Your website cost you money - Is it making any back?
It will. You just need to feed it a little love.
You saved up for it, you invested in it or you spent a year building it yourself. Either way, it cost you something. Time, money, energy - Probably all three.
And now it's just... sitting there…
You know you should probably do something with it. Add something new. Write a blog. Update that page that still says 2024. But it keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list, and honestly? You're not even sure it's doing anything in the first place.
Here's what I want to tell you: your website can work hard for your business. Really hard. But like most things worth having, it needs a little regular attention to do it.
Not hours of work. Not a full redesign. Just a check-in. A bit of love. Once a month, even 40 minutes makes a difference.
Your website is an extension of you.
When I audit a website, I'm not just looking at whether the buttons work or the images load quickly. I'm looking at the whole picture.
Does it sound like you? Does it show the right things? Does it tell someone who lands on it exactly what you do, who you do it for, and what to do next? Is it earning its place in your business, or is it just sitting there looking nice?
A website that genuinely works for you reflects who you are and what you stand for. It has your voice, your values, your energy. And when someone lands on it, they feel like they've already met you a little bit.
SEO is marketing.
Websites work best when you show up for them
Websites work best when you show up for them
Here's the thing nobody tells you when you launch a website: it needs a little love every month to keep doing its job well.
Not hours of work. Not a full redesign every quarter. Just a check-in. A bit of attention. Maybe 40 minutes, once a month.
Google notices when a website is active. It notices when new content gets added, when pages get updated, when someone is clearly tending to their corner of the internet. And it rewards that consistency over time.
The most powerful thing you can do? Write a blog post. Even one a month makes a real difference. Add a newsletter into the mix, link your blog in it, and suddenly you've got a content loop that drives people back to your website regularly. That combination, a blog and a newsletter working together, is one of the simplest and most effective things a small business can do for their online visibility.
It's about showing up, consistently, for the people who are already looking for someone like you.
If the idea of writing and sending a newsletter feels like one more thing you'll never get round to, that's something I can help with too. It's one of the services I offer alongside web design and audits so you get the strategy without the time drain.
And if you're not sure how to carve out the time for any of this, it's worth reading my post on CEO days, batching all of your business admin and content into one focused day a month is a game changer for small business owners who wear a lot of hats.
The SEO bit (I'll keep this practical)
SEO (search engine optimisation) gets a bad reputation for being complicated. Some of it is. But some of it is genuinely simple, and the simple stuff is often where I find the biggest wins when I audit a website. As a Squarespace web designer, I see the same mistakes coming up again and again and most of them are completely fixable in under an hour.
The two things most small business websites get wrong? Their page titles and their meta descriptions. These are the words Google reads to understand what your page is about, and they're also the words that show up in search results. They matter a lot, and most people either ignore them entirely or use them to say something like 'Home | My Business'.
Here's a quick guide to getting the page seo settings right on squarespace:
Your website title (the main one in your settings)
This should include your business name AND a couple of keywords that describe what you do and where you do it. Think about what someone would type into Google if they were looking for you, even if they didn't know your name yet.
For example: Emily Jagger | Squarespace Web Designer, UK
Aim for 50 to 60 characters. Long enough to be descriptive, short enough to display properly in search results without getting cut off.
Your page titles (each page has its own)
Every page on your website should have its own title that tells Google what that specific page is about. Don't just use your business name on every page. Be specific.
Your homepage might be: Squarespace Web Design for Small Businesses | Jaggerdesign
Your services page might be: Website Audits and Maintenance Packages | Jaggerdesign
Same rule: 50 to 60 characters.
Your meta descriptions
This is the short paragraph of text that appears under your page title in Google search results. It doesn't directly affect your ranking, but it absolutely affects whether someone clicks on your result or the one below it.
Write it like you're talking to a real person. Tell them what the page is about and why it's worth their time. Keep it between 150 and 160 characters. Any longer and Google will cut it short.
A good one sounds like this: Jagger Design offers Squarespace web design, website audits and monthly maintenance for small businesses in Hampshire and beyond.
Audit your website to find out whats not working
Your Website Needs YOU!!!
One of the most common things I hear from small business owners is that their website feels like it's not quite doing its job, but they can't put their finger on why. Traffic is low, or it's there but nobody's enquiring, or the whole thing just feels a bit... stuck.
That's usually where a website audit comes in. It's a fresh pair of eyes looking at the whole picture — the technical stuff, the SEO basics, the content, the journey someone takes when they land on your site. And it almost always surfaces things that are fixable, quickly, without a full redesign.
My website audit is a one-off service that gives you a clear, prioritised list of exactly what to fix and why. No jargon, no overwhelm. Just a straightforward plan you can actually act on.
If that sounds like what you need, you can find out more and get in touch at emily@jaggerdesign.co.uk.
Emily Jagger | Jaggerdesign | jaggerdesign.co.uk
Your website cost you money. Is it making you any back? It will — it just needs a little love. Here's how small business owners can get their website working harder in under 40 minutes a month.