Anne-Marie Saint-John, Alva, Long Island City, NY >
The Importance of Having an Up to Date Website
When was the last time you looked at your website through the eyes of a new customer?
For so many small businesses, once a website is set-up, very rarely will it be looked at or updated. Despite key changes the occur in a business, with services and products, many websites remain unchanged. Aside from the visual appeal of a site starting to dwindle, there are other key reasons why you need to invest a little time to update your website on a regular basis.
In this post, we explain why updating your website should be considered an integral part of marketing a small business and set-out the many benefits you will see as a direct result for your efforts.
#1 – It Boosts Visibility in Search Engines
Do you know where your website sits in terms of its SEO for your keywords?
If not, it’s definitely worthwhile taking a look to see how visible your company is for its relevant services or products in your local area. Essentially, when a customer looks for a service or product online, they type a specific phrase or term into Google.
Now, when you stop updating your website, it can send the ‘wrong’ signal to the search engines, and it prevents your site from climbing up those page rankings. Search engines love fresh content, and this has an incredible impact on the visibility of your business, which ultimately effects how easy it is for new customers to find you online.
#2 – It Keeps your Customers Informed
More people than ever before now use the internet to find out information before they make contact with a company. In fact, a staggering 81% of people admitted to performing hours of research before deciding which product or service they want to buy next.
Consider how a business changes over time, how products and services are updated, removed, and added in order to meet new consumer demands. If the core services you offer don’t change, then the way you speak to your customers may need to be adapted to suit a changing dynamic.
So, aside from making sure you’re speaking to customers in the right way and always offering up to date information about your current offers, updating content on your website is now an essential, if not the most essential storefront to your business. As such, it should be updated regularly to make sure it accurately reflects your business as it stands today.
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#3 – It Drives Customer Engagement & Loyalty
Do you have a news section or a blog on your website? If so, when was the last time you updated this? Do you have an about us page with information about your team members? The same question applies.
Aside from the many reasons you should write a blog for your business, writing content for your blog or news section is a great way to offer value to customers, and it’s great for engagement on the site too. Similarly, with a news section, it’s a quick and easy way to keep the world informed about key developments in your company, along with news of any new team members or new services/products.
Updating your team or about us, pages with team bio’s for individuals as they join is also important as it helps people put a face to the names of the people they are speaking to, and this only serves to improve your engagement and loyalty.
As a final question to consider, when was the last time you posted news of a project or shouted about a lovely review from a client? All of these events should be seen as opportunities to update your website while boosting the power of your online presence at the same time!
#4 – Visual Appeal
Another key reason why updating a website is a good idea relates to the visual side of things, and more importantly, how easy your customers find it to use your website. Over time, the design of a website will become outdated; this is perfectly normal. Regularly updating your website with new images of people, products, or projects is a great way to keep things fresh.
According to new research by Google, simplistic website design is best for both user experience and conversions. As such, you may also want to periodically check and update your website to ensure it remains in line with modern preferences.
While there are lots of other valid reasons why a website should be updated on a regular basis, these four are the most compelling of all.
What type of information can you use to update your website?
We’ve already covered the nuts of bolts of why you should update your website regularly, but to make things just a little easier for you, here’s a list of the different types of information you can utilize in order to keep the content updates flowing.
- Company News, Announcements, PRs
- New Team Members or Promotions
- Business Blogs or How-to-Guides for Customers
- New Service or Product Descriptions
- Fresh Images
- FAQ section using questions from emails or support logs
- Testimonials from Customers
- Latest Projects
- Awards
While most of the usual tasks that relate to the ongoing maintenance of a website are often be viewed as technical, these updates can often be performed quickly in-house by a person with little to no website knowledge. If you have a developer who works with you on your site, they’re also usually happy to add a post or new content for you if this isn’t something you feel comfortable doing yourself.
The key to success is to not overwhelm yourself with content updates, or even to put things off. Instead, try to start with just 30 minutes a week or whatever amount of time you can find on a given day, get into a routine, and keep it consistent. This way, you will start to reap the rewards for your business and maintain your commitments to keeping your site updated.
