#97 Crafting a Winning 2024 Website Action Plan & Mastering SEO Tools

Jonny Ross: 00:00:16

Hello and welcome. I am here with my co-host, Pascal. Fine, Tony. How are you, Pascal? I'm very well, thank you very much. This is a lovely way to start 2024. I have to say. Absolutely. Welcome to the ninth Date Website Mastery podcast series. This is the audio companion to our 90 day Website Mastery program. We wanted to find a way to continue to share more advice and insights about making your website work harder for you, and for you to feel proud about your website again. We have four segments as ever in our episodes we have the US. We answer, we have website stories, we have the website engine room, and of course we always finish with the website Call to Action, where we give you one simple change or adjustment that you could be making to your website right now. That takes you a step closer to feeling proud of your website. It's that moment, Pascal, isn't it, where someone says, what's your website URL? And instantly you have that pang in your stomach that's like, oh no, I don't want to share my website.

Jonny Ross: 00:01:21

I'm not very proud of it. And we're here to make you feel proud. So Pascal, what is the name of our first segment?

Pascal Fintoni: 00:01:30

So we've got the You Ask, We answer where we look at one practical question and we give you our advice on in AI. But what we would do if we were in your shoes. Now, the question that was submitted actually last week, which was last year for you and I, actually 2023 was quite an exciting year. So we launched a program, as you said, we did a series of webinars, which is really high impact sessions, and we also launched this audio companion, and I didn't have a view about the number of episodes at the time. Jonny. But can we just say that you and I enjoying ourselves, the feedback we're getting on live and on replay sessions, it's so good and it's just an amazing subject because website, as you'll see in a moment from the questions, is such a wonderful extension of your approach to customer care and communication that there is always something to say, there's always something that you can do to adjust that experience.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:02:32

The question is as follows. What is the best way to create a meaningful website action plan for 2024? What say you Jonny.

Jonny Ross: 00:02:44

Well coming over plan is a good idea. Yeah, I mean that it's all about byte sizing and about writing. Coming up with a plan, as I said, because without plan, it's very much scattergun approach and you sort of where to start and, and, um, you know, I was even, even yesterday, I was, uh, chatting with a client and her focus was very, you know, she was deep in the, the jungle of of being in your own business and not really being able to stand back and think outside the box. And the amount of time she was spending trying to get something perfect before she moved on to something else. And I'm like, do you think anyone's really going to notice that anyway? So the point being is, is having a plan. And I guess the key things for me, uh, when coming up with, uh, what's going to make your website, what's going to make you feel proud of your website in 2024 is three things to start with.

Jonny Ross: 00:03:34

So that would be about the platform itself. So the the usability, how easy is it to use, uh, is it um, uh um uh is it is the tech right. Is it easy to use. Have you got the right keywords and content? So from an SEO point of view, are you going to be found, um, and um, uh, and the, uh, from the SEO point of view, not just the keywords and content, but have you got the technical structure set up? Right. So those those would be the sort of first three things that I would be thinking of. Um, what about yourself, Pascal?

Pascal Fintoni: 00:04:03

I think for me, there's a element of mindset, which you and I covered extensively on the program. This idea of you've got to find a way and find what works for you to avoid this becoming a chore. You know, uh, only because of. That's what I used to do. Don't put the list on the fridge door for your kids to do things around the house.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:04:22

Right. This is this is not the experience you want. Um, so if there's an action plan, it has to be inspiring to you, but it has to inspire others. So be very careful to not put together an action plan about everything you want to do on your own. Think about litigation, think about your web designers, think about your IT suppliers, and, you know, look at people around you who actually may have some expert knowledge, but also a passion. I don't know, maybe writing, you know, for you, do you know someone in your community that would, you know, do some kind of bartering? They do the writing for you, you do the photography for them, or you do the optimization for them. So think about already an action plan for a team effort, not just for all of it done by you. And I think in terms of a meaningful action plan, I would go back to what I said a moment ago, which side of, don't mistaken, the website as a technical project and endeavor that is actually a customer care project.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:05:17

