The new year means it's a great time to make some small website updates to your existing website. So in this quick episode, I'm going to share a few things for you to do to your website for the new year to keep things up to date and fresh, both from an SEO perspective and that improve the experience for prospective clients. Let’s get into it!
LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:
Subscribe & download the episode to your device: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | iHeartRadio
Search for episode 301!
Alright, so first, these three things that I'm going to recommend you do to kick off the year are going to take you less than five minutes, okay? This is seriously quick stuff to go through real fast and by the time you're done listening, you'll be ready to go.
1. Update The Copyright in Your Footer
This is one of the easiest website updates you can make! If you have the fun little copyright © in your website’s footer, you likely have last year’s date on it. So, you’ll want to update this to the current year (and make sure your starting year is included too!). So yours may look like 2015-2024 and you want to change that last number to 2025 now.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that you have automatic rights to the content you create on your website, so YES you can add this little © and the year without filing any government paperwork and stuff like that. It’s your right.
To get the little ©, just google copyright C and find an icon then you can copy/paste it into your website with ease! Or just copy the one I have here: ©
Updating it communicates to views that you actually update your website. Right at the beginning of the year it matters less, but say it’s June of 2025 and your footer still says 2024, people will think you just aren’t updating stuff and trust purchasing from you less!
This is sooo important as online businesses, like I know so many of you are. For me, people buy on my website often without ever speaking to me or contacting me first and this little change shows that my site is updated.
On most sites this is something you change ONE PLACE and then it’ll update everywhere. Or, if you use Kajabi or Shopify, this is automatically done for you on most templates because it’s built into the site design and is not something you customize yourself.
Read more: The Best Alternatives to Squarespace Templates for Photographers
2. Update Any Dates On Your Website
This happens more than you think! There are so many DATE opportunities on a website. For example, you might say “I’ve been in business 5 years”, and now it’s 6 years. Or, maybe you put that you’ve served 100 happy customers, but you haven’t updated that in a year so now it’s actually 125.
Even subtle things on your about page, like if you mention your own age or your children’s ages, usually don’t get updated often enough and the new year is a great time to do it.
As someone who has a really large website, for me this looks like going on every page and looking for these things that need tweaking!
And actually, when I redesigned my website last year, I thought ahead about this and I made an area in ClickUp where I added parts of my website that have dates (and I put due dates on things so I know when something needs updating!).
For example, I have:
- Numbers on my media page
- Quiz results page (in my about me I have my current number of kids… which needs updating soon!)
- Booked Out Designer coaching page
- Meet the designer on my template pages (says the number of years I’ve been in business)
But my advice for you would be to just LOOK for date problems that you can fix and I’d consider too where you can use years instead of dates to make this something you have to do less overall. For example, say you started your business in 2015 instead of saying you’ve been in business for 10 years. But sometimes this is unavoidable.
Read more: 3 Things I WISH More People Understood About Their Website (From a Designer’s Perspective!)
3. Update Your Plugins and Delete One’s You’re Not Using!
This is another simple one! If you’re a WordPress user (Or, Showit user since we blog via WordPress), you want to make sure your plugins are up to date.
In addition to just going in and updating, it’s also worth checking to see if there are any plugins you actually aren’t using. Then, deactivate and then delete those! Having active plugins you’re not using and don’t need will slow down your website.
In WordPress, in your dashboard in the top left corner you’ll see an icon with a number and a little arrow in a circle and that’s where you click to update. I just did this myself and had 18 to update and a few I needed to delete! You likely do too!
If you’re not sure if it’s really being used, try deactivating it and seeing if anything changes or ask your designer.
Website Updates for the New Year
These three website updates will take you just a few minutes and make a big difference on keeping your website fresh and clean for the new year ahead. If you want to do some additional things (that take more time), consider things like updating your testimonials, your portfolio work displayed, and checking that links are all working properly on your website! You can also make yourself a little area in your project management software like I did to help manage these tasks more easily for next year!
Make Website Updates with Add On Templates (or Grab a New Template!)
That’s it, friends! I love bringing you these short and tactical episodes, and I hope you take some time to review your website and make these changes.
If, as you’re going through your website, you find yourself thinking, “Hey Elizabeth, this is great, but I don’t love my website and don’t even want to work on it right now,” that’s okay! If you’re feeling like it’s time for a new website for the new year, or if you just want to add some new pages to make your current website feel more elevated and functional for where your business is now, check out my website templates.
Just recently—about a month ago—I launched four incredible new add-on templates:
- A Favorite Things page template
- An Affiliate Marketing template
- A Link in Bio template for Instagram
- And my personal favorite, a Timeline template.
The timeline template features advanced Showit design elements that you can use to enhance your About page, Work With Me page, or wherever you want to showcase your processes and story.
Plus, there’s the Landing Page Bundle, the Speaker Template, and the Quiz Template. These add-ons can really help you take your website to the next level. And, of course, I also offer full-site templates if you’re ready for a complete overhaul.
That’s it for today, friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and more importantly, I hope you take action on it! I’ll be back next week with another episode.
Links Mentioned:
Shop Add On Templates!
Not sure which template is right for you? Take the quiz!
Sign up for Podcast Success Blueprint
Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast
Thanks to our sponsor, Christian Heathcare Ministries! CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry and is a faith-based alternative to traditional health insurance. My family has been using CHM for our healthcare for 4+ years now, and we couldn’t be more pleased. As a business owner we all know healthcare is outrageously expensive with CHM you can save money on your budget and know if a medical situation ever arises CHM will be there to take care of you and share 100% of your eligible bills. Learn more here!
Thanks to our podcast sponsor, BDOW!. You can supercharge your email list growth with BDOW!. This powerful software helps you target the right visitor with the right message at the right time. Get 25% off your subscription with the code "ELIZABETH" for a limited time! Click here to grab the deal and snag a free BDOW! template I designed just for you and start building a bigger email list, faster!
