Most businesses need a website to compete in today’s market. For some companies, there is no business without a website.
Having a website is essential, but you must keep it up to date. It isn’t something you build once and then leave it to serve its purpose. Websites can age in many ways, and if you don’t perform regular updates, its effectiveness will eventually erode with time.
What are some ways a business might need to update its website? Read on to learn about the top reasons for a website update.
Refresh the Appearance
When was your website built? You might need to consider updating the appearance if it was five years ago or more. If it is more than ten years old, it is almost certain that a refreshed appearance is in order. It may have looked slick and new when it was built, but it probably looks dated to most visitors by now.
This isn’t just about style. Your website will make your first impression on many customers. If it looks outdated, it will not make a good first impression. Web design trends change over time, from the types of images you use to typography, layouts, and more.
Outdated Information
The information on your site can also go out of date. Maybe there have been advances or developments in the industry, and it could be significant changes to the structure or operations of your company. You might have many pages that are no longer relevant to your business. Maybe you still have listings for products or services your business doesn’t offer anymore.
If you haven’t thought about updating the information on your site in a while, it is time for a complete review. You need to review every page to assess whether the information is up to date or if you even need the page. Is there information that should be removed? Is there information you need to add? Maybe you just need to update some facts due to time.
SEO Updates
If you own a website, you probably already do some SEO work. If you aren’t, that is enough of a reason for a website update. Even if you are working on SEO, an update might enhance your efforts. Search engines update their algorithms, and that can impact your SEO efforts. You may also need to adjust your strategy based on how your business operates.
For example, you might have new keywords that are worth considering. You might want to supplement your SEO efforts by adding a blog to your website. Some businesses might need to update their efforts to improve local SEO. Perform an SEO audit and overhaul the website to improve search performance.
Enhance the Mobile Experience
Mobile now accounts for a larger share of web traffic than desktop. If your site does not deliver an excellent mobile experience, you are definitely losing customers. A desktop site on mobile is not going to look good. It will also be hard to read the text and difficult to navigate. While there is a lot you can do to optimize for mobile, going with responsive design will do a lot to help.
Having a mobile-friendly design can also help with website SEO. According to the pros at BANG! Web Site Design, an SEO company in Phoenix, “Modern search algorithms prioritize mobile-friendly sites for mobile users. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, it won’t rank well on mobile, and many of these users will never even see it in the search results.”
Usability Updates
How user-friendly is your site? Even if it performed well for users when it was first built, it might not be as good today. The expectations of visitors change over time. What may have been a standard layout might be out of date now, and this can cause issues for visitors when they try to use different features. There may also be standard features that users now expect that were not popular when your site was designed.
Another issue is updates to website technology. Web technology is advancing all the time. If you haven’t updated your site in a long time, there is a good chance it is running on outdated technologies. It isn’t even just that. If you use a popular website platform, there might be updates to the software that runs the site. If you don’t have the updates, it can affect the site’s performance.
These are just a few reasons a business needs to update its site. If you haven’t updated your website in many years, you might find that your site has more than one reason to update.