When was the last time something changed on your website? If your answer isn’t within the last couple weeks, you have a problem.
For popular brands, updating the website is necessary to give frequent visitors something new to view. For other companies, though, frequent website updates are not so much for the customer as for search engines.
Of course, it is crucial that your company, product, and service information stay up-to-date on your website; that’s just good business. But even when nothing has changed in what you do or what you offer, fresh content gets the attention of search engines. When websites continuously change, improve, and grow, Google views you as an active business that will provide web users with an average or above average experience. That means you’ll rank higher in search engine results.
People searching Google for your services are the best leads you can earn — they’re seeking you out, not the other way around. The more quality updates you make to your website, the more quality leads will find you on search engines.
Conversely, a website that isn’t updated frequently is automatically viewed as outdated and lower quality by Google. Want to stand out among the competition? Prove yourself to the search engines.
We all know one crash diet isn’t enough — good eating habits and regular exercise are necessary for maintaining your health. Similarly, creating the website isn’t enough. It needs to be maintained! The good news is regularly updating the website can be a lot more fun than dieting.
Step 1: Make sure you or the website company you work with has access to make edits to the website. If your website doesn’t have a blog and a way for customers to contact you with testimonials, make it happen.
Step 2: Create a plan. The easiest way to remember to make regular updates is to have them figured out ahead of time. One example is to go week by week. On the first week of the month, update your sales special; on the second week, post a customer testimonial or project photo; on the third week, write a blog post about a product or manufacturer; and on the fourth week, add or update the text or graphics on one of your web pages (this could also be adding a new tip for your customers or a link to a relevant news article).
Step 3: Follow through. Put someone reliable in charge of making the updates, and see that they get done.
Whether your company is large or small, search engines are the great equalizer. Don’t let a good website go unseen. It’s up to you to maintain and nurture not only your relationship with your customers, but also your website’s relationship with Google.