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No smoke and mirrors. No jargon. Just honest marketing that works. We believe the best work happens when we collaborate.
No smoke and mirrors. No jargon. Just honest marketing that works. We believe the best work happens when we collaborate.
“How often should I update my website?” It’s an interesting question that has a lot of elements to it. For example, when was your business website developed; 1, 2, 5 or 10 years ago?
Is your website up to date NOW, or reflecting today’s expectations, in terms of the technology used in 2022?
Website technology improves and evolves month on month and year on year; and users want an improved user experience on all devices.
There are also some other factors to consider other than just the age of your website. We will explain below all the reasons why keeping your website updated is beneficial, and somewhat essential.
How do you feel about your website? Do you feel excited when you show a client or a customer? Are you proud of the representation your website is providing for your business or brand? If you don’t feel excited (or worse still, embarrassed), maybe this is a sign that your website could do with some love and attention?!
Let’s look at some factors. If your website is hard to update, it could be a sign of technological advancement. Website technology is advancing all the time, but your website should remain easy to use and navigate. Ask someone to navigate an action on your website, such as a product purchase or finding out about a service, and get some feedback. Was it quick and easy or slow and difficult?
Another factor: is your website accessible by all devices (such as mobile and tablet)? Strangely in 2022, we still find websites that don’t work for mobile or tablet and require the old-school pinch and zoom (eye roll). If your website isn’t mobile responsive, you will more than likely be losing customers, and it doesn’t provide the best representation for your business.
Traffic: is your website suffering from a loss of traffic? This could be a result of a Google algorithm change (these algorithm changes happen around once a year). One of the recent algorithm changes was related to ‘page experience’, this has had a significant impact on websites globally. Put simply, ‘page experience’ is how the website interacts with the user, and if there are any ongoing movements to the website while loading; such as if your website twitches and moves while loading it could harm your ‘page experience’ score.
The simple answer to this is yes! Why? Search engines love fresh content. When you have new content, the chances are a search engine will crawl your website more regularly. When you update your website regularly you will rank for more keywords locally. A domino effect.
Let’s look at it from the opposite angle and say that your new website isn’t regularly updated, what would happen?
We find that this is a regular occurrence with website design. You invest in a new, lovely website and receive that initial burst of traffic, which is fantastic and energises you initially. After some time it begins to stall, then you get a downward spiral. This happens because your website content now looks ‘old’ and outdated, compared to 2-3 months ago.
TIP – Have you linked your website with Google Search Console? Did you know by linking your website up with the Google Search Console you will see all the search terms for your website.
Now we’ve explained the importance of updating your new website, let’s look at some ways to create fresh content on your website; it can be simple!
Blogging – If you often visit websites, you will have noticed a lot of them have blogs. You’re reading ours now! Blogging is a great way to create fresh content about your industry, a new product launch, an event you attended that you feel Ould benefit others, or even provide a solution or an answer to problem or FAQ.
How much should you blog? It’s your choice and this will depend on your time (or budget to outsource this), but we often blog around twice a month. Take a look at your competitors or brands in your industry. You may find that blogging once a week is more beneficial. If you struggle with blog copywriting, we offer this as a service. Our team have written blogs for small business all the way through to huge brands, like eBay!
Videos – Video content is a great way to push out content. People are visual beings and we often prefer to watch/hear content than read it; especially in a time-pressed society. So having your content in a video rather than text is a great way to reach out to everyone; making your content exciting and engaging.
If you need some video inspiration, just head over to YouTube! You’ll find loads of content for a myriad of industries that can give you ideas on how to create yours. Don’t be scared to have your face on the video either, people like seeing faces as it will put a face to your brand.
If your website is new, you should be investing in a strategy to get the most out of your website going forward. A lot of small businesses will have a new website built and think that is it. They just expect their website to perform a miracle and gain immediate business from then on. In reality, your website is just a small fish in a big ocean of business, and if you’re not keeping it updated, or pushing it via social media and other marketing platforms, you may find yourself struggling to maintain the initial gains.
If you invest in a strategy you will get the most out of your website and find it easier to update it more regularly, as you know you need to do it to make your strategy a success. A strategy will help you understand your goals and how you want to reach them.
Do you need a new website design for your business? Check out our options here: https://bluecheesedigital.com/cost-effective-web-design/