This is another end of the year update as we look back at 2021 and think forward to 2022. Here are some tips to help improve your web presence in 2022.

Update Your Privacy Policy

With everything going on with Facebook, Google and Apple and issues of protecting personal information, users are starting to recognize and want to know what websites and companies are doing with their data. In 2018, the EU issued The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the toughest privacy and security law in the world. Though it was drafted and passed by the European Union (EU), it imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU. So if your site is collecting data it is important to have a privacy policy that spells out what you are doing with the data. We found this gift tool online that helps put it together: Privacy Policy Generator.

Update Your Frameworks, Modules, and Plugins

Wether you are using WordPress, Drupal or another Framework. It is important to update your website. Some outdated Plugins, Themes and Modules can have been hacked or have other security issues it is important to back up your data and keep your website framework up to date. One thing that you can do on many hosts and platforms is plan periodic automatic back ups and updates. Be sure to back up your databases and files before updating anything so that if something goes wrong you will be able to revert it to the back up.

Create a Web Plan for 2022

Create a plan on how to update and promote your website. This should include security and privacy updates like we talked about above. You should also put together a plan or schedule for regular blog and social media posts. Finally, consider any site updates, redesigns or updating the style or functionality of your website.

Create Engaging Calls To Action

Calls To Action are banners or widgets that help users interact with your website. Create Calls To Action with clickable links to article downloads, form requests, case studies, and more.

Make Your Site Accessible To Users With Disabilities

Accessibility is a growing concern as competitors fight for potential clients. Do not lose customers because your site doesn’t work for users with disabilities. This means adding Alt Tags on images and videos so that voice browsers can read your website. Also adding functionality where users can change the colors or text size can help visually impaired users interact with your website. Use W3 these tools to check the accessibility of your website.

Speed Up Your Website

Focus on a fast functional website. It is important to deliver the content as quickly as possible. This means having least amount heavy media (images, videos) as possible and to deliver the content as efficiently as possible. Minifying CSS, lazy loading, loading Javascript in the footer, using WebP images are some techniques that can help speed up your website. Check out these resources from Google to test and diagnose your websites pagespeed.

Happy New Year! Hopefully these tips will help get your web presence updated and ready for 2022.