When Was the Last Time You Updated Your Website – Digital Strategies Continue to Evolve

Your website is your company’s lifeline. As the face of your business, your website funnels leads to your sales team and serves as an organized central location for information about your products and services. While you likely recognize your website’s importance, you may sometimes get so busy running your company that you forget how important it is to regularly update your site. Updating your website will enable you to gain an edge over your competitors, enjoy high search engine rankings, and maintain a cutting-edge style by reflecting the latest digital design trends.

Why is updating your website so important?

In today’s fast-paced world of web-based business, digital strategies are constantly evolving. Updating your website regularly on a content and substance level to incorporate these digital enhancements is the key to your company’s prosperity. Here are a few other top reasons why it is critical to keep your website up to date:

• You can improve your search engine rankings
• Visitors are more likely to linger on your site if you have fresh content and captivating web design
• You will help build your brand’s legitimacy
• Your website will be more secure

How frequently should you update your website?

“When it comes to updating your business website in a timely manner, the one rule is this: There are no rules…Deciding whether to update, redesign or re-engineer your site should depend entirely on your business goals, objectives and economic considerations, rather than on some superficial time frame pulled out of thin air.”– Mikal Belicove, Entrepreneur

Perhaps the most common response to the question of how frequently to update a website is, simply, “often.” This is not saying to go through an entire website redesign or anything on a structurally level of a website. That’s expensive and unnecessary. This is stating revamping facts about what content your website currently contain, how the conversions are generating success, what pages are most popular, how is the user experience, etc. In general, you should plan to update your website at the following times:

• Any time you have fresh, interesting content or news to share
• When your leads have declined in quantity or quality
• If or when you discover that your website is not adapting well to mobile devices
• When you receive complaints from visitors about broken links or information that is old or missing
• If you notice that your competitors’ websites are more attractive or higher performing than yours
• Any time you suspect that your website’s security may have been compromised

How can you ensure that you update your website regularly?

Maintaining a cutting-edge website requires dedication and planning. The process involves more than replacing old photos and updating your business address when you move. A website update means to revise, the improve content or switch up the conversion path for a better user experience. There are many on-going SEO tactics that can help with site updates. Here are some tips to help you make sure that you keep your website up to date:

1) Establish a regular schedule

If you wait until you discover a problem with your website to perform updates, it could be too late. Failure to engage in regular maintenance is an open invitation for your competitors’ websites to rise above you in key search engine rankings and outshine your outdated site. Instead, set a regular schedule during which your website will be reviewed, updated, and screened for security breaches.

2) Prepare content in advance

Part of keeping your website up to date is adding fresh content on a regular basis. This measure will help you rank well with Google and other search engines while engaging visitors to your site. One effective way to ensure that you keep your website current is to prepare multiple articles or blog posts in advance to post as time passes. This will help prevent you from falling behind or allowing other tasks to supersede your content writing.

3) Seek the guidance of an experienced digital web design firm

If you are like many business owners, you recognize the need to keep your website up to date but do not have in-house specialists with the skills to properly update your site. Or, perhaps you have limited funds to dedicate to website updates. If you fall into either of these categories or if you simply want a talented professional to handle your website updates, the solution is to seek the services of an experienced web design firm. By outsourcing your website updates, you pay for services as you need them while benefiting from the expertise of top-notch industry professionals.

The Bottom Line

Ensuring that your website is regularly updated is one of the most important measures you can take as a business owner. Content is king so why not keep up on your royal majesty’s needs?  By staying abreast of digital trends, adding fresh content to your site, and responding to customer feedback, you can develop a state-of-the-art website that will bolster your search engine rankings and help you gain an edge over your competitors. Give our digital strategy masters a call today!