You know, this is almost a full sales care experience. Um, so once you've got a mindset, then I would go into structure. You're right. You've got to really kind of create some bite sized bit of actions and be satisfied with the view. I don't know how you feel about the journey that this could take several months to be completed, but you do a bit every week, small adjustments over time. And you're not talking about not the website health chain that we recommend people do twice a year, where we structure our thinking and our actions around first impressions, track elements and call to action. And these will be for me, the three categories I would add to your list as well. Mission moment to go. And and I think for me therefore the reflection is work in reverse. What do you want people to do as a positive conclusion to the website visit? So the call to action is what is being used with the acronym of CTA. But I would actually say, what does a successful visit look like for you and your visitors? What do you want them to do as a result of, you know, consuming the information and focus on that first? And it could be the contact Us page.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:06:24

It could be the the subscription page, it could be the payment page. But if you work on that first and then reversely say, well, what can you do to encourage them to take action according to your wishes? And this will move into the trust element of testimonials and case studies and working a bit more on photography and so on. So, you know, first impressions, trust elements and call to action is. The way in which visitors will experience the website. But you can build, you know, the those changes and the action plan in the reverse order.

Jonny Ross: 00:06:57

Yeah, this and this isn't something that you're going to get done overnight. Uh, or or even in a week. It's, it is, as Pascal's just said, something that is going to just this is an something that's just ongoing and don't see the website as something on its own. See it as part of the entire organization that I, in the entire business, consider everything that happens and how the website plays a part and how the website plays a part in, in, in, uh, not just the customer journey, but also telling the story, uh, and uh, getting across what's currently going on in the organization as well.

Jonny Ross: 00:07:34

And then, of course, you have where I was diving into the platform, the, the technical aspects and that and as Pascal rightly said, uh, we have this health check that, uh, is a great starting point. Uh, we've got that, um, uh, that we use on our, our course. And it's a brilliant starting point to come up with a plan, uh, and don't feel it too onerous. Like Pascal said, this is about trying to think of how you can get, whether it be, uh, colleagues. You know, I know a lot of business owners are on their own in their own business, but how can you, you know, working with other businesses, how can you help each other and how can you you do things. So, uh, yeah, the the health check is, is is our starting point. And I dived into the platform area. Um. Now a good time to, to go a bit deeper into that part.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:08:25

Yeah.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:08:26

So, so for me there being that what once you've got the structure of your action plan that you can really, um, you know, put the details in and what you have to do really is ask people. So it could be colleagues who are not as familiar as you are with the website or close customers or others to visit a website for the very first time and and give you the the feedback. But the feedback is around that structure. So what's about the first impressions mobile phone use. It could be text and photography. It could be also something that we're seeing more and more now. People putting dark theme on their mobile phones a to be kind to the to the eyes. But also actually some websites do pop and are more enjoyable to use in dark mode. So what does it look like? They when you move into the trust elements we're talking about literally case of these testimonials evidence. Uh, the, the team page, you know, covered extensively in the previous episode and all those elements are here to be kind of, um, reviewed.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:09:27

But as a first time visitor, which is very hard for you to do when you spend so much time agonizing as your client did. You know, some, some days ago. So asking others to visit the websites sometimes just give them one thing to do. Would you please go on to these specific part of my website and give me your honest feedback? And and they will they will do so take notes and then start to organize and plan over a long period of time, the adjustments you'll be making moving forward.

Jonny Ross: 00:09:52

Yeah. Do you know, actually one of the most simplest things is just asking someone to look at your website and you being over their shoulder and and just hearing what they initially say and what they what, where they initially go and what they're looking at and, and and and hearing what they're thinking. And, and I love the point that you made about the dark mode on mobile. Uh, there's certainly a huge shift to mobile. The majority of websites are now, uh, heavily mobile versus desktop.

