Website Cleaning by Sean Fagan, Owner of Leap Tie, Inc.
April 24, 2023
It’s Spring! Have you ever thought of giving your website a Spring cleaning? This information is a good reference whether your website is several years old or was just launched a few days ago.
Design Best Practices
- Compare to Your Competitor: If you are using the same website provider as a competitor you lose a lot of your ability to communicate clear differences.
- User-Friendly Design: Funeral home websites should be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and provide a seamless user experience. The design should be clean, visually appealing, and uncluttered.
- Sticky Header: The navigation and phone number should always be visible when a user scrolls a page.
- Responsive Design: This is different than “mobile friendly.” Some website providers have a separate mobile version versus a responsive design. Many “mobile friendly” versions have also stripped-down content. Funeral home websites should be designed to be responsive, meaning they should adjust to the size of the screen on which they are being viewed. This ensures that the website is accessible and functional on all devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
- High-Quality Images: Funeral home websites should feature high-quality images that accurately represent the services provided by the funeral home. The images should be optimized for web use to ensure fast load times.
- Clear Call-to-Action: Funeral home websites should have a clear call-to-action that directs users to take a specific action, such as calling, scheduling a consultation or making arrangements.
- Tracking: Does your website have Google Analytics 4 (GA4)? It should by now. The Google Analytics that has been standard for many years will stop processing data July 1, 2023.
- Your Florist Friends: Have you ever asked your florist what they think of the flower shop on your website? You should. Many do not like the selections they are obliged to sell depending on the website provider. Many are also not happy with what families receive for what is ultimately paid for arrangements. Funeral home commissions, website provider commissions, convenience fee add-ons all reduce the size and quality of what a family receives. Check to see if your florist has any concerns.
Regulatory Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Funeral Rule: Funeral homes must comply with the FTC Funeral Rule, which requires them to provide accurate pricing information and a general price list to consumers who inquire about funeral services. Do you have a well-designed plan to put your prices online if that becomes mandated?
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Your website should be accessible to individuals with disabilities. This includes providing alternative text for images, captions for videos, and ensuring that the website can be navigated using a keyboard. Widgets can help, but they only work if people use them. A good website provider will optimize the native design to solve many of the bigger problems.
- Privacy Policy: Funeral homes must have a privacy policy on their website. This includes obtaining explicit consent from individuals before collecting their personal data and providing them with the right to request that their data be deleted.
Sean Fagan
