Full Transcript
Lauren: So my friend is complaining that business is slow right now... like, that post-Christmas lull where the phone just stops ringing. And she's kind of just... sitting there waiting for January. Is there anything productive she could actually be doing?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor... We make interwebs and website stuff make sense... Let's get into it.
Honor: Okay so here's the thing... that slow season? It's actually a gift. Because there's stuff on her website she's been meaning to fix all year and now she finally has time to do it.
Lauren: But does it really matter? Like, if business is slow anyway...
Honor: It matters more than you'd think. Here's a stat that surprised me... 75 percent of consumers have skipped a purchase because a website looked outdated.
Lauren: Wait, 75 percent? That's like... three out of four people!
Honor: Right! And it's not because of missing features. It's the small stuff. Old dates in the footer, broken links, information that doesn't match reality anymore.
Lauren: Oh... so it's like walking into a store and the sign says Grand Opening 2021 and there's cobwebs in the corner. You're like... is this place even still in business?
Honor: Exactly! And here's another one... about 42 percent of all websites have at least one broken link. Not sketchy websites. All websites. Yours probably does too.
Lauren: Oh no. So you click on something and it just... goes nowhere?
Honor: Yeah, and it makes your site look abandoned. The SEO impact is real too... sites with broken links can see up to a 21 percent drop in traffic. And if you fix them? You can boost your rankings by 15 percent.
Lauren: So fixing broken links is like... free SEO points?
Honor: Pretty much! And then there's site speed. 53 percent of mobile visitors will leave if your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Lauren: Three seconds! That's like... nothing!
Honor: I know. And every additional second costs you about 4 percent more customers. So if your site takes 5 seconds instead of 2, you might be losing 13 percent of people just to impatience.
Lauren: That's like having a store where 1 in 8 customers just walks out because the door takes too long to open.
Honor: Ha! Yes, exactly. And one more thing... nearly a third of websites still show last year's copyright date well into January. It's such a small thing, but visitors notice.
Lauren: Oh, that's the cobwebs thing again! Copyright 2023 in 2026 is basically a neon sign saying we haven't touched this in years.
Honor: Right. So there are a few categories of things to check... contact info and hours, broken links, site speed, outdated dates and photos, your services and pricing if anything changed this year.
Lauren: Okay so that sounds like a lot. What's the one thing she should do?
Honor: Pick 2 or 3 things and knock them out this afternoon. You don't have to do everything. But even a few quick fixes puts you ahead of most of your competitors.
Lauren: So the moral of the story is... the slow season isn't dead time. It's prep time. Fix the small stuff now so when January hits and everyone's searching, you're ready.
Honor: Exactly. And when January hits, you'll be glad you did it.
Lauren: And if you don't want to spend your holiday break fighting with your website... give YouGrow a call!
Honor: Yeah, with us, you just email and it's done. Need hours updated? Done. Broken links? We fix them before you even notice. Site slow? Our sites are built fast from the start. Copyright year? Updates automatically. 79 dollars a month, month-to-month, unlimited edits. No logging in, no figuring it out yourself.
Lauren: Take fix the website off your 2026 to-do list for good. Alright, this has been 805 Web Minute. Thanks for listening.