Jonny Ross: 00:10:19

Um, but also dark mode. What does your website look in dark mode? So just as a little sample, a little example of some of the sort of, uh, points that I would have, uh, in the health check. So, so where I, where we start with the platform we're talking about, you know, usability and tech. So, for example, when did you last visit the site on your mobile phone and did it feel welcoming? And was it easy to use just like one of your favorite apps? If you think about one of your favorite apps on your mobile phone and then you go to your website, how easy is it to use and what? How does it feel and how fast is it to load? That'll be my second question, that the number of people that leave websites because they're too slow, how quick is yours to welcome new visitors? And and lastly, just as a sort of starting point, the the last question I would have just on that initial visit is, are the images eye catching? You know what? And what do they what message do they get across? Are they giving the right message, the right feeling, the right colors, the right, um, uh, tone, the right style? So are the images, right?

Pascal Fintoni: 00:11:31

Yeah, I like that.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:11:32

And, you know, this idea of asking yourself questions is a wonderful, um, approach. Uh, it's actually more informative and, and in fact, you can pass on those questions to your, uh, user testers, if that's the right term. And your visitors, I mean, the one that I was. USB, please. It's easily done, you know, particularly when you first launched a website where the copy is a challenge for all, even John and I. So the first pass, as I call it, is usually a lot around who you are, what you do and can you get someone to challenge it and say, but are you spending enough time to explain who you help and how you help them and and get the balance right? And that could be another element to question yourself.

Jonny Ross: 00:12:13

Well, this is this is all about focusing on the user. So it's about making sure that, you know, whoever your target audience is, the moment they get to that website, are they going to feel that it's relevant? And are you using the words you and your enough? Are you really making them feel that that it's written for them? And this isn't about how wonderful you are.

Jonny Ross: 00:12:38

It's not about I, I, I and we we we. This is about how how you are being helped, how, uh, you know, making them really feel like we understand, uh, you know, that that person that's arriving on the website.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:12:56

Absolutely. Do you know, something tells me that this could be officially part one of answering this question about creating a meaningful website action plan. Something tells me that we need to go back to it, and maybe not for the next bit, but in a future episode, we're going to add to what we just said a moment ago. Sadly, time is against us and we have to move on to our next segment, the website stories. We've got something new actually, for this first episode of 2024. We normally review an article, a video, an infographic, something that can help us reflect what it means to be a website manager in today's economy. But what this is, Jonny, is a recent mobile search that I did about 48 hours ago.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:13:43

I was getting myself ready to write an article, would you believe, on website trends for 2024? So I was feeling a bit lazy. So I just put the words website 2024 trends and I just clicked search on my mobile phone and and two things happened. Number one, there was clearly a newer way of displaying the results on mobile from Google, and am has guessed that it was supported by Google. But you know, the AI assistant that they've been kind of sharing, talking a lot about. So, um, I put the screenshot actually on the show notes for you to kind of see them, you know, the way they laid out. And then I'm going to go into what was listed by Google as the 20 trends from new to current to some of them are returning. Um, so let me begin to describe the best I can to our particular listeners and viewers. This idea of a mobile phone is in dark mode. As we mentioned a moment ago, what we had is a list where they had, um, an icon, like an image and a little square, then a term and then an arrow head pointing down, and you could actually open up below that box, and that box will show you sources where the information was gathered.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:14:56

So, you know, you have the results. Web design trends for 2024 from sources across the web. And they are in a list format, a graphic, a term, and the narrow head and the this is not quite the zero click experience. Again, I feared for small businesses, but it did stop me from scrolling down to the normal if you will search results from, uh, articles, videos and more. Uh, your reaction first on the display or mobile of that search results.

