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When did you last update your website?

Rivergate Marketing when did you last update your website?

If it wasn’t last month or more recently, we have a problem.  Not regularly updating your website hurts your search engine optimization (SEO), and makes people wonder if you even exist anymore.  If you’re purporting to be an innovative company and your site was last updated in 2006, you’re not sending that message.

Who cares if I don’t update my website?

Search engines care!  …and that’s the primary reason you should be updating your website regularly.  Adding new content is great for SEO.  Did we mention that good SEO gives you a better search engine ranking for free?  Optimizing your website takes time and tweaking, but will result in better placement over time in the search engine results, and that means more visitors to your website.

Your customers care!  Your website was built to attract and inform customers, right?  If your website is static and hasn’t been updated since you launched it, trust us that your customers have definitely noticed.  Give them good reasons to return to your site. Relevant articles, blog posts, events, company news, new products, and press releases are all great types of content for your website.  Make sure that you write content with lots of keywords, which are the lingo or terminology specific to your industry.  Writing keyword-rich text and regularly adding it to your website will ensure a steady stream of visitors.  While you are adding all this great new content, don’t forget to remove anything outdated.  For example, don’t continue to advertise events that are in the past, or products that you no longer sell.

Content Types

  • Blog posts
  • Case studies
  • Company news
  • Events
  • How-to advice
  • New products
  • Press releases
  • Product information
  • Relevant articles to inform readers
  • Testimonials

How often is enough?

This depends on what industry you are in.  If your business is news, then you better be updating your site by the minute.  If, like our clients, you are selling mainly to B2B firms in the industrial manufacturing industry, we recommend adding website content a minimum of 2-3 times per month.  New content can be created in a variety of categories listed above.  Here are a few examples to help you get started:

  • Monthly corporate blog – have your employees take turns writing it.
  • Project summary – after each project is complete, write a summary discussing the technical aspects and outcome.
  • FAQ – ask your sales or technical support staff to list the most common questions they receive from customers, and publish an FAQ list with answers.

When is it time for a new website?

Web development technology and tools are ever changing but how do you know when it’s time to scrap the old site and start from scratch?  Here are a few questions to help you decide whether an update will work or if it’s time to start from scratch and build a new website.

  • Is your website mobile friendly? If not, this is a critical problem that must be addressed right away so that you don’t continue to lose visitors viewing on mobile devices.  User experience is not the only reason to address this issue; Google has started to penalize a website’s ranking if it is not mobile friendly! Start from scratch.
  • Is your website more than 3-5 years old? Start from scratch.
  • How does your website compare to your competitors’ sites? If theirs make your website look dated, it’s time to start from scratch.
  • Does your website function well for your current business? Are customers able to easily navigate the site?  Are you getting the number of prospects you expect? Do you have a low bounce rate?  If any of your answers are NO, then start from scratch.

 

Give us a call or drop us a line if you would like to discuss how we can further your company’s strategic goals!

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