Is your website stale? When was the last time you updated your website? If it were not any more recent than 6 months, it is time to do it right now.
It is just not the looks that we are talking about here, though it is a good thing to look at the design too (we will come to that later). With the pace that the digital transformations are taking place in recent years, you must keep your site fresh and updated.
Importance of having an updated website
Having a website is the first step in creating an online presence, but having an updated and fresh website is what will make that presence stronger and more attractive.
A stale or not-so-updated website doesn’t attract readers or crawlers from smart search engines. In short, the more recent your content is, the more your search engine ranking might improve. The higher your website ranks, the more readers your site will attract.
Not only that, it is important that your content, design, and integrations are updated for your readers to stay longer – another criterion for better search engine ranking.
What and how to update your website?
Okay, now that you know why your site has to stay up to date, do you have to revamp the entire thing? Well, it depends on your situation.
If your website is older than half a decade and your theme and plugins are not relevant or working correctly, you should consider a redesign. Take a look at your analytics and the effectiveness of your site’s lead generation too before you make a decision.
If these issues were okay, you can get away with minor updates to your site and just freshen it up. Here are some ways to update your website and to keep it from going stale.
Is your site SSL Enabled?
Do you notice that most site URLs start with https://, while others begin with http://?
The extra “s” on the URL means your site is extra secure and encrypted with a “Secure Sockets Layer” aka SSL technology. It means the data you enter is safe and private between the web browser and the site.
As you may have guessed, this is an important thing to update your website and has an impact on SEO too.
Speak to your IT person to get your SSL certificates installed and make sure it stays updated regularly.
Is your site Mobile first?
Did you know over half of all website traffic in 2021 is from mobile phones, according to Statista?
Mobile optimization is no longer an afterthought. It is critical that your site and design has to be mobile-friendly, even if you have a separate app.
When you are on that, ensure your page loading speed on mobile is optimized. Many businesses are now putting “mobile first” when they design their site even.
Are your themes and plugins outdated?
Outdated themes and plugins affect the user’s experience to a large extent. Web standards keep evolving and we have to keep up with them to fulfill your client’s expectations and match your competitors.
Not updating the backend of your site can lead to bad consequences like a security breach or a drop in performance. It is recommended that you check if there are any updates for the themes and relevant plugins at least once a month.
Do not forget to run a local backup of everything before you update your website.
Do you have relevant content?
Now that you have caught up on the technical side, let us focus on the business side. Do a quick audit of your content and classify it according to its relevance and effectiveness.
Does your site have a content strategy and the content matches it?
Do you have the ability to measure the effectiveness of your site via analytics, heat mapping, etc?
Does your landing page copy effective and convert into sales?
Do all your pages have the optimum and relevant CTA (Call to Action)?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, consider working on them. Finally, check if your site is search engine optimized and is frequently indexed by them.
Have you checked for broken links?
Another easy way to keep your site and content fresh are by checking and fixing all the broken links on your site.
Do you have links directing to other external sites?
Do you have links directing to other internal URLs?
Those sites and pages could have moved, expired, or updated their content. Check if they are still relevant and working. If not, update or consider removing them.
Avoid leading your readers and bots to an ERROR page and keep them both happy.
Instead of manually checking your links, you can use free tools to find out if you have any broken ones. Some of them are:
You can do this broken link check once a quarter or so.
Do you have a blog?
Blogging is a powerful marketing tool to drive more traffic to your site as well as to stay in touch with your potential and current readers.
And search engines love blogs as they keep the site updated and fresh. Be it a personal brand or a corporate, a blog post can help you boost Search Engine Optimization, almost instantaneously.
A general rule of thumb is to post a blog article at least once a week.
There are a lot of ways to keep your site fresh and updated. With so many WYSIWYG website platforms, it is quite easy to do just that. But if your site is older than 5 years or you are just making a start, it is better to leave it to the professionals.
Need some pick-me-up advice or a lending hand to get your site up and running? Do contact us for any assistance.
NurtureU Technologies is the frontrunner in digital transformation for small and medium branding in MEA and APAC regions. Our team can support the entire journey from creation to maintenance for your website and IT solutions.