Jonny Ross: 00:15:28

It's vastly changed, hasn't it? Um, vastly changed. And I think that's just a sign of the times Google is trying to, uh, keep up with the the times and is taking on board some of the stuff we've just been talking about. You know, what's the experience like when on a mobile phone, Google don't forget Google Search was designed for desktop. Uh, and, um, you know, they've slowly but surely been, uh, making amends on mobile. But I think in the last few, uh, months, uh, there's been some significant changes on how Google is, uh, displaying on a mobile device and absolutely moving towards trying to answer those questions immediately to trying to give you data very quickly, because Google knows that people just want quick answers.

Jonny Ross: 00:16:14

Um, but also but relevance, relevant and trustworthy answers as well. I really like, uh, you know, if you were to take your mobile phone and literally just Google website 2024 trends, uh, you'll hopefully see what we're seeing. Um, it's, you know, it's really simple, really easy to understand. Um, there's as Pascal said, there's this dropdown that then you can open and close things. Uh, we sometimes call them Constantinos on websites. Uh, and that gives you the ability to then look at the deeper information. So it's about, um, you know, this this reinforces how much, uh, having your website optimized for mobile is so important. Uh, and we're seeing Google really taking on board this as well. And I quite like it. I like the interface. I must admit that recently I've moved my search to, for example, things like ChatGPT instead of Google. Dare I say, um, but what I'm seeing is Google realizing this and capturing this traffic back, and, and that's giving the ability to, uh, to keep people wanting to use Google.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:17:21

Yeah. Familiar point of view. You know, bear in mind the conversation we had a moment ago about website action plan. I think there's something in there. If you were to, as John suggested, go and have a look. It feels to me like this very welcoming FAQ page on the website as well. That could be the kind of things you would want to see on education. But let me take you then through the 20 odd, uh, trends, according to sources from across the web. So we've got gradients. I'm a big fan. Minimalism, artificial intelligence for personalized experience, kinetic typography, parallax scrolling, a bit of a sucker for that dark mode. Again, we've got UX focused design, 3D experiences, accessibility, bold typography, interactive storytelling, animations, illustrations. We've got personalization. Of course, we've got the Bento grid. So I had to look it up because I think we started with a pie. It's not. It's all those lovely kind of boxes on the gray background with some lovely around the edges, almost like postcards and vignette put on to a web page to make life a bit easier.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:18:18

And with sustainable web design, of course, we've got clay morphism, which is this combination of 3D. Texture and shadows. We've got micro interactions, which you spoke about in last episode. We've got some interesting design based on behaviour. We've got gamification, we've got retro branding. That's the 80s for you, and 90s navigation journey.

Jonny Ross: 00:18:41

Well, retro branding, I mean, that's jumping out at me. I yeah.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:18:45

There's a.

Jonny Ross: 00:18:46

There's a big question over style. And I quite like some of the branding that's coming out at the moment. But yeah, the there's some obvious ones in there, but there's some ones that, you know, you may not have considered and are really important, and perhaps they just back up some of the things that we're talking about. So for example, interactive storytelling, it's so important that you're telling a story, but how can you make it interactive? How can you bring, uh, better experiences on, uh, better experiences onto the the website? I like the idea of minimalism.

Jonny Ross: 00:19:17

Uh, I of course, uh, no question about it. Um, and, uh, and bold typography, um, you know, less is more. We talked about white space in a previous episode, uh, and having, um, you know, lots of boldness, but only where it's relevant and not loads and loads of text, but just something that's really easy and stand out and easy on the eye. So I think these I think the majority of these trends are, uh, feel right. Uh, I think there's been, uh, there's a big shift to using a lot of these, uh, and certainly as a starting point, if you're looking at revamping your website, uh, a great place to get you thinking.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:19:55

I think that's a great checklist, almost, for a conversation with your designers and with your wider team. Um, what I see actually is fascinating because I see the influence of television. I see the influence of social media, and that's the influence of this idea of depth, so that we think about the gradients, for example, with about kinetic typography.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:20:16

