How to make an existing website better

First, recognize that having a website is an ongoing exercise. You should plan on repeatedly taking it apart to some degree or other and then reassembling it, in better shape. This is, with doubt, the RIGHT way to manage a website, over the long term. That said, what specifically can one do to make a site better, right now?

Reconsider and refine your purpose

This WILL change over time. Critique your site and its contents, relative to the purpose(s) you settle on. Be ruthless in your evaluation, else your visitors do it for you. Make certain the site serves your purpose(s). Write down that purpose, for future reference – and to remind yourself, as time passes. Schedule a periodic review – say every 6 months.

Rework each piece of writing on your site.

If it’s worth having there, it’s worth updating, revising, reworking. This is what good writers do, and it’s not because they don’t know what they’re doing. It not only makes the writing better, it also makes the writers better!

Simplify

Break complex pieces into smaller, better labeled pieces. This will improve user access to your content. Website visitors simply choke if they’re not fed small bites.

Rewrite headings

Most people’s headings are unclear, off topic, and just not useful. Basically, if your headings cannot be used, as is, to outline your piece, they must be rewritten until they can.

Study up on Internet writing

Read Jakob Nielsen, for starters. Then apply what you’ve learned! Another excellent source for ideas is Jonathan and Lisa Price’s book Hot text – web writing that works. Visit their excellent site, as well. And don’t kid yourself about writing being easy. It isn’t.

Review, revise, and improve your content-generation process.

A website without fresh content is dying right before your eyes. Set aside time for content production just like you do for other important parts of your marketing effort.

Test it with real people

Drag five people you barely know to a computer, and ask them access your site. Ask them to find things you know are there. Give them NO help. Take careful notes of the problems they have. Then fix them.

Ask also for their unvarnished impressions, bad AND good, about all aspects of the site. Listen very carefully. (This exercise is highly regarded in the website design community.) You want truth, not comfort, here. But with luck, and some hard work beforehand (on your website, of course), you should get some of that, too.