How Often Should You Revitalize Your Website?
A website isn’t a static online advertisement like a brochure, business card, or a virtual billboard. It is something that can be constantly changing and alive. New content, updates, or even small changes to the design show your clients and search engines that you are an active, competitive business. No matter what type of website you have, it’s always a good idea to revitalize (or update) on a regular basis.
There is no rule saying exactly how often you need to revitalize your website. News outlets are updating many times per day; ecommerce websites update as products are added or subtracted; blog websites weekly or monthly; but, what if you don’t have a website like these that need regular updates? You should still update, add, and make improvements.
What Should I Update on my Website?
To find out what you need to update, take a good, hard look through your website.
Is there missing information?
Is it compatible on mobile?
Have clients been complaining about it?
Is it hard to navigate?
Does it look outdated?
Do you want to add features to it?
Maybe you’ve been looking at your statistics and some pages have very high bounce rates. Someone will land on a page, stay for a few seconds and click away. A few pages with high bounce rates? That could be something to look into.
It might seem like there is always something that needs to be updated, but you don’t have to spend all your time making updates and small changes every week. Doing a big update every couple years is a good way to stay relevant to both your customers and the almighty Google.
Google is always looking for the most relevant, up-to-date websites when they bring up search results, so if you’re not updating regularly, your website could fall below your competition — or not show up at all.
Want to know more about what Google is looking for? Read my other blog, SEO Basics for a quick breakdown.
Not Really Tech Savvy? Here are Some Things You Can Do
Your Content Management System (CMS)
Do you have a hard time making changes to your website? Do you currently rely on someone else to do anything web-related for you? It doesn’t have to be like that. Changing over to a new, easier CMS (like WordPress, Wix, or SquareSpace) can be a game changer, allowing you to take control of your online property.
The best things about a good CMS is it allows you to create and manage your content without any technical experience. Not a single line of code is required.
Update all the Information
All the details on the website should be completely up-to-date, and with all the things to keep track of in a business, it’s easy to forget the little things.
Things like
- A new or different social media account,
- Your About page: New team members or partners that have been added,
- Contact info: physical address, email address, phone number, fax number,
- Making sure all the links are relevant and working,
- Payment methods,
- Products or services (When you review the services you offer, you might find that you have more to offer and can go into detail more than you have in the past).
Update Your Content More Frequently
Information updates, adding or changing features, and making big changes to the website’s design are things you don’t need to do very often. However, you should be adding content to your website (using a blog) and being active on your social media accounts.
Don’t just add a blog or social media account for the sake of adding new content. You have to commit to it because Google prioritizes active businesses that have a strong online presence.
Not sure where to start? Ask Your Customers!
Sometimes you’re so close to something that it’s hard to see the big picture. “Can’t see the forest through the trees…” Most of us don’t look at our websites very often once they’re up and running. But the people we do business with are looking at it a lot! It could be the first thing they look up after getting your business card or checking out your Linkedin. Your peers will be checking back in with it several times as they get to know you and your brand, so why not ask them what they would like to see?
If you share the fact that you will be updating it, you could get valuable feedback on changes you can make to improve your website.
Benefits of Updating Your Website
- Increased traffic
- Encourages repeat visits
- Increased sales
- Increases your credibility
- Your business starts getting noticed online!
So how often should you update your website? Do small content updates regularly, an information update and feature review once in a while, and you should re-evaluate the design every couple years. If it is starting to look dated, it may be time for a facelift.
If your website is in need of an update, SM Web Development can bring it up to the level you want to be at, breathing new life into it and making it a vibrant, easy-to-manage, and effective marketing tool for your business.