If we go through bold typography, all those elements, it's this idea of creating depth. You don't have to go full on 3D expense alignment averse, but actually this idea of it's almost something you'd want to touch, or this idea that something that you want to stay a few more second to enjoy, as opposed to the flat expensive that's been almost inspired by the print and design world. Um, all of you, if you have a chance, watch TV adverts. Watch, for example, the settings from in the UK, channel four, channel five, and you will see all the elements of gradients and morphism appearing. So I love the idea that there's now a blurring of boundaries between the different media. They all inspired each other. Well, there was a time where the internet did inspire traditional media. So we see and there's almost like a role reversal and ultimately, you know, welcome the return to the 80s and the 90s myself.

Jonny Ross: 00:21:12

And of course, you're going to pick up on it with your film background.

Jonny Ross: 00:21:15

Uh, I think you've hit the nail on the head, though. I think it is about moving away from flat designs to something that's that's got a lot more depth. I like it.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:21:24

Super. So move on to our third segment, the website Engine Room. Now this is where we surprise each other with an app, a solution, and a piece of kit that can make life easier as a website content creator and manager. So Jonny, what is your selection?

Jonny Ross: 00:21:46

On this podcast I am mentioning Screaming Frog SEO spider, a great tool that just allows you to check, uh, your links across your website, but more importantly, things like broken links. It allows you to crawl, whether it be a small or very large website, very efficiently. It allows you to analyze the results in real time. It puts all the data into what may as well be sort of an Excel sheet format. So all the metadata, all the headings, all the titles, all the meta descriptions, uh, the H1, all, all, all of that information, uh, into a very easy to understand, uh, for, for what may as well be an Excel sheet, but it allows you to identify broken links.

Jonny Ross: 00:22:29

It allows you to identify perhaps pages that don't have any links. So it helps you understand your internal linking as well. It's a great tool. Uh, if you're wanting to, um, really understand more about the SEO on your website, Screaming Frog. Uh, the there is a there is a free version, uh, where you can scrape up to 500 links. So if it's only a really small website, then the free version is fine. Um, or you might need, might need to consider paying for a, uh, the more enterprise version, but, uh, yeah, great little handy SEO tool.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:22:58

Yeah. And again, making informed decision. I just spoke a moment ago about the website action plan. Uh, it must be because of the time of year, but I can't help thinking this is an amazing title for a children's book. The Screaming Frog and the SEO spider. You know, it's like this amazing adventure between two different characters. This is just amazing. Um, listen, my selection is one that I had to check because I thought, surely I've mentioned this before, my go to video editing app quick.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:23:26

Um, so here it is. You will all have on your mobile phones. Back to them again. Photos and videos from last year gathering digital dirt. Literally. Photos you took at an event, or products of team meetings or client work and things you've taken photos, you've taken video clips and so on. And and somehow you never got around to using them. So now's the time to tell those stories. Now you know it feels right to look back at the year that was before looking ahead. So Csrf online go on to your kind of play store, whichever platform you use and look for quick, quick. This is the AI powered video editor from GoPro and it's £10 for the year journey. It's nothing and you can very, very quickly create some information, visual storytelling back to that, either for social media or even better, you can embed those on your website to supplement your product pages.

Jonny Ross: 00:24:18

Yeah, it's a great tool and I must admit, I had the same feeling that I couldn't believe I'd not mentioned Screaming Frog and thought, wow, after 20 episodes, because this is of course 2021, you know, it's time to bring in some of the tools that I use on a reasonably daily basis.

Jonny Ross: 00:24:36

So, so so, um, yes, I understand and and quick is a great, uh, app for video editing. Fully agree. And on that note, let's move to the website call to action.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:24:56

This is about the one adjustment the one chair should be making right now, so your website can work harder for you. So Jonny, what is your recommendation?

