10 Simple Website Updates
When was the last time you, or someone at your company, updated your website? If it hasn't been within the last few weeks, it's been too long. The following are some short updates you can make to keep your website content fresh, relevant, and your website visitors coming for more! And you can do it in as little as 20 minutes to an hour every week.
- Sales or Promotions
Are your latest or upcoming sales or promotions listed on your website? Are there old promotions that need to be removed from your site? These simple updates should be a no-brainer. By keeping these "specials" up to date, customers can come to rely on your website to find your latest deal - increasing your bottom line. - Products
Keeping your product listing up to date can seem like a daunting task - especially if your company sells/maintains/manufacturers a lot of products. By spending a little time every week - or even a few hours every few weeks - you can stay on top of the maintenance and ensure your latest products are being listed on your website. Start by making sure your product listings are up to date - verifying discontinued products have been removed and current products are listed correctly. Take an alphabetical approach and work through your product offerings one by one until it starts all over again. (Remember, you don't have to work through all your products in one sitting.)
- Services
Just like your products, your services should be up to date. Most companies don't realize that just about everything they do is a service. (While others make the mistake of listing everything they do as a service.) The key here is to be succinct. List the key points your customers inquire about and put it in a common language everyone can understand.
- News
We continually hear, "our company doesn't have any news!" - but the truth is, there is always "some" news. It just depends on how you define it. Here are some common News Items you can place on your site:- Is your company attending any trade shows?
- Have there been any promotions within your company?
- Any good customer case studies?
- Has your company participated in any local charity events?
- Are you having any Sales or Promotions?
(See above: We can't stress how important this is, or how often it is overlooked.)
- Meta Tags (Description and Keywords)
These are the pesky HTML tags that only the search engines see. However, that is why they are so important - THE SEARCH ENGINES READ THEM! Any website content management system worth it's salt should let you update your Meta Tags. Check yours to see that they are correctly describing your page (or if they are written at all) and update as necessary. Be sure to examine your keywords to ensure they are hitting the targets they should be as well as being represented on the page.
- Photos
Keeping your photos up to date is an easy way to keep your site fresh. Having decades old photos on your site can scare away potential visitors. It dates your content and your company. Whether it's staff portraits, product shots, or stock pictures - keep the pictures recent. If a professional photographer is out of the budget, the advancements made with phones and digital cameras (and a little Photoshop magic) can go a long way. Just remember: Keep the photos brightly lit.
- Update or Make a Sitemap
Unless you have a dynamically generated site map (that page that tells the user every page on your website) - you may want to revisit it to ensure that all the updates you've been making are represented in your handy sitemap!
- Portfolio
If your company lists a Portfolio on their website, it too will require updating from time to time. It is important to brag about your accomplishments as well as inform your perspective customers about the type of work you excel at. However: a portfolio full of dated work does nothing to represent where your company is today. Keep it up to date!
- Polling: Pose a question
Customer feedback is the cornerstone of all great companies. Start with a simple, direct, and poignant question. Ideally, your site will have a polling "feature" built into it. But if not, you can ask via a simple email form or link. The important thing is to ask.
- News/Blog/Social Media
(Even we're guilty of this one.) All of these are designed to be updated. Frequently. Updates don't need to be lengthy - just made regularly. Here are some simple ideas:
- Product Features
- Industry News
- Customer Service Issues
- Tutorials
- Corporate Opinions
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