The top five things you need to be updating on your website
Your business will really benefit if you know….
Your website is an important part of your business. It’s 2019 and everyone expects you to have one; but simply getting a domain name and a basic website isn’t enough. You need to keep it up to date and relevant. Your website typically gets a lot of attention at the very beginning. You invest a lot of time into building it and making sure it’s perfect, but once it launches it often falls to the bottom of our priority lists. But, we really need to keep it up to date and make sure it’s doing what it should for your business. Here are Circle Media’s top five things that you need to be updating on your website.
1. Business Hours
This is such a basic point, but it’s one that can be easily overlooked. If you’ve had a change in business hours, make sure you update them everywhere. On your website, on social media on your Google MyBusiness page, anywhere that a customer might go looking for them. There is nothing more frustrating as a customer than showing up somewhere that should be open but is actually operating under public holiday hours or reduced hours over the off season. Plan ahead and you’ll easily avoid disgruntled customer reviews.
2. Staff Changes
Staff turnover can be a stressful time. If you’ve had someone leave suddenly or on bad terms, there’s always a mad dash to find a replacement. Removing them from your website isn’t always your top priority. But you do need to set aside the time to remove their photos from the ‘about us’ page. You also need to think about any group photos they might appear in, videos and reviews and consider how you want to handle the situation.
The flip side of this is that you need to add any new staff to your website promptly. Once your customers start forming relationships with new staff they need to be on your website and be a visible part of your business. It’s also just a good way to welcome them to the business and show you’re excited to work with them. So add them to your team page and let everyone meet the newbie.
3. Photos
It’s not very reassuring when you visit a website whose photos are actively out of date. They might show old products, out dated packaging, an old business location or staff that have moved on. Your website needs to reflect your business and your photos are the first insight into your company. Keep them looking fresh and relevant and get people excited to explore your website. A dated look is never a good one, so keep things fresh by swapping out new photos regularly. It’ll make a big difference to the overall feel of your website.
4. Latest work and case studies
If you’re in the business of offering services you really need quality, up to date case studies to show what you’ve been working on. They’ll show potential customers the breadth of your work and all of the options available to them. As a rule of thumb, your website should reflect what you’ve been doing for the past three months. People aren’t going to hire you if your most recent work example is from two years ago.
Similarly, if you’re running a goods based business you need to make sure all of your products are up to date. Having a page full of old stock with ‘sold out’ written underneath them looks messy and lazy. So keep your stock up to date and fresh for all your customers. This might seem like an obvious point, but time can get away from you so make sure you’re on top of it.
5. Blogs
We’ve recently touched on the benefits of having a blog on your website, and if you’ve got one you need to make sure you update it. Blogs are the first thing to get overlooked and can quickly become an out-dated corner of your website. Set yourself a schedule and post regular updates about industry news, what’s been going on with your company or the tips and tricks on new products coming in. It’ll keep your website fresh and full of relevant content and it will help boost your Google ranking. Every bit counts.
Why do I need to keep updating my website?
Keeping all of these bits up to date will seriously improve your website. Not only will it ensure your customers and clients are being given all the most relevant and up to date information, but Google will love you. A big part of updating your website is to optimise for SEO. Google is constantly trying to provide its users with the most relevant and helpful answer to their searches. If you haven’t updated your content in three years, it’s safe to assume it’s not going to provide the most helpful answers to a search. So you definitely won’t appear on the first page of Google. If you’re gunning for a top slot on Google you need to be constantly improving your website. That means updating content, keeping all your pages relevant and active and adding new blog posts and photos. This will go a long way towards improving your Google ranking and your business will thank you for it.
If you need help updating your website, get in touch with Circle Media today. We can update photos, business hours and staff changes as soon as they come in, and that’ll take one step out of your to do list. If you’re looking to start a blog and improve your Google ranking or get some fresh case studies on your site, have a chat to us about what we can do for you today.