Jonny Ross: 00:25:07

Yes. This is. I'm not sure if it was my end or your end, but I lost, uh, lost something for a second there. But this is, as I was hearing, the one change or adjustment that you could make to your website right now that, uh, could just take you that step closer to being proud of your website. My, uh, thoughts this week are on gating content. So have you got a piece of content you don't even need to necessarily. Uh, the. You know, this is all about bite size. You don't suddenly need to think of new content. You don't suddenly need to start creating content.

Jonny Ross: 00:25:36

This is about have you got a current piece of content that's valuable that you could gate behind a signup form to start generating some leads? So, um, you know, having some, some kind of page that's, uh, that's got some really great messaging that feels very relevant that basically says if you put your email address here, I've got this great guide, this great helpful resource, this great whatever it might be. Uh, and all you need to do is pop your email address in and you can have it. Now, I'm not I'm not saying that you're going to be suddenly inundated with email addresses, but going from giving everything away for free on the website to actually having, uh, you know, something really valuable where someone does put an email address in. Yes, you may get some spam emails in there, but the ones that actually really want it and and find it valuable, they could be your perfect future clients. So gated content, how could you create a gated area where all you need to do is put an email address in to get some really valuable content? That would be my website call to action for this episode.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:26:41

Thank you, and thank you for reminding us that it's probably already there. The content is already there on your website, or maybe you hear a thing about grouping a number of articles into an e-book, or maybe create if you have podcast video series, something which is more VIP type, you know, kind of, um, experience by that gated content. So thank you very much. So my call to action is going back to episode 14. We asked you to research your sources of industry data in preparation for 2023 retrospective in 2024 forecasts. So this is it. If you haven't done it, please don't delay and then do the following. With that data I would create 20 a draft article looking back and looking looking ahead with that data. And then I would send the draft to customers and other key contacts in your industry for their actions. So we're going to add to that draft article the kind of vox pops, if you will, and they're going to be named as well. Once you've received everybody's contribution, I would publish it and making sure that therefore they're all in there.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:27:43

You could even add photography. You can add all the links you want. And then when you share on social media, of course, you're going to tag all contributors. And this is very important. The sources where you gather data from, you know, everybody's going to get that shout out. And you might find that not only for me and reputation management point of view, that article is going to look even more impressive and imposing because of contribution from others, but because of the tagging, you will get some additional eyes and ears on that content.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:12

And you might just find might just think of something that you hadn't thought of, might you might just get those creative juices going where someone says something and you're like, oh yes. So a great idea.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:24

Uh, lovely.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:25

Well, that is episode 21. That's it for today. It's, uh, gone so fast as ever, Pascal.

Pascal Fintoni: 00:28:33

And we've covered an enormous amount. I mean, I'm just reflecting right now. People wouldn't have to probably go back to the beginning and start to grab pen and paper.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:41

Well, I mean, and I think we're both thinking the same here, that segment one, we could turn into.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:47

Another.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:48

Five episodes.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:50

So but there we go.

Jonny Ross: 00:28:52

Listen, thank you so much for joining us. Whether you've been watching, whether you've been listening, whether you've been with us live, whether you've been listening to the podcast afterwards. Either way, we absolutely value you being here. And if it's been helpful, let us know. If it's not been helpful, let us know. Tell us we want feedback. We also want you to share. We want you to like. We want you to subscribe. That helps us personally, and we would absolutely love you to help us. If we're helping you, uh, we want you to feel proud of your website. This is the audio companion to the 90 day Website Mastery program. For more information, please visit 90 Day Mastery. Sorry, 90 Day Marketing mastery.com, and you'll be able to book your discovery call with either myself or Pascal.

Jonny Ross: 00:29:37

We'll be back with another episode. In the meantime, feel free to send your questions, share your preferred apps and links to your website. Once you've made the changes we've spoken about, we'd love to give you a shout out, but it's bye for now everyone. We'll leave you with a fun video and audio montage whilst you go through your notes and actions, and we look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Take care. Bye bye.