Paul Brooks | 16 Jul 2007

In the everyday running of a business, updating the company website is rarely at the top of a to-do list. As with many areas of marketing, it can be neglected in favour of more pressing, business-critical matters. But the biggest mistake a company can make with its website is to not change it regularly.

A stagnant website will have detrimental effects on both your site’s effectiveness at generating sales and its position in search engines. If a website’s most recent news article was posted 12 months ago, visitors will have serious doubts about the relevance of its other content. Adding or changing something on a regular basis will greatly enhance your site and deliver better results.

A website’s position in search engines, such as Google, is partly decided by how often it is changed. When a search engine visits your website, it compares the information offered with what was there last time. The more it has changed, the more up-to-date and valid it is deemed to be. The search engines will typically rank regularly updated sites higher than those that are changed infrequently.

Other than improving your search engine results, keeping your website fresh will also help to give your company a better image and ensure your customers get relevant information on your products and services. You could add company or industry news articles, product updates, latest jobs, newest employees, case studies or anything else that you feel customers may be interested in. You can also change images regularly – this is a great way of keeping the site looking fresh.

A website that changes often is far more likely to attract repeat visitors and could attract links from other websites that relate to yours. You only need to look at how often well-known brands – such as IBM, Coca Cola or Nokia – change their sites to see how important it is to them. You may not have their resources, but you should make some effort to ensure your site is kept up-to-date.

A website is no small investment and it costs time and money to set up. All of that will be wasted if the site is not maintained and evolved to match your ever-changing business. Keep your website fresh and you will see the results.

To find out how we can help keep your website up-to-date please get in touch.

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