
• What you specifically sell and how to invest in or buy it
• Why your service or product is special
• Why they should choose you over a competitor
• How you solve their pain points — and why you care

 

2. Enhance your site’s security

While websites used to be able to get away with poor security practices, in 2023 and beyond visitors expect nothing less than a secure experience.

In fact, inspecting a website to make sure it's safe has become a common practice visitors — or their digital security tools — do before moving forward to digest a site.

For instance, making sure your website starts with “HTTPS” is one of the most basic security measures audiences expect to see.

Check out this example from Delta 8 brands, Delta Remedies to see what we mean:

 

 

In this example, you can see that Delta Remedys’ complete website URL is: “https://deltaremedys.com/”.

This demonstrates Delta Remedys’ commitment to building a secure site for its website visitors.

Here are some other ways you can enhance your site’s security:

• SSL-enable your site with a business validation SSL certificate
• Use a secure payment gateway system if you sell products on your site
• Make sure your web host has security policies stating it regularly runs security monitoring programs as a proactive measure

 

3. Use SEO-friendly coding (and other SEO best practices)

You can’t have solid website optimization without implementing SEO-friendly coding and strategies.

Here are some of our top SEO optimization tips for websites:

 

Optimize for mobile devices first

In Q2 2022, mobile devices (except for tablets) generated 58.99% of global website traffic.

That’s why it’s important to optimize your website for mobile devices first.

What should you keep in mind when optimizing for mobile? Speed, clarity, and an intuitive design.

Take Digits as an example, a company that offers digital solutions that allow businesses to create accounting reports:

 

 

In this example, you can see how simple and clean Digits’ website looks on mobile.

It’s easy to read, feels intuitive, and works quickly and seamlessly.

Had Digits tried to mimic its desktop version, it would’ve created a crowded, jumbled mess on mobile (seriously, go give the desktop version a peek to see what we mean).

 

Add a blog tab and create killer blog content (or revamp your current blog)

Blogs present incredible opportunities for optimization, so if you don’t have one, consider creating one and adding it as a website tab.

Whether you’re creating a new blog or revamping your current one, boost your site’s SEO by planning (and/or refreshing) each article with user intent in mind.

For instance, take a look at telematics system and software company, CalAmp’s blog:

 

 

On CalAmp’s blog, each article targets a specific keyword based on search intent, such as “fleet management system”, “fleet safety”, and “asset tracking”.

When Google and other search engines see that you’re writing content based on their searchers’ most sought-after answers, they’ll not only begin ranking your articles, but they’ll also raise your site’s domain authority score.

Another key SEO element search engines look for is blog posts that deliver tremendous value.

This is especially important if you’re writing articles that cover more complex topics, like change data capture or engineering concepts, for example.

For instance, take a look at the following article:

 

 

If you skim through this example article, you’ll notice the author breaks down everything their reader needs to know about change data capture, including what it is, how to use it, and key benefits.

The author also includes graphics to further crystallize the information in readers’ minds as well as a table of contents so readers can skip ahead to specific sections — a search-friendly article indeed!

 

Use SEO-friendly coding

Don’t forget to keep SEO coding practices in mind when building your website.

For instance, since Google prefers HTML over JavaScript, try to minimize using JavaScript code — or at the very least, try to strike the right balance between using HTML and JavaScript.

It’s also important to remember that site speed is a ranking signal.

That’s right!

That’s why it’s essential to optimize design and coding for higher speeds.

To monitor your website’s performance and adjust accordingly, use performance testing software, like JMeter.

 

4. Personalize your website copy to your target audience

Remember when we said your target audience only cares about themselves?

That’s an essential truth to remember when planning your website copy.

Whether you’re breaking down your packages, how to work with you, or how to make a purchase, always keep your audience in mind.

For instance, if you sell skincare products and your most beloved skincare set is your melon mango anti-aging bundle, be sure to highlight that kit on your product page front and center and describe why your audience loves it.

Better yet, add a raving customer testimonial below it!

Or, if you market to eco-conscious Gen Zers, be sure to showcase how your product or service prioritizes eco-friendly initiatives.

It’s also important to pay special attention to your tone and language choices so you don’t alienate any website visitors.

For instance, aim for a 6th-8th grade reading level when writing your copy (use The Hemingway App to check your readability score) so you can make sure your website copy caters to the average reading level.

 

Wrap up

From effortlessly designing the user experience to implementing SEO best practices, there are several strategies you need to keep in mind if you’re serious about kicking off your website optimization in 2023.

Luckily for you, we’ve given you a leg up with our top four powerful website optimization strategies.

Are you ready to create a website that serves your ideal customer? We hope today’s article has given you the confidence you need to prepare your site for 2023 visitors.

And that’s it for today, friends.

To your success!

 

Author Bio:

Ioana Wilkinson

Ioana is a freelance content writer and SEO strategist for B2B and B2C brands specializing in Business, Digital Marketing, SaaS, Tech, and Mental Health. Born in Transylvania, raised in Texas, and transplanted to Barcelona and Mexico, Ioana’s most recent move has taken her to windy Oklahoma City.